Your Daily Moment Of Surreality

Over at Calculated Risk, the Angry Bear watches what passes for reasoning about energy policy in the United States and clutches his head like— well, not an angry bear so much as like— a stunned monkey.

MarketWatch quotes Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman saying "Demand exceeds supply" in the market for gasoline. Here is the excerpt:

"Suppliers have lost control of the market," Bodman told NBC's Tim Russert, when asked what the reason for the latest spike in U.S. gas prices. "Therefore demand exceeds supply."

I don't think 'demand exceeds supply'. Too funny.

For some reason, relatively high gasoline prices bring out the silly comments and dumb proposals. Senator Frist has proposed sending most Americans a check for $100 - he is thinking small - why not $1 million?

And some Senate Democrats have proposed a 60-day Moratorium on gasoline taxes. Wouldn't that encourage demand?

And Condoleezza Rice proclaimed:

"... if anything has surprised me as secretary of state, it is the degree to which the kind of search for hydrocarbons is distorting international politics."

This was a surprise?

Idiots. We are a nation of idiots. Idiots with a nuclear arsenal.