Craig Haynie wrote:
I have to disagree with the implications of his email. In a free society, people don't get together and 'vote' on how to use other people's property. With regard to oil, it is not for anyone to decide how it's to be used . . .
That is incorrect. In cases when property aversely affects the rest of the community, governments always claim jurisdiction over it. This has been true in every society, free and unfree, throughout history. For example, if you have a herd of cows and they are infected with hoof and mouth disease, society intervenes to kill them. If you have a swimming pool in an urban area without a proper safety fence around it, society intervenes and forces you to put up a fence. In 1790 people building barns in Gettysburg, PA had to build them according to a strict set of building codes to prevent catastrophic collapse and to keep builders from ripping off farmers. There has never been a time in the 400 years of European settlements in North American when government did not intervene often and forcefully in the use of some types of private property.
In the case of oil, government intervention began soon after the stuff was discovered in the 1840s, with various regulations regarding safety, fair weight and measurement, purity and so on. It continues today because most experts believe that oil is significantly harmful to the environment. All harmful substances are always regulated.
. . . or if it's to be replaced, or what price is to be paid for it, other than the individuals buying and selling it.
Prices of vital commodities such as oil have been regulated in every era, in every society on earth, including the U.S. Completely unregulated free markets in things like energy, oil and health care have NEVER existed and never will exist. I favor capitalism as much as anyone, but in the real world it will always be regulated to some extent. The only questions are: To what extent, and to what purpose? Do we regulate to ensure fair competition only, or also to ensure various other goals such as product safety (keeping barns from collapsing on people).
Do we really want to bring up political issues on this board?
I do not consider the above sentences (by me) to be political. I am stating well-known facts about energy and fuel. Anyone who wishes to understand cold fusion, alternative energy and other on-topic subjects here must grasp these fundamental facts about regulations, society and energy. For example, you have to understand that cold fusion or some sort of magnetic motor could not possibly be manufactured and sold in the U.S., Europe or Japan without first going through extensive safety testing regulation and checking by Underwriter's Laboratory. I have read many fantasies about secretly converting cars to cold fusion or some other "o-u" energy source such as Mills' hydrinos "under the radar." I know a few people who want to do that. It is completely out of the question. It is also ridiculous to imagine that you might keep a product's composition secret without a patent. You cannot sell any product in the U.S. without revealing to UL and others ever single technical detail, including the types of screws you use.
- Jed
