Gas-Price Galore

Perhaps the most ridiculous fiscal complain in American society is that which is leveled at gasoline prices. It is likely that voting habits may even be influenced by such price fluxuations. I am a student who commutes about 300 miles every week, needing to get gas about every week and a half. With my eleven gallon gas tank, I pay an extra dollar and a few cents for every ten cent price hike. Even in times of extraordinary hikes--like that caused by Hurricane Katrina or OPEC ham-fistedness--I might possibly pay an additional $5 every time I refill my tank. Even if those communiting into major cities with gas-guzzling SUV's pay ten times that amount in that time span, they are paying far less than the fine occurred in an ordinary speeding ticket, and they can more than make that cost up with their well-paid city jobs.

Yet people scream and cry about the raising of gas prices. While taxes rob each taxpayer of many thousands of dollars each year and bloaded government programs threaten to make this robbery even more severe, people cry about gas prices! This is the free market at work, people. The world's oil reserves are diminishing (cf. the peak oil debates), while consumption, especially in growing nations like China and India is increasing exponentially. What happens when the supply diminishes and the demand increases? Higher prices. This protects the supply and demands discernment amongst consumers.

The California wildfires provided an apt example in this regard. Several gas station jacked up prices along the major highways out of southern California. People immediately complained about greedy price-gouging by the oil companies in a time of distress (rumors of $9 a gallon at some stations). The only problem with that accusation is that it lacks thought. Hundreds of thousands of people were fleeing their homes, and the last time the do-nothing EPA inspectors checked, gas stations were not connected to a vast underground American oil reserve. The finite supply had to be protected and preserved for those who really needed gas. A dramatically-increased price will accomplish such an intended effect.

The witless witchhunt for rich oil barons will only turn this minor inconvenience into a major debacle. The CEO of Exxon-Mobil makes $13 million a year, while George Clooney makes $25 million. While $13 million is a lot of money, it is nothing in the realm of the rich. Meanwhile Exxon-Mobil is affected by OPEC extortioning and a lack of easily-accessible oil reserves. Money must be poured into research and heavy-cost extraction efforts (for example, in portions of Canada where oil is extracted from sand flats). If the populist politicians demand that these corporations reduced prices, they will create a fiscal crisis and energy shortage.

What this comes down to is simple personal responsibility. Fattened-up Americans need to stop looking for external sources to blame with vague ideals of get-slim-quick schemes, and should actually tighten their own belts. Oil has become America's achilles heal, making the wealthiest country in the world beholden to tyrannical despots. Its use also produces air pollution that people of all political stripes find unpleasant, if not damaging. Instead of punishing the evil, rich men for this problem, why not exercise personal discipline? Why not seize the opportunity afforded by higher gasoline prices to consider the importance of every commute and seek new ways of energy-efficient transportation, such as public busses or hybrid vehicles. In the meantime, the populist politicans can divert their energy from conspiracy-based economic McCarthyism to worthwhile proposals offering economic incentives to those corporations that invest in alternative energy.