Gas Lines are Not Sandy’s Fault

LFB.org ^ | 11/3/2012 | Jeffrey Tucker

[GeronL]

There would be so much gas coming in the price would start falling again rather quickly, IMO

[daniel885]

“Not Sandy’s fault? Does Tucker mean there are miles long lines normally? A three or four wait happens always?”

No he means it’s government’s fault for imposing rationing and price controls.

[daniel885]

No, have more faith in the market. If gas goes to $15 per gallon, people in other areas of the country will drive trucks of gas into those areas and come up with a market based solution to sell. High prices in a market affected by a natural disaster send signals out to the larger economy to divert resources into the places hit hard by disaster. When government steps in and stops that process, the result is shortages and chaos and people are worse off.

[FreedomPoster]

Government planning is a joke. The history of the Soviet Union in the 20th Century should have proved that conclusively for everyone, but some seem to have missed the lesson.

[Wuli]

the greater the amount of intervention (price controls, free government supplied gas, government mandated rationing) the longer will it be before retail gasoline markets return to markets free of that intervention

under Obama they have sunk untold billions into the “housing & mortgage” markets, and the result is great delay in those markets reaching a natural free market bottom from which a more robust recovery of them would resume

whether Obama or Romney, housing alone (and who knows what else) will likely be in “double dip recession” mode by spring 2013, because government intervention has stalled housings’ recovery by misallocating resources going into the housing markets

[count-your-change]

Then why no similar gas lines a month ago?

[Fraxinus]

I think the author misses a few important points.

I agree with you, and would add that a few posters are ignorant of the choke points also. I believe that much of the Gasoline in the greater NY area is refined in Jersey City. These refineries also store significant quantities of fuel. Without power the refineries cannot run, nor can they move fuel to distribution nodes. A large percentage of the Oil they refine comes in from a pipeline(s?) from the west, no power and the pumps on that pipeline do not work.

Once the electricity is restored to those bottle necks the fuel shortage will be quickly alleviated. I doubt that the refineries took significant damage, although they probably were shut down for the storm and I would not be surprised if it takes several days to restart them.

[Alberta's Child]

Good post. As an FYI ... the major refinery in this region is the Bayway Refinery in Linden, NJ. It’s along the western side of the NJ Turnpike just south of Exit 13, where the Goethals Bridge touches down in New Jersey at the Turnpike and Routes 1&9.