Gasoline Prices are on the Rise again nationally but particularly in California. Some Reports have Gasoline selling at $ 5,00 and above in Southern California and $ 6,00 in Northern California, particularly in San Francisco.
Gasoline Companies blame the usual Culprits: Refinery Fires or Power Outages, Pipeline Problems, Switch from Summer Blend to Winter Blend (Winter Blend for California?), you name it, they can come up with an Explanation for it. Some of us are reminded by all this of the Good Ole' Days when Anita Bryant was pitching Orange Juice from Florida and then the News Reports were coming up with one Florida Frost after another, justifying higher and higher Orange Prices; all that is, until Brazil started exporting Oranges and put an End to that cute little Game.
But Gasoline is not Orange Juice; the World is locked in an Oil Demand/Supply Puzzle; current Supplies may be ,,adequate'' but going forward they are not and will never be; Motorists in Lagos consume Gasoline just as voraciously as Motorists in Los Angeles. Disruptions by Wars and Boycotts, particularly in the Middle East have essentially put upward Pressure on Petroleum Prices; so has, quietly, imperceptibly, Saudi Arabia, which, when it comes to strategizing Oil Prices can outbest the best Poker Players in the World. But all this reveals only Part of the Answer. The Long, Medium and even the Short Trend of Oil Consumption in the Form of Gasoline is up and nearly nothing seems to be able to stop it. Whether you go to Baltimore, Berlin, Bucharest, Buenos Aires, one Thing is evident: People just drive.
Is there a Solution? There is no easy Solution. But there can be a Strategy. A Strategy which requires Political Courage and Vision. Underlying such a Strategy is the empirically verifiable Assumption that People will drive just as much whether Gasoline costs $ 2,00 a Gallon as it used to or $ 4,00 a Gallon, as it does now or $ 10,00 a Gallon as it costs in some other Parts of the World. Such an Assumption is verifiable even within the United States where People in California and New York, which have some of the Country's highest Prices drive just as much or possibly even more than say, some Place like Kansas or Wyoming where Gasoline costs much less. They may complain about it, even vociferously at Times but drive they will. According to Economists' Definition, Demand for Gasoline is ,,inelastic'' but it is more than that. It is also culturally driven and has been for a very, very long Time. As an anecdotal Example, the Federal Government ,,rescued'' General Motors by pumping $ 60 Billion into a Company without a Future; into a ,,Has Been;'' for the same Amount of Money, it probably could have started building Street Cars in Los Angeles and put just as many People back to Work (,,saving or creating'' Jobs). But it didn't. Instead, it chose to to ,,rescue'' General Motors. What does one expect People to do when they buy their new General Motors Car? (either a traditional ,,Belchfire'' or the new $ 78,000 Chevy Volt - Manufacturing Cost - which can be bought for Half of what it costs to make it)
Sit on their Porch in their Rocking Chair, look at the Car and say, ,,Look, Ma, I just bought a new General Motors Car?''
Yes, there used to be Street Cars in Los Angeles and the feeble Attempt to ,,reintroduce'' Light Rail Transporatation into Los Angeles does not come close to even being a Shadow of what used to exist in a Metropolitan Area now more than tenfold larger in Size and Population
(Speaking of Los Angeles, of course, one had to do something about the ,,405 San Diego Freeway'' to accommodate all of those new General Motors Cars being sold, some for more than what it costs to make them, some for less, by unleasing a Billion Dollar Repair Project with ,,Carmageddon II and all.'' A few more Billion Dollars there, ,,creating or saving'' more Jobs...what ever happened to the Street Cars in Los Angeles? Answer: They went the Way of the ,,Do Do Bird'' in the 1960's when, yes, you guessed it, General Motors bought the Operation from the City of Los Angeles and then closed it down to make Way for, what else? General Motors Cars)
The Strategy which has been shown to work elsewhere, both East and West is to get ahead of the Curve of the Gasoline and Petroleum Companies and, yes, even ahead of the Curve of the Oil Producing States. Instead of begging and jawboning for lower Oil Prices, along with threatening to increase Oil Production (some at horrific Environmental Costs), the Government should pre empt Price Increases by Gasoline Companies by taxing Gasoline in line with the anticipated Increases for Gasoline Prices. That's how they do it in England, Russia, France, Argentina, yes, even in China.
People there drive just as much. But the excess Revenue flows into the Government's Pockets. Something akin to Alcohol or Cigarette Tax. You say, but Cigarette and Alcohol can be harmful or fatal to Health? So can and is Auto Exhaust Pollution and even those much touted ,,Electric'' or Hybrid Cars'' which simply transfer the Pollution from one Place to another.
But, you say, all the Government is going to do with that Revenue is waste it? Well, you are absolutely right. They may and they probably will, some or much of it. That is why we all have an Obligation to make our Views known to Local, State and Federal Officials, fight for the Issues we believe in, and attract Attention to Issues which lead the Government (Federal, State or Local) down the wrong Path, be that the War in Iraq or the Bridge to Nowhere, along with a Myriad of other equally important or less imporant Issues, but...ya know what?
Think about it...Worst Case Scenario, would you rather see the Government waste the Money, or see Exxon/Mobil, Texaco, Chevron and others like them stuff their Executives' Pockets and Corporate Coffers with it?
