Free Republic

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- Mid-grade and premium gas runs about a dime to a quarter more than regular, if you can find it, but why does East Tennessee still have a premium on supplies of higher grade gasoline. You can blame the tailwinds of hurricanes Gustav and Ike, which makes driving tougher, given how many more of our luxury cars or SUVs recommend premium fuel. But 'recommend' is the key word. "I need because I'm actually on empty." Lenoir City's Adam Smith's cruised himself out trying to find a pump that still has premium. Smith says, "I gotta get some...

Gas stations should be allowed to charge any price they want. Stop and think. There are gas stations all around us. All of them havesimilar products and must compete with one another. We have regulations and agencies that watch to make sure there are no cooperative arrangements among stations. Why, then, are price-gouging laws such a bad idea? First, the price restriction interferes with market forces. For example, gas stations anticipate a lack of supply of gas over the next couple of weeks because of the hurricane in the gulf. They raise their gas prices to allocate the remaining supplies...

The Sierra Club, one of the nation's most radical environmental organizations, announced its endorsement of Senator Obama (D-Ill.) for president. The Club's executive director, Carl Pope, said, “It’s a ‘no brainer.’ Senator McCain’s recent push for nuclear power and off-shore drilling sealed the deal.” “Today’s energy shortages and high gasoline prices are the best thing that’s happened for the environment since the Carter Administration,” Pope went on. “People are driving less and learning to do without. Senator Obama understands the importance of this for provoking real change. He will keep prices up and push this country toward a more natural...

FOOD shortages are gripping North Korea and there are signs some of its citizens may be starving to death, experts and rights activists say. Food rations across much of North Korea have been slashed, and the country's 1.1million-strong military reportedly stopped major exercises so soldiers could help raise crops, according to reports out of South Korea. After a three-year hiatus, the Bush administration is resuming food supplies to North Korea, The Australian reports. A US freighter carrying bulk grain is sailing to make the first delivery of about 500,000 tonnes of food that Washington promised last month to the Kim...

Food Shortages Growing? An email from a reader in the Midwest causes me some concern: "Last night at the daughter's horse riding lesson the price of horse feed came between my wife & the stable owner/riding instructor. One of her friends in Kansas said that his winter wheat looked great, but there was no wheat in the wheat plant heads (kernel/seed-I don't know the correct term). He reported that the grain miller that they normally use said that they are having trouble getting any wheat to prepare. Same thing from many Kansas wheat growers; plants look great, but no wheat...

US drought 'man-made' says study 19:00 31 January 2008 NewScientist.com news service Jim Giles The water shortages gripping the western US are the result of global warming, not natural variations in climate, according to a bleak study by hydrologists. The results suggest that water disputes will plague the region in the future and damage economic growth unless action is taken now, warn researchers. About 60% of the changes seen in river flow in the western US are due to warming caused by humans, their study suggests. Key indicators have hinted at looming water problems for many years. More rain and...

Farmer to call 'guest workers' By RAELYNN RICARTE News staff writer January 30, 2008 Fifty-three percent of agricultural workers that recently responded to a confidential federal survey admitted to being in the U.S. illegally — but officials believe the true number is about 30 points higher. Pine Grove orchardist Gary Willis took a look at the new statistic and began to worry about a major picker shortage during the 2008 harvest season. He based that concern on new immigration enforcement measures that, tied to the high rate of illegal aliens, could keep the majority of workers in Mexico. “If we...

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's supreme leader Monday reversed a decision by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and ordered him to implement a law supplying natural gas to remote villages amid rising dissatisfaction with the president's performance. The move by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was a major rebuke to the hardline president, whose popularity has plummeted amid rising food prices and deaths due to gas cuts during a particularly harsh winter. In response to a request by the conservative-dominated parliament, Khamenei ordered the president to implement a law spending $1 billion from the Currency Reserve Fund to supply gas to villages after he balked...

South Asia hit by food shortages Women buy flour in Karachi - many have gone without People across South Asia are struggling to cope with a severe shortage of affordable wheat and rice. There have been queues outside Pakistani shops in towns around the country, and flour prices have shot up. Wheat flour is a staple foodstuff in Pakistan, where rotis or unleavened bread are eaten with almost every meal. Last week Afghanistan appealed for foreign help to combat a wheat shortage while Bangladesh recently warned it faced a crisis over rice supplies. Global wheat prices are at record highs....

Sanctions strain Iran's economy, officials say By Con Coughlin Last Updated: 2:14am GMT 10/12/2007 Iran's banks are on the brink of collapse and its manufacturing industries facing severe shortages as sanctions bite, according to assessments by Western officials. Despite recent public statements by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that sanctions by America and the UN "are not working", a confidential report submitted to the Iranian parliament said that continued economic isolation was having dire consequences. The sanctions are designed to increase pressure on Teheran to reach a compromise with the UN over its nuclear enrichment programme. The country's banking industry is suffering...

