Yes, Michele Bachmann really did vow to drive gasoline prices to less than $2 per gallon if she is elected president. So either she does not understand how free markets work, or she is simply against them. She is hypocritically promoting government interference in a market even though she claims that the government should get out of the way of markets.
Of course, if she completely destroys the world economy then the price of oil just might fall that much. The last time gasoline was under $2 was in the middle of the Bush recession.
6 Comments
Soon she’ll be pulling a Trump and saying she’ll talk tough to OPEC to get them to lower prices. Assuming she hasn’t already promised this.
I think Michelle has just tapped into the same random conservative phrase generator that Sarah Palin uses. 100% fact free.
Trump! You know, the funny thing is that he actually made more sense than any of the “serious” candidates, even when he wasn’t trying.
Getting tough with the Saudis might not work, but it’s worth a try.
It seems to me that the GOP is in favor of free markets when they support the ideal that free markets == more efficiency == lower prices. But as soon as there’s a counterexample that shows a free market producing a higher cost (e.g., health care), they instantly abandon their zeal. (Yes, I know the argument that health care is not a free market because of tax deductions. But that’s beside the point because no market is truly free. My point is that sometimes there are markets that are closer to the “free” ideal that produce more inefficiencies and higher costs.)
Price gouging on water during disasters destroys virtually all free market zealot arguments.
interesting observations from The Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/aug/14/larry-elliott-global-financial-system/print
a global outlook on “the economy!”