Dropping gas price frightens idiots
From Associated Press...
Almost half of all Americans believe the November elections have more influence than market forces. For them, the plunge at the pump is about politics, not economics.
Retired farmer Jim Mohr of Lexington, Ill., rattled off a tankful of reasons why pump prices may be falling, including the end of the summer travel season and the fact that no major hurricanes have disrupted Gulf of Mexico output.
"But I think the big important reason is Republicans want to get elected," Mohr, 66, said while filling up for $2.17 a gallon. "They think getting the prices down is going to help get some more incumbents re-elected."
According to a new Gallup poll, 42 percent of respondents agreed with the statement that the Bush administration "deliberately manipulated the price of gasoline so that it would decrease before this fall's elections." Fifty-three percent of those surveyed did not believe in this conspiracy theory, while 5 percent said they had no opinion.
Almost two-thirds of those who suspect President Bush intervened to bring down energy prices before Election Day are registered Democrats, according to Gallup.
People drive more in the summer. More lawns are mowed. More outdoor work is done. In other words, more gas is used. Supply and demand would logically say that when demand rises, prices rise, and when demand goes down, prices go down. But some people never get past high school economics.
Which is a good argument for an intelligence test to determine whether someone can vote. The test should have questions such as...
Q) Is professional wrestling real?
( ) Yes ( ) No
Q) When did Martin Sheen served as President?
( ) within the past year ( ) within the past five years ( ) never
Q) I watch Jerry Springer.
( ) yes ( ) no
Q) Which Amendment says "Church and States shall be separate"
( ) The First Amendment ( ) The Fifth Amendment ( ) none
Q) 9/11 was planned and executed by...
( ) The Jews ( ) The Bush Administration ( ) Radical Moslems
Q) Abortion is specifically mentioned in which Amendment?
( ) Fourth ( ) Third ( ) none
Q) You actually took the time to find out the stance on the issues of what percent of candidates?
( ) none ( ) a few ( ) as many as I could ( ) all
Q) It's better to vote, even if you don't know who you're voting for, than to not vote at all?
( ) true ( ) false
Q) On short notice, Presidents can influence international oil prices as well as the timing and location of Hurricanes.
( ) true ( ) false
(For those who wonder what the right answers are, they are, in order, No, Never, No, None, Radical Moslems, None, either "as many as I could" or "all" would be acceptable, False, and False.)
...you don't pass the test, you don't get to screw up the country by voting. It would be as simple as that.
Posted by Danny Carlton at September 26, 2006 12:06 PM
I'd be far more interested in the same survey among people, equally divided between liberals and conservatives, who could accurately describe what the futures market is, does, and why it exists.
Otherwise, it's like asking people like me why a person got sick or why a car broke down. I know so little about medicine and mechanics my opinion on these matters is worthless. Likewise, the opinions of the people responding to this and most polls.
It always has amazed me that Bush and the GOP are so often maligned as completely bumbling, incompetent idiots, yet they manage to suddenly wield supernatural powers of competence and influence any time anything goes wrong (or right) because they obviously made it happen in order to conspire against America and the world.