George Phillips on Maurice Hinchey

George Phillips has written an excellent article for Poughkeepsie Journal on Congressman Maurice Hinchey's crackpot proposal to establish price controls on gasoline. Phillips reminds us of:

"the long gas lines and fuel rationing of the 1970s, and has seen the disastrous artificial shortages price controls created. Many gas stations were forced to restrict gasoline purchases to a few gallons per customer or only to commercial vehicles. Others closed down entirely, unable to find gasoline for their customers."

Phillips astutely points out:

"supply and demand is a natural law of the land...The plan would effectively shut down oil companies that could lose far less money by simply not selling gasoline."

The bottom line is that America, and New York's 22nd Congressional district, would be better off with Phillips, not Hinchey, as Congressman.

Maurice Hinchey on the Road to Serfdom

Fox News's Special Report with Brit Hume played a clip of my Congressman, Maurice Hinchey, advocating nationalization of the American oil companies. I have been concerned about inflation for the past year or two, and Hinchey's remarks suggest one reason. The instability and wealth transfer due to inflation lead to increased demand for authoritarian solutions. Increasing government control of oil companies will increase the authority of politicians but it will not reduce gasoline prices or increase exploration. In 1911 the Supreme Court broke up Standard Oil, the most efficient oil company of its day. The reason was to enhance competition. (The decision was misguided.) Now, Congressman Hinchey wishes to eliminate competition and establish a government-controlled oil monopoly.

Part of Congressman Hinchey's willingness to vent uninformed views without inhibition is that he has run unopposed for the past several Congressional elections. Hopefully, that will not be the case this year. A high school teacher from Binghamton, NY, George Phillips, is going to run against Mr. Hinchey. Mr. Phillips is disadvantaged for several reasons. First, New York's 22nd Congressional district is absurdly gerrymandered. (Mr. Hinchey corruptly designs his election district while he claims that he can run oil companies honestly and effectively.) Due to the gerrymandering, New York's 22nd Congressional district includes Poughkeepsie, the only point it is east of the Hudson, the southern and eastern Catskills, and then a thin strip that stretches west through Binghamton and Ithaca. This has the effect of including Poughkeepsie, New Paltz, Kingston, Binghamton and Ithaca, all Democratic, in one district. A second disadvantage is that Mr. Phillips is a newcomer to politics and is organizing a campaign from scratch.

Mr. Phillips can use all of the help and advice that he can get. Any support would be welcome. A defeat of Congressman Hinchey would remove a festering, reactionary sore from Congress.

Is The Stock Market Discounting an Obama Victory?

The Fed Funds rate is now 2%, down from 5.25% a year ago. The Fed has cut interest rates as gasoline and food prices have been rising quickly. The stock market is usually stimulated by monetary expansion, but it has been slow to react this time. The reason might be psychological, that is, news media reports about recession may have spooked investors. But the stock market declines are continuing past the points where the mainstream media rumor mill ought to have an effect. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 131 points today.

One possible reason is the strength that Barack Obama is showing in the polls and the widespread media bias supporting him. This reminds me of the 1976 race when Jimmy Carter, relatively unknown, received a considerable degree of media propaganda in support of his candidacy, which spurred his victory. According to Real Clear Politics Obama currently leads McCain in the major polls by about 4-5%. These differences may not be statistically significant in any one poll, but the fact that all polls are showing similar findings suggests significance. At the same time, public opinion is volatile at this stage of a campaign so a difference at this point may not be meaningful even if statistically significant.

Barack Obama has repeatedly stated that he favors tax increases with respect to capital gains, inheritance and income. Capital gains tax increases would depress the stock market because they reduce the real returns to investors. It is not illogical to consider that the stock market may be depressed at this point in part in reaction to the increasing probability of an Obama victory.

Publius on Attorney Martin Carasso

"Sue" O'Malley's attorney Martin Carasso has apparently gotten into a snit with "Publius" and other advocates of free speech at the Free Speech at CUNY website. I have something in common with Attorney Carasso. My first name is Mitchell and Attorney Carasso attended the William Mitchell College of Law. Also, in 1984 an attorney punched me in the eye while I was driving and wearing glasses (he was a passenger in my car) and I had to get seven stitches. Ultimately, I settled for $3,000. Thus, I know something about low-cost legal advice. Therefore, I must comment.

Allegedly, Attorney Carasso wrote an article entitled "Joseph Martin Carasso on low-cost legal advice for independents" and now claims that he "never advertised for low cost legal services.” This is disturbing. Very disturbing. Attorney Carasso should come clean and tell Publius the fee he is receiving for representing Professor O'Malley in suing the awe-inspiring, exalted Professor Karkhanis.