SACRAMENTO State and federal water officials on Tuesday said deliveries to farms and cities could be restricted severely next year even if the coming winter provides normal rain and snowfall. California needs an especially wet winter if it is to fill its reservoirs and abide by court-ordered restrictions to reduce pumping by up to a third from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, said John Leahigh, a top administrator with the State Water Project. That is particularly true in the Sierra Nevada, which stores much of the state's water supply in its winter snowpack. But so far, there is no indication of...

Food shortages have become common in Zimbabwe Zimbabwe is to start circulating a new 200,000 Zimbabwe dollar note, in a bid to tackle the country's inflation, the highest in the world. The new note, issued by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe from Wednesday, can buy 1kg (2.2lb) of sugar. Food and fuel shortages have become common as the government relies more heavily on imports, pushing prices to new heights. The official annual rate of inflation in Zimbabwe is nearing 5,000%. In practice, this means the price of a loaf of bread costs 50 times more in cash than it did...

Drivers, start your doomsday clocks. If you own any SUVs, sportscars, or RVs drive 'em if ya got'em. Because if the pessimists are seeing straight, the world is headed for serious oil supply issues in as little as five years. The Financial Times' oil commodities correspondent Javier Blas reported that the International Energy Agency (IEA) - the independent oversight body that monitors the world's oil supplies - sees production in the Near East as having leveled-off while demand from developing countries like China and India are just gearing up. "The IEA said that supply was falling faster than expected in...

BANGKOK, Thailand - Warming temperatures could result in food shortages for 130 million people across Asia by 2050 and cause potentially catastrophic problems in Africa, wiping out one of the continent's staple crops altogether, according to a U.N. report released Tuesday. Climate change threatens the ecologically rich Great Barrier Reef and sub-Antarctic islands, and could melt the snow on Africa's Mount Kilimanjaro, according to the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. A summary of the full, 1,572-page document written and reviewed by 441 scientists was released Friday. The latest document, the second of four reports including the...

Source: World Wildlife Fund Date: March 21, 2007 Going Nowhere Fast: Top Rivers Face Mounting Threats Science Daily — Rivers on every continent are drying out, threatening severe water shortages, according to a new WWF report. Aerial view of the Mekong River, one of the ten rivers listed in the WWF report as being threatened by pollution and dams. (Credit: WWF-Canon / Elizabeth Kemf) The report, World's Top Rivers at Risk, released ahead of World Water Day (22 March), lists the top ten rivers that are fast dying as a result of climate change, pollution and dams. “All the rivers...

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- Drastic coal shortages despite massive natural deposits have had a ripple effect throughout Zimbabwe's economy and ruined a deal to renovate the country's biggest steelworks, the government has acknowledged. The energy crisis adds to the economic woes of Zimbabwe, which is already suffering from acute shortages of many basic commodities. Industry Minister Obert Mpofu told a panel of lawmakers in Harare recently that Indian steel maker Global Steel Holdings pulled out of an investment deal at the Zicosteel steelworks in central Zimbabwe because of concerns about lack of coal supplies. The steel maker needed 60,000 tons...

Frustrated by soaring gasoline prices, two of California's top elected officials proposed legislation Thursday designed to crack down on consumer gouging by allowing a temporary price cap in times of "abnormal market disruption." Attorney General Bill Lockyer and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez jointly proposed the measure, Assembly Bill 457, in response to pump prices that have jumped by more than $1 per gallon since January. "We need to make sure that California is not the victim of any type of market manipulation or Enron-type scheme to artificially inflate the price of gasoline at the pump," Núñez said. California's average price...

With gas prices above $3 a gallon in many places, Congress should pass legislation by Memorial Day to make price-gouging a federal crime, Sen. Maria Cantwell said Saturday in the Democrats' weekly radio address. Cantwell, of Washington state, also called for increased investments in alternative fuel development to break what she called America's over-reliance on oil, particularly from other countries. "It's time that we simply stop talking about energy independence and start running toward a future that will make America more secure and more economically competitive," she said. Cantwell, who is seeking her second term this fall, said gas prices...

Revealed: the secret No 10 plan to tackle bird flu food shortages By Patrick Hennessy, Political Editor (Filed: 09/04/2006) Emergency plans to tackle widespread food shortages in the event of a bird flu pandemic are being drawn up by ministers, according to secret Cabinet documents. Off-duty firemen and retired lorry drivers would be pressed into service to ensure that essential food and drink supplies were delivered. Laws that restrict the daily hours of drivers and other vital workers would be suspended. An extract from the secret Cabinet documents The confidential papers - seen by the Sunday Telegraph - show that...

