I fear/trust them both in about equal amounts...but the fear part seems to be the one that gets multiplied when they start working together.

If use for publicly owned ballparks bothers you, then you'll really want to keep an eye on Oakland. The new owner of the Oakland Athletics is dedicated to keeping the team in Oakland (there have been years of talk of moving elsewhere in Alameda County or even the Bay Area). He is even willing to forego public financing of the stadium and pay for it himself (as was done in San Francisco for SBC Park) but he wants the cities help in acquiring the necessary land (in a thoroughly blighted part of Oakland). If negotiations fail I expect to see an attempt at an eminent domain seizure for the purposes of building a <i>privately</i> owned stadium (though surrounded by other city-sponsored redevelopment).

Condemnation wouldn't directly result in a transfer of ownership in the property (though it might make the owners more eager to sell). It is a tough issue. I'm pretty strong on private property rights, but there are social responsibilities and unfortunately minor "failures" of the market and regulatory systems will produce pockets that can't easily be reclaimed through standard development.

As for refineries, I'm not sure building more of bigger/better is really going to do much about the price of gas. It's a limited resource and world wide demand is on the increase. We still have it cheap - (I read an item yesterday that pegged the cost at $7 a gallon in France right now). Furthermore I don't see why the refining process has to take place here - do it on the cheap elsewhere and ship gasoline instead of crude

But I agree the simplistic notion that corporations are evil, leads to many unfavorable outcomes. I've personal experience in how California's reaction to degregulation has created numerous disincentives to build more plants when we know more are needed. That's not likely to change until a Summer of Balckouts forces the issue. Politics is almost always reactive and seldom proactive.

As for Ballparks and eminent domain, yeah what a sad waste, though I suppose they can be used as emergency shelter in the event of a disaster - as long as the roof doesn't leak. I rarely go to ballparks so, it's not something I'd support - though I am a big fan of public spaces. Turning out people to create them though just doesn't seem right even if it does happen all the time.

I have tried to find a definitive answer on the shelf life of gasoline. Estimates I've seen are from a year to as little as a month. If it is closer to the latter, that might explain why it can't be shipped.

Again though, the numbers vary pretty wildly. You would think someone would actually know. :)

Gasoline has a shelf life? Who knew?

Sure does. It used to live on a shelf in my parents garage until the mower ran out.

A co-worker of mine is an ardent conservative, and constantly rails against welfare. He is also a major sports nut. I ask him how he reconciles his anti-welfare sensibilities with the corporate welfare now going on with such things as Safeco Field in Seattle, and he just sputters something about how it's okay for the public to subsidize (and be taxed for) the support of sports arenas and the like, as they enhance our quality of life and bring revenue to Washington state. :rolleyes:

I will never be one of those, WB - take my word for it. And i love sports.

I actually did a little research a few weeks ago because I was pondering the idea of gas as an investment. Why not build a huge storage facility, store a million gallons of gas, and wait a few years (or months, as it were) for the price to quadruple, then sell it?

Much to my disappointment, I found out about the shelf-life thing which killed my dreams of enormous wealth. Eh, it happens. :)

So what you're saying is that you're just as evil as the oil companies but not as smart? :)