I have recently come to listen to your show more often than not. I have to admit that I tend to agree with some of what you say, but by no means all. I can appreciate your defense of the US Constitution and your natural distrust of our elected officials, but I do tend to differ when it comes to your unbridled defense of the free market system, especially in regards to how they will always do what is thought to be what the market dictates . I cite for example, General Motors and their insistance that Hydrogen fuel cells are the future. Although it may be one avenue of pursuit, it is by no means the one that would be the most efficient, cost effective, or economical for the vast majority of Americans. Battery Technologies have advanced to a point where they should be the ones where the real emphasis is placed, but since this would not be good for the Oil Companies or Auto Parts and repair Industries, they have chosen to abandon it and move on to the unrealisic, costly and distant future of Hydrogen Technology. Since the 1930's, the US Auto Makers and the Oil Industry have squelched, or perhaps more aptly put "Killed" every single attempt by individuals, engineers, & scientists to either better our fuel economy or come up with a cost effective alternative to the gas guzzling autos that we are given the choice to buy here in the United States. Back in the 1930's a Canadian gentleman developed an alternative carburator that would replace the one that came stock with the automobiles of that period. It was nearly universal in it's possible application. It was based on the principal that the stock carburators were only utilizing 30% of the possible energy contained in a gallon of gasoline, and he was able to design a carb. that utilized nearly 100% of the potential energy. He had developed a carb. that enabled a car that was only getting say 25 miles to a gallon, to get up to 100 miles to the very same gallon of gasoline by utilizing it's full energy potential. Well, it shouldn't take a "Conspiracy Theorist" to figure out what happened to that patent, or for that matter the patents to countless other inventions that would have improved our gasoline economy and lessen our consumption of fossil based fuels, ie: Oil. I have been involved in the Antique business most of my life and one day I happened upon an old automobile book from the early 1940's. I can't remember the exact make or model, but I do remember that it was an American make, possibly Buick or Pontiac. What struck me as odd at the time, was that it was a huge car with a V-8 motor and yet even then, in I believe 1942, the were boasting that it was capable of getting 38 miles to the gallon. Now it has to make you wonder, when you look at similar large vehicles of today and compare their miles per gallon at somewhere around 10 to 15 mpg. Doesn't it? To flavor this with just a hint more truth, look to the Ford Falcon of the early 1970's. I believe it was the 1971 V-8 model that came out in this year of production, with a boastful 35mpg. The very next year, the very same model, with the very same engine was only capable of 20mpg. Amazing isn't it, that the Ford motor company would take a wildly popular model like this and somehow, for some unknown reason, (HA) reduce it's gas mileage by nearly 50%. All the while, they did not increase it's horsepower or any other aspect of the car, other than it's gas mileage. Now what would inspire them to do that? It couldn't be that they were directed to do this by the Oil Industry. No, of couse not. One does not have to look too far or dig too deep, to see that the American Automakers and the Oil Companies have been in Bed together since the 1930's. The natural reaction to these claims would be:
"Well if you can make a carburator that is capable of getting a hundred miles per gallon, why don't you just build your own?" Very Simple Answer: "We can't produce a carb. that will vaporize 100% of a gallon of gasoline anymore, because the Oil Companies saw fit to change the way in which it was refined back in the 1930's, thereby altering the flash point at which it combusts. By doing this, they were able to insure that no-one would be able to safely invent a vaporizing chambered carb. like the one the Canadian fellow did. If they did make the attempt, there was a very likely chance that it would blow up in their faces. The recent mortgage crisis is just another example of profit at any cost, by big business. I know that you detest Govt. intervention or control, when it comes to Big Business, but here again, with this scenerio, we see how Greed and the wild pursuit of Profit has done in the little guy; the ones who can afford it least. These companies knew full well, that by giving these mortgages out to unqualified customers, that they would not be able to afford the payments when the Adjustable rates went up, yet they did it anyway. They filled their pockets with Fat Closing Cost fees and hidden costs, knowing all the while that many of these loans would sooner or later be in default. Who cares if these people were bamboozled. Who cares if they are going to lose there homes and quite possibly everything that they had struggled to get up to this point. We made our Profit, and according to economists that feel like you do, that's okay because the Govt. didn't step in and try to interfere with the free market trade. The fact is, these paracites have gone a long way in causing our current economic slow down, and if in fact we do get into a worsening recession, they were one of the main contrubting factors, But it's okay, because they did it for profit. It's Free Market Trade and the Great Austrian Economists would approve of it. I'm sorry, but I do disagree with you on this point. If left solely to their own devices, Big Business has and will continue, to take advantage of those who can least afford to be taken advantage of.