Tim Russert, normally a pretty sharp tack, woke up on the stupid side of the bed on Sunday. He actually asked energy secretary Samuel Bodman: "Mr. Secretary, if, if demand is up but supply is down, why are the profits so high?"

Lloyd Christmas: That's a lovely accent you have. New Jersey?
Lady at bus stop: Austria.
Lloyd Christmas: Austria! Well, then. G'day mate! Ha. Ha. Ha. Let's put another shrimp on the barbie!
Lady at bus stop: Let's not.

Ignorance of basic economic principles seems to underlie both liberal diagnosis of and liberal prescription for economic problems. All problems are caused by greed and exploitation; all problems are to be solved by government investigating and regulating.

That was a silly exchange reminiscent of an Abbott and Costello sketch. But seriously, Senator Dick Durbin was the biggest idiot in that segment. I enjoyed how he kept having to take note of how he was the only one there holding his ridiculous views, it almost struck a note of self-awareness but his moral righteousness and density would ultimately not be disturbed.

Government has no proven track record to show they can solve problems that they themselves have created. And make no mistake about it; they have created (again) this most recent gas fiasco.

Over regulation, over taxation, policies that mandate costly designer fuel blends by region, policies that have killed the domestic industry and have forced us to be dependent on foreign oil that comes from many of the most politically and socially unstable places on the planet have all worked to limit supply and push prices upward.

"Ignorance of basic economic principles seems to underlie both liberal diagnosis of and liberal prescription for economic problems. All problems are caused by greed and exploitation; all problems are to be solved by government investigating and regulating." -skeptic

Russert is one of the very few people in the media where I honestly can't see a liberal bias the majority of the time. Obviously this proves hes no economic wiz, but generally he is a very even minded and very intelligent guy.

Ben T: Are you responding to me? I didn't say anything about Russert. I agree with you about him.

Sometimes these people ask questions like that so the viewers can hear the guest answer them. I find it much easier to believe he was doing that than believe he doesn't understand the law of supply and demand.

The issue here is that in some situations during a shortage, it can be more profitable to keep supply down or decrease supply rather than increase it. In this case, the colluding companies make a lot of money for themselves, but it deals economic damage far far greater than the profit they made. Damage done by greed.