Re: (A) Ron Paul and the price of gas. When Dana Carvey was on SNL he did a character called “The Grumpy Old Man” and the set-up was always the same: the old man would start-off complaining about some modern thing and end-up saying how much better things used to be. It would go something like this: “Can you believe the price of gas? When I was a young man, gas was 15 cents a gallon, now gas goes up 15 cents overnight! Used to be we had a gold standard and we liked it! We loved it! Oh, happy day! Now, we have an capital economy and kids run around with their pants around their knees with their butt cracks showing-we wore our pants just below our armpits, cinched up tight with a piece of rope, because we were skinny from the Great Depression and if we didn’t wear them up high, they’d slide right off! Because we were starving-and we liked it! We loved it, oh, skiddle-de-de, those were the days!” It was, of course, remorselessly ageist and referencing it, even as abstractly as I am, carries a certain taint which I am willing to bear for the good of the whole. What made it work is the revisionist history inherent in all history: the way an individual remembers his life is very similar to the way that history records actual events but the bias of the historian is less obvious than the Grumpy Old Man. The lessons of history become meaningless when bias is used to alter the flow of events so that decisions made in the moment to address the issues of that point in time become seen as scheme, as a manipulation and not the most appropriate means. Nixon didn’t just wake up one day and decide to float our currency, it was the best thing to do at that time, it was the appropriate thing for that time and you’re not going to be able to put that Genie back in that bottle-no matter what Ron Paul tells you. Without control of our energy needs, we can not compete with other nations without leveraging our capital (as every other nation does, btw) and the floating of our currency is beneficial to industry by mitigating the impact of fluctuations in energy prices, the reason Nixon made the change. Unfortunately, all commodity standards are subject to speculation and market control by cartels. We are on a de facto oil standard and the price is increasing because the dollar is worth less, we have forced inflation abroad with Quantitative Easing, nations abroad have become less stable as a result of that QE and the governments are either in turmoil (which is bad for oil volatility) or appeasing their electorates with subsidies (Saudi Arabia and Iran) that cause them to raise the price of their oil. Just saying, Saudi Arabia HAS to sell their oil for $100 a barrel to pay the subsidies to keep peace. Get used to these prices-or perhaps it’s time for a regime change in SA? As always, be careful what you wish for… (B)Twitter, Brooke Baldwin and size. I almost feel sorry for people whose worth is measured by the number of Twitter followers they have. Many years ago, when bumper stickers started appearing en masse, I realized that nothing I could say, without later regretting, would fit on a bumper sticker (or in 140 characters) and like a bumper sticker, a tweet is very hard to remove when outgrown. It’s something that is done impulsively and typically leads to regret. Sure, everybody is talking on Twitter-but are they saying anything? I don’t go drive around in my car to read the bumper stickers instead of reading so why should I care about Twitter? Why do you? Doesn’t what you’re talking about matter anymore-or is it just the fact that you’re talking? Like BB said (about the number of Twitter hits), “Size DOES matter” so, Erin, next time you see her, tell her the Tomcat says “’Sup?” and that I remember when I was a boy we didn’t post pictures of our junk on Twitter, we put on an overcoat and stood out by the bus stop! Oh, I still remember the feeling of the wind on my stuff: I liked it, I loved it! I couldn’t get enough! Those were the days! All the Best, TVA. PS. Thanks to your “Cash for Clunkers” idea, Erin, I’m driving around in a newish car that gets 40 mpg. So, gas prices, eh, who cares? Good thing I didn’t opt for that Suburban, though… Pps. Still hard at work on that book, so this is just blowing off some steam. Did you know David Hume’s empiricist philosophy stems largely from a nervous breakdown? Can’t make that kind of stuff up…
