Seven Billion Suckers
There has been a lot of talk lately about the so-called "law of supply and demand" and oil prices. There was an article in the Advocate recently, in fact ("Oil: The Fear Factor," July 24). There is, however, no such thing as a "law" of supply and demand. There is a custom or popular practice involving supply and demand. It's very popular with price gougers.
The "law" of supply and demand came from the same get-rich-without-working people who gave us all the ways that Wall Streeters pull money out of thin air (futures, derivatives, hedge funds, mortgage bundling).
The article also mentioned speculators' fears or jitters as a cause of higher oil prices. Speculators' jitters have as much to do with the cost of drilling, refining and delivering gasoline to the pump as does political unrest in Kenya, Iran firing a few test missiles, the arrival of winter, the arrival of summer—all of which have been used as excuses for raising oil prices.
P.T. Barnum said a sucker is born every day. The oil companies are playing the word's seven billion people for suckers ever day. Please write to your congressmen and senators and notify them that there is no such thing as a "law of supply and demand."
John Harrigan
Springfield
A Patronizing Review
I was at The Harp Irish Pub the evening your reviewer visited ("Fish and Chips, Ahoy," August 7), so I was either one of the "heavy drinkers" or the searchers "of a mellow evening out." In fact, the bartender was even more "grouchy" than the reviewer lets on, because the bartender insisted on seeing not only the IDs but the members of the reviewer's party, who are required to match those IDs. That's the law. Of course, laws can be a drag.
The reviewer thought the music "seemed" authentic enough. If she knows, she should just say so; if she doesn't, then her statement is patronizing. The Harp has food, and it has beer, but most of all it has "crack." (From Wikipedia: "Crack: fun, enjoyment, abandonment, or lighthearted mischief; often in the context of drinking or music.") The Irish music is authentic, and it is one of the pleasures of my life to hear it at the Harp every Thursday and Friday. There is no sheet music. One player begins a (possibly unfamiliar) tune, others gradually join in as they recognize it, or as they figure out its structure; by the end, everyone is playing and the sound has grown large. There is singing, too—solo, unaccompanied, and thrilling. That's crack!
I fear your reviewer was a stranger in a strange land. At least she loved the fish and chips—but everyone does.
Jim Callahan
Amherst
