Morning Summary, 6/26

Why belabor the obvious.  The numbers aren't on the upswing anymore.  And the mood is grim.  It allows me to segue into something that I've thought of from time to time.  The thought is this:  it isn't so much what you say, but who you are when you say it.  Or to put it another way, force has the better of the argument.


This relates to one of Aesop's Fables, which has many variants in the cultures of the world. I mention it in connection with the refusal of the powers to be to do that which is right and good.

You may wonder what I am referring to. Also, it is something of conventional wisdom to accuse the conservatives of being for the powerful, while the liberals are there to help the little guy. My observations are somewhat different. I do not see the liberals as being particularly helpful towards me. I say this with respect to the energy problem which will impose greater burdens on the less well off than the well to do. The liberal answer is to tell everybody to buy fuel efficient cars or take mass transit. But neither of these are good solutions, because it is a drop in living standards.

I have said many times on this blog why you shouldn't trust conventional wisdom. This is what the political class insist upon, however. The conventional wisdom is that which you can read above, the liberals are for the little guy. But when it comes to energy, what do the liberals do but tell you that you must pay more? How does that help the little guy?

If they were really for the little guy, they would be pushing for lower prices instead. When they do press for lower prices, they do it in a way that is counter productive. Sure, you can impose price controls, but all that means is that supplies will be limited. No, the only way to effectively reduce prices is to increase supply so that it will keep a lid on prices. No amount of intervention by the government is going to be effective as a bountiful supply of energy. Yet, that is not what the liberals do. They restrict supply and force prices higher. The end result: lower living standards.

How can the left support plentiful energy then? By supporting "cold fusion". Yet, from where I am standing, they don't do this. Neither does the conservatives, so far as I can tell. When it comes to energy, the little guy has no friends in Washington. Instead, it looks like Washington is like the big bad wolf that is going to accuse the sheep that they are in the wrong for wanting to live a life commensurate with a higher standard of living. Hence, the left will say, "we can't drill our way out of this", and "the USA uses 25% of the energy, with only 4% of the population". This means that we live too well, and the powerful wolves in DC are going to make you suffer.

If you come up with arguments that will say, yes we can drill for more, they'll come up with excuses why we can't. Or, if there are possible solutions like polywell fusion, or focus fusion, or "cold fusion", or thorium, they'll find unlimited excuses for not doing any of these- even if the arguments are well founded and the evidence is abundant. It is like the wolf who will ignore all the lambs fine arguments in defense of its innocence. The wolf is hungry and the lamb is on the menu. No amount of argument will change that until the power balance is more favorable to the lamb.

How to do that? That is the nature of the problem. Trying to argue with an unreasonable person or persons is not going to get you anywhere. If they hold the power, you are going to lose. You need some power to make a difference. If you favor "cold fusion", you better find some powerful friends. The funny thing is that these friends may not be the ones that you would expect to be friendly.

You see, that all brings me back to this blog. It is not what I am saying here, but my position within the hierarchy. I am on the bottom. I have no influence. Nobody is interested, even the people who should be. For it is the sheep that will suffer, but the sheep are being led by the wolves who will feed upon them mercilessly. Yet, if someone will speak in the interests of the sheep, the sheep won't listen. No, space isn't interesting to them, nor is energy- yet this is the way that will save them. Otherwise, they are lost. And it seems that nothing I say that can change that.

Yet it may appear that I want to save the sheep. My interest is selfish. If I am one of the sheep too, then this is for my benefit too. If the sheep perish, so do I. Why doesn't the sheep listen to one of their own?