Dear Editor,
Throughout the world there are countries where the government dictates to businesses how to run the business, but a free United States is the last place you would expect to see it, until now. In Philadelphia there are oil refinery plants that are closing because they are unprofitable. These plant closings will have a major impact on the area, which I think everyone will agree. I have several family and friends that have been and will be affected by these plants closings. It is important to resist the first urge to go overboard in our actions just because this will affect our community, those who do go overboard will do so while ripping the fabric of freedom our country was founded on. Unfortunately U.S. Senator Bob Casey seems to have no problem ripping that fabric to shreds.
On Jan. 27 the Daily Times reported in “Casey Not Ruling out Hearings” that, Casey said, “This is not a decision [the oil companies] can make in isolation.” Casey also said, “I heard concerns that the company was placing parameters and restrictions on the sale of their facilities.”
This is the reason that Casey wants to pull these companies in for hearings in front of the senate. Be sure to pay special attention to what he said “parameters” and “restrictions,” such as price? This is a dangerous path, just think if your parents were selling their house and they put the restriction on the sale that they would not sell for a penny less than $200,000. The house stays on the market for six months and your parents turned all the offers because it was below the asking price. Then the local officials start talking and say that having the house up for sale for the last six months is lowering the property value of the others houses because no one is living in it and it is just sitting empty. The officials tell your parents they are putting too many restrictions on the sale of their house and that the city is going to force them to sell it for $120,000 because that is plenty for them to live on. If this happened to you would you be OK with it?
We must all embrace the benefits of the free market when things are going well and work through the hard times when things are not going well. It will correct itself by the laws of supply and demand, if we let it.
Sincerely,
Paul Fritchey
Temple College Republicans
Yeah, I really don’t think you even understand what you read. You didn’t even really address Casey’s comments… You took them out of context… AND you either don’t seem to realize that this is an export issue, with international implications involved… or seem to want to hide this fact from the reader.
I understand the desire to take a partisan position on any issue you see… But maybe you should attempt to understand the issue first? Maybe you guys should continue to have Erik write your LTTE.
Finally, household-government analogies are intellectually bankrupt and trite.
Granted, I’m going into this blind (as I do not know the whole backstory), but what Paul is arguing here is that the government shouldn’t dictate prices. The government shouldn’t be involved with saying how companies can sell their property.
Analyzing strictly this LTTE, and nothing else, Paul is arguing that the government should not control or dictate prices. He argues that it is a violation of our freedom and liberty. I’d go one step further and point out that government controls of prices have had disastrous effects on the economy (see Nixon’s price controls, rent control – criticized by economists like Krugman and Friedman alike, price floors/ceilings).
Granted, this is taking a stab at Bob Casey (D) written by a fellow TCR, however if anyone knows me personally I criticize those within my own party for what I deem as bad economic policy. So for me, this isn’t necessarily partisan, it’s critical of economic policy.