April 25, 2006
Blame Congress for your $3 gas
It's all their fault.
How? Well, for starters, they've mandated the use of ethanol as an oxygenator in gasoline, irrespective of the fact that it's in short supply and is currently selling for $2.77/gallon. There's also a $0.54/gallon tax on ethanol imports, which just makes things worse, because the majority of ethanol production centers in the US are in the Midwest, and ethanol is hard to transport. Talk about your artifical shortage. The ethanol lobby is threatening the seats of any member of Congress that opposes repealing the tarriff.
Then there's the fact that oil itself is becoming a scarce commodity given the surging demand by India and China combined with the fact that the short-list of oil-producing nations is also the short-list of places you probably don't want to go for summer break: Saudi Arabia (Islamo-dictatorship), Iraq (freaking mess), Iran (don't get me started), Venezuala (childish Castro-wannabe), Nigeria (it's in Africa...), etc. But does Congress allow oil companies to exploit the multi-billion barrel reserves we're sitting on? Like Alaska or offshore drilling? Hell no. Can't have that.
A plague on both their houses.
Come up here to Hamlton, Ontario and pay 1.03 per litre...or maybe go west a bit and pay 90 pence per litre in the UK. Do the conversions and America comes out way ahead even at 3 bucks a gallon.
North Americans have it so easy (in terms of gas prices), and therefore we don't do so much to promote more efficient cars and transport systems. We waste what we have because we haven't been pressed to develop alternatives.
Posted by: funke at April 25, 2006 1:00 PMI'll grant you that Congress rarely passes universally sensible legislation, but come on, Congress is NOT to blame for $3/ gal gas prices. Prices rise and fall due to market forces. The taxes and mandates you mentioned were in place well before this recent jump in gas prices.
Also, why is $3/ gal bad? Keep in mind that $3 is just an arbitrary amount. Ten years ago, people would have considered $2/ gal outrageous. Now, we'd throw a parade for such low prices.
Heck, my parents used to buy a loaf of bread for 15 cents, while I have to pay about a dollar for one. Is Congress to blame for that too?
Anyway, here's an article with some comparisons of gas prices, and their corresponding taxes among some industrialized nations. Not surprisingly, the U.S. is one of the lowest.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12452503/
Posted by: DWord at April 25, 2006 1:38 PMIts a side note, but an important one nonetheless. Oil is a finite resource, and we're going to run out sooner or later.
I say buy a scooter. Save yourself $$.
Posted by: JosiahQ at April 25, 2006 1:39 PMJosiah: clearly you are not familiar with the abiogenic theories of petroleum origin. Nikolai Alexandrovitch Kudryavtsev would be ashamed.
Posted by: rob at April 25, 2006 1:51 PM"other planets of the solar system or their moons have large petroleum oceans"
HOLY CRAP!
Forget the space shuttle, that's what NASA needs to be working on.
But the entry doesn't mention how far away these planets are, or how long it would take Josiah to ride there on his magic scooter.
Posted by: DWord at April 25, 2006 2:26 PMWow, that's fascinating. That's so much for the link. I'll keep reading up on it all.
Posted by: JosiahQ at April 25, 2006 2:34 PMHopefully this is assumed, but my respectful opinion is that the abiotic theorists are batshit crazy...
Posted by: rob at April 25, 2006 3:30 PMInstallment #4,567,897 in the series, "How Government Does Things Bigger, Dumber, Slower and Costlier."
Posted by: Bill at April 25, 2006 3:31 PMActually, if anyone is to blame it is good ol' consumers. China and India are both at least four times the population of the U.S., and yet the U.S. consumes more oil than both of them COMBINED.
My guess is that American mid-life crises account for at least 1/3 of the high gas prices (Why the heck does a 52 year-old lady with no children need a Hummer 2?).
So is Congress in the equation? More than likely. Are they the cause? Doubtful.
Posted by: john at April 25, 2006 4:30 PMOil prices certainly would have risen over the past five years irrespective of idiotic Congressional involvement, but I'd bet money that we'd now be at $2/gallon instead of $3 if we had saner legislation on the books. Demand has indeed gone up, but supply is being artifically restricted by brain-dead Washingtonians - with a little help from California, which won't allow any offshore drilling. At least they're paying more for their folly than the rest of us.
Posted by: ryan at April 25, 2006 5:00 PM