Thread by @KurtHackbarth

1. On May 3, we bought two, 20 kg cylinders of natural gas for $800 pesos in Oaxaca. Today, the same two cost $928, a 16% increase.

In response to these & other increases, #AMLO announced this week the creation of a public gas distributor. Of course, the Right went apoplectic...

2. Either arguing against intervention in the "market" or contending there were "other ways" to control these increases, without saying what they were.

Three companies control the gas market here. This is an oligopoly, something the Right used to be against -or pretended to be.

3. Mexico is full of such oligopolies, from media (TV, newspapers) to pharmaceuticals to banks to supermarkets. And every time AMLO goes after one of them, the response is vicious. Just look at how the drug companies have been trying to protect theirs:

infobae.com/america/mexico…

4. Again, in theory, the Right should be against oligopolies because they restrict competition. But today's conservatives have become so intellectually dishonest that they, nakedly and crudely, protect the vested economic interests of owners who couldn't care less about them.

5. On one hand, they contend that the private sector is far superior to the public one, which is why everything should be privatized. On the other, as soon as a public option is introduced, it's "unfair competition."

There is no consistency here, just grasping at anything.

6. Meanwhile, AMLO is setting up "Gas Bienestar" and I can't wait. Buy your expensive private gas if you want - nobody's stopping you.