Viewpoint: Propane costs rise and may go higher

I heat my house with propane. When I had the tank refilled, the price had rocketed up. When I asked the local supplier why, he stated that all the propane had been used up for drying the corn crop, and that the price would continue skyrocketing, if he was lucky enough to get any at all. My first thought was what incredible incompetence. My second thought was energy supplies are higher than they have ever been, there is no way they cannot bring in more supplies. This is simply a manufactured excuse for price gouging. Why? Because they can. This clearly shows the need for government regulation which the republicans have been so diligently getting rid of. Please note, I do not blame the local suppliers. They make their money through volume sales. With their customers cutting back and switching to alternative heat, they are as victimized as we are. We are not self reliant, we are dependent upon a strong central government to reign in mans’ inhumanity to man. We cannot defend ourselves against the power of big money using that power to gain still more. That power has demonstrated its unconcern for the working class by hiring republicans to cut taxes for the rich and pay for that by cutting regulation, services, education, health care, voting rights and attacking unions, which is a workers primary defense against their ravening greed. That poor sap who accuses me of being communist and screams about income redistribution, ignores the fact that it has been happening for decades. 95% of income increases has gone to the top 1 percent, while working class income has plummeted at the same time our costs have increased. Nov Gov. Walker has dreamed up a new wrinkle, eliminate state income tax! Multimillionaires will pay no income tax while WalMart and McDonalds workers, who don’t make enough to pay tax on, will pay an increased sales tax on almost every item they buy. An increased real estate tax would put a serious burden on the average homeowner, while the rich would hardly notice it. Way to go republicans, kick em when their down.

Barrie Johnson, Exeland