Matt Skoufalos
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On the article Obama Moves to Address High Gas Prices
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On the article Obama Moves to Address High Gas Prices
Matt Skoufalos
4:45 pm on Thursday, April 19, 2012
Two clarifications:
1. Marx never held a political office, so no, he was not a policymaker in the same sense that President Obama is, and that is how I am using the word.
2. Even if you want to talk about the Fannie/Freddie cosign thing, it was the private banks that balled up the toxic assets and sold them on the open market--especially in Europe, and especially in Greece:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/16/us-socgen-results-idUSTRE81F0DK20120216
If you want to read about government handling of banking regulations, do a little research on how mortgages are held in countries like Spain where there is no way to escape your debt obligations through bankruptcy. You have your facts confused with your rhetoric.
Sorry for dipping into this conversation a little deeper than I intended. I wanted to just offer some definitions of terms so that we can all have a productive consideration of facts. I'm glad that we have so many engaged commenters on Patch, and I appreciate the opportunity to chat with you all!
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On the article Obama Moves to Address High Gas Prices
Matt Skoufalos
4:14 pm on Thursday, April 19, 2012
If you look at the link Dan sent above, you could find this graphic on the root causes of energy prices, of which there are several:
http://www.eia.gov/finance/markets/images/factors.png
This page, which talks about spot pricing, illustrates the drivers that lead to crude trading, which affects gasoline prices most directly:
http://www.eia.gov/finance/markets/spot_prices.cfm
"It takes years to develop new supply sources or vary production, and it is very hard for consumers to switch to other fuels or increase fuel efficiency in the near term when prices rise. Under such conditions, a large price change can be necessary to re-balance physical supply and demand following a shock to the system."
There's no magic faucet to turn on or off, especially as a lot of the world's energy supply is located in politically volatile places, like the Middle East, Soviet satellite states, and North Africa.
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On the article Obama Moves to Address High Gas Prices
Matt Skoufalos
4:05 pm on Thursday, April 19, 2012
No one is advocating for Marxism; Marxism is not a form of policy, it is a form of social/historical analysis. This story talks about measures to prevent the kind of speculation that sunk the housing market and jacked up gas prices--and that is one of the root causes, speculation on toxic assets.
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On the article Obama Moves to Address High Gas Prices
Matt Skoufalos
3:25 pm on Thursday, April 19, 2012
More to the point are these paragraphs:
"Marx claimed that his criticism of capitalism was based on the latest developments in science. He called his theory “scientific socialism” to clearly distinguish his approach from that of other socialists...who seemed more content to dream about some future ideal society without comprehending how existing society really worked."
"Specifically, Marx claimed that capitalism has ruptured into a war between two classes...the capitalist class that owns the means of production...[and] the working class, which is at [their] mercy..."
"Marx predicted that competition among capitalists would grow so fierce that, eventually, most capitalists would go bankrupt, leaving only a handful of monopolists controlling nearly all production...Competition, instead of creating better products at lower prices for consumers, in the long run creates monopoly, which exploits workers and consumers alike..."
"Also, thought Marx, the anarchic, unplanned nature of a complex market economy is prone to economic crises as supplies and demands become mismatched, causing huge swings in business activity and, ultimately, severe economic depressions."
Can anyone tell me that they don't see this kind of thing happening in corporate America today?
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On the article Obama Moves to Address High Gas Prices
Matt Skoufalos
3:23 pm on Thursday, April 19, 2012
Hey, a lot of fun words are being tossed around here. Let's see if we can agree on some definitions of terms. Since we're speaking in economic terms, do these work for everyone?
Marxism: http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Marxism.html
Socialism: http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Socialism.htmlLet's see if we can lose the ad hominem attacks and discuss the issues at hand. Anger and emotions are only going to cloud any chance of this being a productive discussion. Come back to me after you've read.
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On the article Collingswood Patch Has a New Local Editor
Matt Skoufalos
10:07 pm on Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Not sure whether that's in poor taste or just really unfunny, Ross.
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On the article Collingswood Patch Has a New Local Editor
Matt Skoufalos
7:14 pm on Monday, April 16, 2012
ReplyThanks to everyone for the kind words! As I said, I firmly believe that Patch can be a great resource for Collingswood if everyone keeps us in the loop with what's going on. We're here to serve you, so please let us know what you need.
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On the article President Obama's Eligibility Challenged
Matt Skoufalos
2:29 pm on Tuesday, April 10, 2012
The source Wikipedia cites is the CRS:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42097.pdf
"Under the common law principle of jus soli (law of the soil), persons born on English soil, even of two alien parents, were “natural born” subjects and, as noted by the Supreme Court, this “same rule” was applicable in the American colonies and “in the United States afterwards, and continued to prevail under the Constitution..."
"In addition to historical and textual analysis, numerous holdings and references in federal (and state) cases for more than a century have clearly indicated that those born in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction (i.e., not born to foreign diplomats or occupying military forces), even to alien parents, are citizens “at birth” or “by birth,” and are “natural born,” as opposed to “naturalized,” U.S. citizens.
"There is no provision in the Constitution and no controlling American case law to support a contention that the citizenship of one’s parents governs the eligibility of a native born U.S. citizen to be President."
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On the article Visions for Vacancies: What Should Fill This Empty Storefront?
Matt Skoufalos
12:40 pm on Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Should have read a teensy bit farther to get to this discussion!
Matt Skoufalos
12:03 am on Friday, April 20, 2012
David, I know I've only been on the job for less than a week, but unless you're privy to some memos that I'm not getting, the only coverage dictate we have here at Patch is to serve the communities in which we are located with timely, accurate, and locally focused reporting.
I can guarantee you that we welcome conversation of all kinds on these message boards--in fact, that's what we're seeing here. It's not necessary for you to slam the site for hosting a forum in which you can meet other folks to share your ideas.
In truth, if anyone were stifling your opinions, they wouldn't be here at all to be read. So let's try to keep a little perspective, please.