Triumph of Ayn Rand over Karl Marx

They already do. The price is kept artificially low so that we can continue to enjoy cheap food, lower transportation costs, higher automotive sales, and to justify involvement in wars for oil.

Or did you mean 'control freaks' who would rather the price of gas reflect its true, full costs?

 

Pay the price our our energy choices at the pump (meter) and you will be shocked! Te security cost of "protecting our oil" the environmental costs of coal and natural gas, the ongoing, long term costs of nukes etc. Etc. Etc.

I would be perfectly happy to do that, but I don't think many would once they really realize what those costs are. I mentioned the other day bout driving through Butte MT. A city that is "thriving" on the basis of super fund funding that is charged with cleaning up a century of mining environmental damage at was not reflected in the price of the minerals extracted, nor w it covered by the royalties paid by the mining companies, nor the taxes paid by them. We, the taxpayers are footing the bill. And that is but one example of many across the country where the hidden costs of our choices come to the surface.

Icarus

 

It would help if you left out all the ridiculous Leftist this and Leftist that, and actually had an adult conversation, but I doubt that would be possible in your case.

Oh, and to your 50% of the federal budget is social spending, doesn't really seem the case, does it.

 

To a great extents, we re not paying it,,, and that is the point! We are transferring those costs to future generations, which is, IMHO immoral!

To compare the equivalent cost of the energy value of electricity vs the energy value of gasoline is a straw man argument. If you wish to include the costs of running the car on public roads, then you have to include a cost ro EVs that are not reflected in the meter price.

For example, I can buy a gallon of propane or heatin at ~$2.80While that same gallon of auto propane is closer to $4. For the reasons stated above.

 

I would amend that to suggest that I have a certain condemnation of certain aspects of the " capitalist" system. But it does not follow then that I support systems like the ones you mention. What you are missing is there are other alternatives/compromise that do exist in our world. It is called nuance, and things are not always, ( or even often either/or) as you seem to imply.

To imply that "capitalism" = good, ergo all others= bad is naive at best.

Icarus

 

You are correct, the full budget, considering that Social Security and Medicare have a fund that pays for them, at least so far, that actually shouldn't be counted as an expenditure that isn't paid for. Defense on the other hand isn't paid for from a fund, military pensions aren't paid for from a fund, military health care isn't paid for from a fund, they are all paid for from the taxes every year. So in that, the military still outnumbers all other social expenses to the budget.

 

Another example showing the additional costs that are not paid for at the pump.

The Real Cost of Oil: How much are we paying for a gallon of gas?
We pay about $3.00 for a gallon of gasoline at the service station. But the real price of gas is much higher and camouflaged by myriad direct and indirect costs associated with maintaining our oil economy. How much are you actually paying for gas? Take a closer look at the hidden bills footed by your taxes:

The federal government subsidizes the oil industry with numerous tax breaks and government protection programs worth billions of dollars annually. These benefits are designed to ensure that domestic oil companies can compete with international producers and that gasoline remains cheap for American consumers.

Our dependency on oil from countries that are either politically unstable or at odds with the U.S. subjects the American economy to occasional supply disruptions, price hikes, and loss of wealth, which, according to a study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy, have cost us more than $7 trillion present value dollars over the last 30 years. That is more than the cumulative cost of all of the wars fought by the U.S. since the Revolutionary War. The transfer of wealth to oil-producing countries - $1.16 trillion over the past thirty years - significantly increased our trade deficit. The Department of Energy estimates that each $1 billion of trade deficit costs America 27,000 jobs. Oil imports account for almost one-third of the total U.S. deficit and, hence, are a major contributor to unemployment.

The cost of securing our access to Middle East oil - deploying U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf, patrolling its water and supplying military assistance to Middle East countries - is estimated at $50 billion per year, which adds additional dimes to each gallon of gasoline we purchase

Political instability in the region breeds wars and embroils the U.S. in costly military actions. The 1990-91 Gulf War broke out as a result of an oil dispute between Iraq and Kuwait. The cost to the international community reached almost $80 billion. The cost of the 2003 Iraq war and the following occupation of the country is estimated at $200 billion.




Then add in this fact, subsidies don't end at the federal level, most state income taxes are in turn based on oil firms' lower federal tax bills, which result in companies paying hundreds of millions less in state taxes.

In addition to tax breaks, the federal government provides hundreds of billions to the wealthy oil industry in giveaways and subsidies annually that support the extraction, production and use of petroleum, such as research and development and export financing.

The federal government also spends up to $1.6 billion yearly on regulatory oversight, pollution cleanup and liability costs connected to the oil industry, yet big oil doesn't pay for it, since most big oil companies pay little or no taxes on their income.