The-Asterisk

This posting is going to be overly simplistic, since I don't have the time to thoroughly suss out the details, but I really think I am on the right track on this one. I think that the US ought to nationalize the ownership of oil, gas and other energy resources on public land. Yes, I know the US owns it all already, but what the government does is auction off rights to drill or explore. Then, if a well is productive, the oil company pays a nominal fee for the extracted oil and the rest of it is theirs. So if the price of oil jumps from $50 per barrel to $100, as far as I know, the oil company gets to keep the extra $50. As a free-marketer, I fully understand incentive, but I also understand dumb luck. When an oil company makes a business decision to invest the money to pull oil out of the ground at $50/bbl, they have already calculated their ROI and it is sufficient. Are they hedging and hoping that the price goes up? Of course. But the nation's energy policy should be based on ...

For Egyptians, 11/2/11 will hold a special place in their hearts, for on this day they threw off the shackles of an oppressive regime. A regime, that in its beginnings probably had the best of intentions for the Egyptian people, but after 30 years, it was time for Mubarak and his people to go. It is pretty apparent that Mubarak treated Egypt like an embezzler treats an American Express Black card. I don't even want to venture down the path of discussing the merits of Mubarak's power and longevity. The point of this post is that the easy part has been done. Now the real work begins. Today I tweeted this: Random thought: If you are the opposition and you can't get a majority in a vote, what better way to win than to just take over? #Jan25 Nature abhors a vacuum and politics abhors one even more. Mubarak realized this and though he held on to power for a number of reasons, one must have been that he knew that if he just hopped a plane for Riyadh, the leadership void would be ...