Gas,food prices & living expenses up? what's the government trying 2 do? be a silent killer?

Question

Gas,food prices & living expenses up? what's the government trying 2 do? be a silent killer?

Answer 1

Do you buy these from government? Government does not sell these goods.

If you use the word "gas" I assume you are in the US. If so count yourself lucky, you guys have got some of the lowest fuel prices among non oil producing countries. I wish I lived in a country like that. If you complain about fuel, it also means you probably own a car. I can also deduce that you have internet access. Gas and food prices are properties of the global economy, and individual countries can do little to influence that. With the growth in many parts of the developing world, the US's share in the global economy is shrinking, and with that also it's ability to manipulate it. In the "good old days" it was simpler for the the US to influence global markets.

I do have sympathy with single mom's (or all other people) going through very tough times though. Government has a duty there to try to investigate alternative energy sources, and make other plans, in order to lighten the impact. By this token, most governments do very little, but I'm still sure your government does more than mine. Instituting price controls is not the answer, in case you think that. That is a sure (tried and tested) recipe for disaster. Price controls lower the supplier's ability to stay in business at the regulated price, which tends to create a black market for those willing to engage in it, whereas those who dutifully obey the law simply can't get what they need on the shelves.

The high cost of energy, the dependancy on oil, and the escelating food prices, is a global problem, and can only be solved globally. So intervening in a market (even if it's a big one such as the US) will not be effective. Certainly the problem of rising food prices has been CAUSED by market intervention. With good intentions, countries in the West have passed legislation to promote growing crops to create fuel, rather than growing crops to feed people. This has been cited as the single most signifficant factor in pushing livings expenses up. Some even shout for the practice to be labelled a "crime against humanity".

I do hope it gets better. Meanwhile try to look at fuel saving tips, or other ways to improve your situation.

Answer 2

These are certainly dark times. The globalizers and neocons are failing to reassure me that the markets are going to work themselves out. We happen to have an administration who does not believe in government intervention - except the military kind. War debt has led the Fed to print more money to service the debt. Printing more money devalues the dollar, which then devalues the dollar reserves in the oil producing countries. When those dollar reserves become devalued, the oil producers must jack prices up to recapture some of that lost value.  According to their way of measuring reality, Hurricane Katrina was good for New Orleans (whiter, wealthier according to the Census Bureau).

What the conservatives and, sometimes, people in other countries don't understand is not that things are SO bad compared to everyone else in the world. It's that they are worse than they were 40-50 years ago. We are moving backwards, rather than forwards. 40-50 years ago, we were on the rise. Now, we are on the decline. Not a good feeling. And, furthermore, we could be making different policy decisions. Things are getting worse, and they don't have to be - that's why we are mad right now.