Friday, May 12, 2006

a Futures market for gasoline?

This is a great idea. Sign me up for a few hundred gallons. smaller stations could make it work but they would probably have to do much shorter terms. The smaller capacity would probably only work for 6 months or so since you'd probably have a small group of users in the beginning. But once you get to ,say 30% of your customers (remember, I am no economist so i have no idea what the actual nmbers would have to be)buying gas at cheaper than current prices you would start losing money. The first aspect of Petrowski's program would allow consumers to buy prepaid cards for a certain amount of gasoline at a set price. If the price at the pump rises, the card holder would still pay the lower price they locked in with their prepaid card.

A working version of the plan is here.

Monday, May 08, 2006

Bush shuns Patriot Act requirement

When President Bush signed the reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act this month, he included an addendum saying that he did not feel obliged to obey requirements that he inform Congress about how the FBI was using the act's expanded police powers.


In the statement, Bush said that he did not consider himself bound to tell Congress how the Patriot Act powers were being used and that, despite the law's requirements, he could withhold the information if he decided that disclosure would ''impair foreign relations, national security, the deliberative process of the executive, or the performance of the executive's constitutional duties."