Back in 1990 during the first Gulf War, gas prices suddenly spiked. Being fresh out of school and attending college, I was freshly taught about the concepts of supply and demand. When demand for a product was x, the supplier would (or could) provide amount y of said product. This would naturally set the price of the product. I knew then that the supply of gas products was y, and the demand remained constant. I believed the talking heads back then that the price of gas had increased due to the war.
Fast forward to 2009, the stock market went all crazy like. The price of gas steadily increased, people grumbled and complained, yet the government didn’t do anything about. Instead the government focused on giving out money to companies that were having finical difficulties, without keeping track of that money or requiring that money to be paid back. As the finical crisis continued, the price of gas continued to climb. We were told that the gas prices directly affected the price of every other product in America. ‘Cause delivery costs increased, the companies had to pass that additional burden onto the customer. We were told this is just the way things are in a capitalist style market place.
Over a period of time, the American people were slowly desensitized to the price of gas by the gradual increase in the price. While it was pointed out that the price of gas was one of the basic causes of the increase of all prices to everything, there was no direct attempt by the government to attempt to decrease the price. With America being a net exporter of oil, there was no rational reason why the price continued to increase, other than market manipulation.
I use the above as an example of what can happen with a long term plane of desensitizing the American people to something. I have listened to and read a lot of information on the Cornovirus as anybody else has. I like to think I may have even gone a bit further in my research and understanding than the average person. While the threat is real, and I do believe that most local, state, and federal restrictions were made in the best interests in attempting to control and limit people being exposed to the virus, I’m starting to believe that some of the local governments are starting to experiment with desensitizing the American people to limiting their freedom of movement.
I believe it is Fresno Ca that has decided that everybody needs to shelter in place. I believe this is overkill to the virus response. The local government officials need to understand that American people have several rights that they can never infringe upon, and the freedom of movement is one of those. If they can restrict when and where you go, they can control where you live, work, who you social with, and etc. It is the most basic form and most important form of control that can be implemented. I propose that Fresno CA is experimenting with desensitizing the American public to travel restrictions.
What do you think?
