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Hello. My name is Stuart. I live on the island of Oahu and I am a 23-year-old alumnus of Hawaii Pacific University. Is anyone else here from Hawaii?

I have been an admirer of Ayn Rand's books since 1997 and am interested in getting to know the rest of you. :)

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Thank you softwareNerd, JMeganShow, and Prometheus! :)

The weather is really good in Hawaii B) , but the political-economic climate is another matter. Hawaii's state government has passed a law putting a price ceiling on all gasoline sold at the wholesale level (but not at the retail level), and this law is going to go into effect next month! :o And that is just one of the many ridiculous regulations in place. Hawaii is run by Wesley Mouch.

I have met a lot of free-marketers in Hawaii, but they're either strictly utilitarian or strictly Rothbardian, and most of them have a close-minded attitude about objective morality. I think that Objectivism is sorely needed by those who wish to save the islands.

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I would be surprised if the voters of Hawaii learned their lesson from that. They'll say the long lines are the fault of greedy oil companies choosing to restrict output.

This week, several gasoline retailers were quoted in the local newspaper as saying that since the shortages will exist as the wholesale level, it will be up to the retailers to charge higher prices.

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Hi Felipe!

I chose the username Legendre because that's the name of the French businessman who supposedly coined "laissez faire." I hadn't heard of Legendre polynomials before you mentioned them; this looks like rather advanced math to me! :) But, hey, it's pretty cool to share a name with a mathematical innovator. :o

By the way, I have been telling all my friends to read danconia online ever since you blogged about that CEO who stood up to the "corporate social responsibility" zealots.

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Hopefully (I can say it since I don't live there) the price controls will create shortages and lines at gas-stations.

Yeah, that's exactly what I thought when I heard about the Hawaiian price controls. Unfortunately, I don't see the outcome as being "Wow, so I guess government tampering in the market is a bad thing. Let's not do that anymore." I see wholesale gas suppliers almost completely withdrawing from Hawaii (they'd be losing potential profit by continuing to do business there as opposed to other states without the price control), which would of course cause drastic shortages in gasoline. However, I suspect that the government's solution to this problem (in the style of its solutions to almost all problems) would be to pass another law requiring the supply of a certain amount of gasoline at the forced, below-equilibirum price. We all know what happens when that snowball gets rolling.

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This would be an excellent opportunity to write letters to the editor and your congresspeople, Legendre, explaining the reasons for why government interference won't help AND why it is government interference (via taxes, environmental regulations that prevent the American oil industry from developing, etc.) that has actually caused the high gas prices in the first place. Then when there are lines people won't say "oh, those evil gas stations, gouging the little guy!" they will (hopefully) say "Darn that idiot government! Who voted for these people?!"

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Thanks for the feedback on the gasoline price caps, Cole, studentofobjectivism, and Jennifer! :)

The gas price cap will go into effect this Thursday. I suppose everyone interested in gaping at this train wreck (this Taggart Tunnel disaster?) can follow its progress on the websites of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and Honolulu Advertiser. Oh yeah, and the website those mainstream papers hate, Hawaii Reporter.

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