Posted on 05/03/2006 3:22:12 PM PDT by TBP
The U. S. Congress is making noise again, this time in regard to high gasoline prices. But their concern is insincere. Just look at the huge smile on the face of Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) when he warns us about the possibility of $4.00 per gallon gasoline.
The Democrats and some liberal Republicans charge "price gouging." Even Bill O'Reilly has jumped on the "gouging" bandwagon. This shows that they do not understand economics.
I'm as upset about high gasoline prices as anyone else is. But let's put the blame where it's due.
The oil companies do not control the price of a barrel of crude oil. If that goes up, their costs go up. The Federal government requires the oil companies to produce over 400 different blends of gasoline. There are taxes imposed on every step of the refining process. Then there is a tax at the pump. And it's the oil companies' fault that the prices are high?
The Republicans falsely claim that there is nothing they can do to drop prices in the short term. But while the oil companies make about 9 cents per gallon and the service-station operators make about 3 cents, the government at all levels makes about 42 cents per gallon -- just on the tax at the pump -- and they don't actually do anything to get that gasoline to you and me. So if the politicians want to cut the prices now, they can cut the gasoline tax. Cut the tax, the pump price goes down. Simple.
And the environmentalists have to bear their share of the blame for the high cost of gasoline. They're the ones who pushed for the 400 different blends. They are the ones who pushed for the rules against drilling in ANWR, in the Gulf of Mexico (which Cuba and China are doing), and elsewhere in our country and in forcing the capping of domestic oil wells. Just today, it was announced that there has been an oil find in Louisiana. What do you want to bet that we have to fight for 20 years to get at it because of the environmentalists?
We need to begin using these domestic sources of oil and we had better get out of the way of nuclear energy. However, the environmentalists have prevented the development of any new nuclear plants for over two decades, just as they have prevented the opening of any new refineries for 30 years. But even a "clean" alternative energy like wind power gets stopped if it interferes with Ted Kennedy's view. So betting on the government allowing alternative energy is not a wise wager.
A windfall profits tax will only make the price go up, but at least it will create more perceived "victims" that can be "helped" with more wacky schemes like the $100 gasoline handout that the Big Government GOP proposed.
The only real solution is for the government to get out of the way and allow the energy market to develop our domestic capacity. Then watch the prices go down. And somehow the politicians will complain about that, too.
When will we get the picture that the environmentalists do not prevent our drilling for oil. Or the 400 blends of gasoline. It is the damn politicians that listen to them instead of the needs of America. The environmentalists are just a lame excuse and they could be put out of business as soon as we get good leadership in Washington.
don't get between Chuckie Schumer and a TV camera or he'll gouge your eyes out.
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