[Rhodes22-list] Shocking Truth - Reply to well educated slim(political)

[DCLewis1 at aol.com]

Wally,
 
Re Ed’s statements related to liberals=>socialism=>communism, you’re  right, 
it’s Ed.  There are elements of liberalism that do map to socialism  and 
communism, and elements of socialism that map to communism, but the mapping  is by 
no means complete or direct.  For example, there is no dictatorship  of the 
proletariat in socialism or liberalism.   To map  Ed’s logic to another 
political system, there are elements of democracy  (the concept of tyranny of the 
majority) that map to tyranny, so if you are for  democracy your for tyranny, 
right?  I don’t think so.
 
Re Ed’s comment “Understand that non government controls does not allow  
unjust enrichment through price fixing and monopolies.”
This is patently  wrong, the government files multiple price fixing 
complaints and suits against  businesses each year.  The single biggest deterrent to 
price fixing is the  knowledge that the businessmen involved will find their 
butts in the pokey -  it’s got nothing to do with the free market.  Trust me, if 
they can rig the  market, they will.  It’s only Sept, there are still 3 months 
left in 2006,  do a Google search using “price fixing 2006", see the list, 
count the pages of  price fixing cases.
 
Re Ed’s comment “It merely means that the highest bidder gets the gallon of  
gas.” what he forgot to mention was that the seller could also just withhold  
selling the gallon to even the highest bidder - which means he’ll get 
whatever  price he sets or he won't sell.  If the commodity is non-discretionary (and 
 gas is largely a non-discretionary commodity for most people) the seller 
will  get whatever price he wants - OPEC has figured this out.  Pharmaceutical  
companies with patented drugs have figure it out also.
 
I expect to see gas prices rise after the elections.  It will be a  
coincidence, of course.  Alternatively, prices may stay low, but if  they do it will be 
because conventional oil suppliers are concerned that  alternatives (e.g. 
ethanol and tar sands) can be brought online to  displace demand.  Either way, 
the price is not controlled by the  highest bidder, it's a business decision 
made by the supplier who understands  the bidder has to buy at whatever price he 
sets short of the price that will  make other alternative energy sources 
viable. 
 
Dave