With all the recent hype and demagoguery about gasoline price-gouging, maybe it's time to talk about the basics of exchange. First, what is exchange? Exchange occurs when an owner transfers property rights or title to that which is his. Here's the essence of what transpires when I purchase a gallon of gasoline. In effect, I tell the retailer that I hold title to $3. He tells me that he holds title to a gallon of gas. I offer to transfer my title to $3 to him if he'll transfer his title to a gallon of gas to me. If this...

In response to this year’s soaring gasoline prices, Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard is on a crusade to try to get Congress, the state Legislature — anyone — to buy his plea to try to repeal the law of supply and demand. His case rests on a foundation of economic ignorance. Mr. Goddard has observed gasoline prices rising in the face of anticipated shortages and concluded that “market forces are not working.” Mr. Goddard is mistaken in his analysis. Rising prices under such circumstances are both inevitable and remedial. The solution, Mr. Goddard says, is to give him the power...

AUGUSTA - A legislative panel learned Thursday the Baldacci administration is preparing for fuel shortages and considering emergency state allocations to help prop up programs that provide relief from rising heating oil costs. The Legislature's Appropriations Committee also was informed of shortfalls within one of the state's most popular heating programs that provides financial assistance to Maine's poorest residents. Dale McCormick, director of the Maine State Housing Authority, asked lawmakers to consider an emergency funding request of $10.2 million from the state's General Fund to bolster insufficient federal revenues. "This is not going to be a good year for Maine...

Gas prices on Maui went beyond the $4-per-gallon mark on Monday for midgrade and premium gasoline at some stations.

The story of Hurricane Katrina is first and foremost a tale of the wrath of Mother Nature and the resulting human misery: thousands of deaths, destroyed homes and businesses, family break-ups, psychological demoralization, and other hardships too painful to recount. But Katrina is also an economic story in terms of its impact on U.S. commerce, trade, energy, shipping, and overall growth. Here the doomsayers and pessimists are once again going to be proven wrong. This is not the 1970s.After more than twenty years of deregulation the U.S. economy is flexible and resilient -- even in the face of short-run shocks.Consider...

Tokyo is in talks with the International Energy Agency on measures to help ease the disruption of petroleum supply in the U.S. Gulf Coast area, including the possible release of some of Japan's strategic oil reserves, a trade ministry official said Friday. "We've received a call from the IEA and started talks with them on measures for the oil supply disruption in the U.S.," the senior official at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said. The IEA began consultations Wednesday with its members on the release of some of their oil product inventories after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the...

WASHINGTON (CP) - Supplies ran dry at a small-but-growing number of gas stations across the United States on Thursday as Gulf of Mexico coast refiners and pipelines remained hobbled by hurricane Katrina and motorists nervous about tightening supplies lined up to top off their tanks. Most of the stations with Out of Gas signs and yellow caution tape draped across their pumps were concentrated along the East Coast and in Midwest states. Station owners said many of the shortages were temporary, exacerbated by panic buying and delayed deliveries. A few stations turned off their pumps because wholesale prices were rising...

Since Janet Napolitano has been governor, this state has experienced: gas shortages (she knew about the pipeline as far back as April, 2002) powerline problems which resulted in loss of electricity water problems What is next?

WASHINGTON, May 28 - With the United States fighting protracted wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan, its military faces a shortage of a basic necessity: ammunition. The Army Field Support Command in Rock Island, Ill., held an "industry day'' last week to inform contractors of a vast increase in demand for small-caliber rounds, those for rifles and machine guns. Maj. Gary Tallman, an Army spokesman, said the armed services needed 300 million to 500 million rounds this year alone, beyond the 1.2 billion already being produced, to provide enough for a military whose active-duty force had increased because of the...

TORONTO, Nov. 28 - In a long- awaited report, a government commission recommended today a major increase in federal financing for Canada's national health care program to shore up its finances and prevent the development of a parallel system of private medical services. Publicly financed health care for all has been a cherished hallmark of Canadian society since the 1960's, but ever-longer waiting lists for elective surgery and for M.R.I. scans and other diagnostic services in recent years have provoked concerns that the system cannot be sustained. Several provinces have begun introducing private clinics, stimulating a debate in Parliament over...

Leaders of the U.S. Pacific and European commands said Wednesday the war on terrorism has overtaxed troops and equipment, leaving dangerous shortages that ultimately could hurt Americans. The commanders were asked if they had enough forces to carry out all current operations as well as possible military action against Iraq, and their answers were "very troubling," said Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., who asked the question. "We do not have adequate forces to carry out our missions for the Pacific if the operations in the Central Command continue at their recent past and current pace," Navy Adm. Dennis C. Blair, commander...