Yes, I read paleocon blogs, too.

[randomness]

From http://www.amconmag.com/blog/2008/07/29/el-rushbore/:

Limbaugh endorses China’s fuel subsidies:

Folks, I don’t know what the price of gasoline is in China and I don’t know to what extent, if any, it is subsidized — okay, it is subsidized. See, the ChiComs need their economy growing. They need people driving around, moving around. They need people to be able to afford fuel, so they’re subsidizing fuel. They’re not bailing people out of stupid home mortgage messes. They’re buying their gasoline for them, because they need an economy. Know what energy means to this, the whole subject of economic growth. So meanwhile, the ChiComs, a country certainly growing, certainly on the rise, but it ain’t the United States of America. How does it make you feel that Zhang Linsen has a big Hummer with nine speakers blaring as he pulls out into a four-lane road with so much smog he basically can’t see the car in front of him, and you are trading in all of your cars and trying to go out and find basically a lawn mower.

It’s amazing what passes for conservatism these days. The market is currently dictating that Americans become more fuel efficient, which Limbaugh apparently disapproves of. Imagine the uproar if Obama or Clinton said that the U.S. should become more like China.

(Via Daniel Larison, who adds: "Actually, it makes me feel relieved that I don’t live in smog-infested cities where marathoners collapse and die because of the pollution.")

Comments

Re: I read the transcript

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

What I got from it was: "look, the Chinese are taking action against high gas prices...why aren't we?" which I completely disagree with, regardless of who proposes it.

I'd actually thought of your comment on my earlier free markets post, when I posted this.

It's like they say, "The best cure for high prices is high prices".

That's only part of it

[fin9901.livejournal.com]

High prices tend to be their own cure because they stimulate supply and slow down demand. Problem is, US law is what's keeping supply restricted; we can't drill off 80 percent of our coastline, we can't extract shale oil like they're working on in Alberta, we can't drill in ANWR.

Back in the 1970s, domestic to foreign oil was about 70-30. Now it's flipped to more like 30-70. Not allowing supply to expand will make high gas prices much more painful than they would be otherwise. We need to be exploring every reasonable domestic energy possibility we have, since as I mentioned upscreen, every bit of energy we can produce here is that much less energy we have to import from countries that hate us.

[ishaa.livejournal.com]

Talked to my uncle the geologist last week.

He says: "We're headed toward a wall at 70 mph. Some people are trying to hit the brakes and some people are trying to move the wall. We're going to have to do both. We're going to have to do everything."

Consume less, explore alternatives, AND drill in Alaska and off-shore.

He's in the oil industry, but it's okay, his company employs fewer than 10 people. They'd have to hire a lot more before they would become A Big Corporation to be feared and mistrusted. I forget where the cutoff is.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

I do think people are working hard to maintain a lifestyle which isn't sustainable. I mean, sure, go for it...but ultimately I think not only will people have to hit the brakes and others move the wall, but someone's going to have to consider turning the steering wheel. I grant that it's going to be a wild ride, and probably not a very comfortable one.

They'd have to hire a lot more before they would become A Big Corporation to be feared and mistrusted. I forget where the cutoff is.

Once again...who decides?

[ishaa.livejournal.com]

I wish I knew. So do Larry and Sergey.