Gasoline Companies blame the usual Culprits: Refinery Fires or Power Outages, Pipeline Problems, Switch from Summer Blend to Winter Blend (Winter Blend for California?), you name it, they can come up with an Explanation for it. Some of us are reminded by all this of the Good Ole' Days when Anita Bryant was pitching Orange Juice from Florida and then the News Reports were coming up with one Florida Frost after another, justifying higher and higher Orange Prices; all that is, until Brazil started exporting Oranges and put an End to that cute little Game.
But Gasoline is not Orange Juice; the World is locked in an Oil Demand/Supply Puzzle; current Supplies may be ,,adequate'' but going forward they are not and will never be; Motorists in Lagos consume Gasoline just as voraciously as Motorists in Los Angeles. Disruptions by Wars and Boycotts, particularly in the Middle East have essentially put upward Pressure on Petroleum Prices; so has, quietly, imperceptibly, Saudi Arabia, which, when it comes to strategizing Oil Prices can outbest the best Poker Players in the World. But all this reveals only Part of the Answer. The Long, Medium and even the Short Trend of Oil Consumption in the Form of Gasoline is up and nearly nothing seems to be able to stop it. Whether you go to Baltimore, Berlin, Bucharest, Buenos Aires, one Thing is evident: People just drive.
Is there a Solution? There is no easy Solution. But there can be a Strategy. A Strategy which requires Political Courage and Vision. Underlying such a Strategy is the empirically verifiable Assumption that People will drive just as much whether Gasoline costs $ 2,00 a Gallon as it used to or $ 4,00 a Gallon, as it does now or $ 10,00 a Gallon as it costs in some other Parts of the World. Such an Assumption is verifiable even within the United States where People in California and New York, which have some of the Country's highest Prices drive just as much or possibly even more than say, some Place like Kansas or Wyoming where Gasoline costs much less. They may complain about it, even vociferously at Times but drive they will. According to Economists' Definition, Demand for Gasoline is ,,inelastic'' but it is more than that. It is also culturally driven and has been for a very, very long Time. As an anecdotal Example, the Federal Government ,,rescued'' General Motors by pumping $ 60 Billion into a Company without a Future; into a ,,Has Been;'' for the same Amount of Money, it probably could have started building Street Cars in Los Angeles and put just as many People back to Work (,,saving or creating'' Jobs). But it didn't. Instead, it chose to to ,,rescue'' General Motors. What does one expect People to do when they buy their new General Motors Car? (either a traditional ,,Belchfire'' or the new $ 78,000 Chevy Volt - Manufacturing Cost - which can be bought for Half of what it costs to make it)
Sit on their Porch in their Rocking Chair, look at the Car and say, ,,Look, Ma, I just bought a new General Motors Car?''
Yes, there used to be Street Cars in Los Angeles and the feeble Attempt to ,,reintroduce'' Light Rail Transporatation into Los Angeles does not come close to even being a Shadow of what used to exist in a Metropolitan Area now more than tenfold larger in Size and Population
(Speaking of Los Angeles, of course, one had to do something about the ,,405 San Diego Freeway'' to accommodate all of those new General Motors Cars being sold, some for more than what it costs to make them, some for less, by unleasing a Billion Dollar Repair Project with ,,Carmageddon II and all.'' A few more Billion Dollars there, ,,creating or saving'' more Jobs...what ever happened to the Street Cars in Los Angeles? Answer: They went the Way of the ,,Do Do Bird'' in the 1960's when, yes, you guessed it, General Motors bought the Operation from the City of Los Angeles and then closed it down to make Way for, what else? General Motors Cars)
A Street Car in the northern City of Bremen, Germany
The Strategy which has been shown to work elsewhere, both East and West is to get ahead of the Curve of the Gasoline and Petroleum Companies and, yes, even ahead of the Curve of the Oil Producing States. Instead of begging and jawboning for lower Oil Prices, along with threatening to increase Oil Production (some at horrific Environmental Costs), the Government should pre empt Price Increases by Gasoline Companies by taxing Gasoline in line with the anticipated Increases for Gasoline Prices. That's how they do it in England, Russia, France, Argentina, yes, even in China.
People there drive just as much. But the excess Revenue flows into the Government's Pockets. Something akin to Alcohol or Cigarette Tax. You say, but Cigarette and Alcohol can be harmful or fatal to Health? So can and is Auto Exhaust Pollution and even those much touted ,,Electric'' or Hybrid Cars'' which simply transfer the Pollution from one Place to another.
But, you say, all the Government is going to do with that Revenue is waste it? Well, you are absolutely right. They may and they probably will, some or much of it. That is why we all have an Obligation to make our Views known to Local, State and Federal Officials, fight for the Issues we believe in, and attract Attention to Issues which lead the Government (Federal, State or Local) down the wrong Path, be that the War in Iraq or the Bridge to Nowhere, along with a Myriad of other equally important or less imporant Issues, but...ya know what?
Think about it...Worst Case Scenario, would you rather see the Government waste the Money, or see Exxon/Mobil, Texaco, Chevron and others like them stuff their Executives' Pockets and Corporate Coffers with it?
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