Friday, May 16, 2008

Strategic Oil Reserve and Bureaucratic Inertia

Yes, today's story is that the Federal Government (I capitalize these two words on purpose to emphasize how it has come to dominate our lives) is finally going to stop purchasing oil for the strategic oil reserve, as of JULY (when present contract ends). 

I can't believe it has taken so long to do this. My brother is co-owner of a trucking copmany and he has been LIVID, really ever since Katrina,  that the government has continued these purchases when oil and fuel prices go so high. Sure, this is not going to "solve" the fuel price problem, but it is just stupid to continue purchases at these prive levels (and has been ever since the oil price went to $80.00 a barrel).  This minor annoyance, but major stupidity, is one of the things that have caused my brother to consider President Bush one of the worst President's ever (an overstatement, in my view, evne though I disowned President Bush myself some time ago).

To me, this illustrated the problem with the leftist idea that the Federal Government (central planning) can "solve" all of our problems. The Federal Government changes course TOO SLOWLY, and is too big and bureaucratic, such that even something as simple as stopping "strategic" purchases of oil at unreasonable prices becomes almost impossible to get done.

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