Gas prices, Republicans, and the Environment

Posted by Hollis:

Now that gas prices are approaching nearly $3 a gallon nationwide, I find it particularly inane that Republicans leaders (Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and House Speaker Dennis Hastert) are up in arms about price gouging and market manipulation and are calling for the Bush administration to investigate. Afterall, this is the party that gave tax breaks to oil companies last year! I supposed this is simply a clever way to draw attention away from the fact that the Republicans have continually shown favoritism to oil companies that are now so profitable that they’ve become increasingly unpopular with the American people. I suppose it’s reasonable for Republicans to deduce that since they are the party in power, they will be blamed.So now Republican leaders are in a bit of a frenzy to abandon basic economic reasoning and free-market principles Consider the following: After the post-Katrina gas-price rise, Bush and Congress asked the FTC to investigate possible market manipulation and price gouging. The FTC investigation they’re now calling for is already underway. So far, it’s turned up nothing. Republican rhetoric about price gouging is absurd on many levels – one of which is called CAPITALISM (charging the highest price the market will bear). I know, I know, OPEC is guilty of outrageous anti-competitive conduct in the petroleum industry; however, that’s a topic for another day. Filling stations are typically constrained from excessively marking up gas because of competition from other filling stations. Republican leaders, and maybe even President Bush know this (actually, Bush probably doesn’t know this!); however, calling for an investigation is a clever way to appear that they’re concerned for the good of the American people during an election year when their party is at risk of losing seats because the majority of Americans are angry.

While it’s true that oil at $70 per barrel causes hardships for working-class folks, it’s also true that cheap gasoline imposes its own costs on society such as air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and the attendant health risks. One can only hope that the high gas prices will finely drive our leaders and the American people to get serious about energy conservation, public transportation, and the economic viability of alternative fuels. Who knows, maybe one day we may even be able to undermine the power of the oil oligarchs without going to war on false pretenses. Maybe it’s a pipe dream, but one is still allowed to dream, right?