Republicans and Oil Proces

April 28th. 2006
Sent to but not published in the New York Times

Really these Republican Senators are flip-floppers of the first water (GOP Senators Hurry to Quell Furor over Gas, New York Times, April 28, 2006, page: A1).  For years they have been preaching the virtues of the discipline of the free market.

Now that the free market in energy has reared up and bitten them, they are singing a different tune: roll back or suspend gasoline taxes, government checks to consumers, and drilling in the miniscule oil reserves in the Arctic Refuge.

Unfortunately they do not propose repeal of the market distorting subsidies to oil companies, nor do they support better market distorting subsidies like those for the development of sustainable energy or improvements in mass transportation.

If we are to have market distortion, let us at least have the right kind of market distortion!