Price Gouging 2.0

As Ronald Reagan once quipped, "There you go again..." This time it's the economics know-nothings in Congress again, looking to penalize oil companies for the laws of supply and demand.

How, you may ask? By yet again proposing a price gouging bill for energy!

Here is a link to the article on Yahoo!

More importantly, here are a few excerpts:

"With prices at the pump rebounding in recent weeks, Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., said he's worried 'this summer prices may once again exceed $3 a gallon.'"

So let me get this straight, it is never legitimate for prices to reach $3 a gallon, no matter how high demand or how low supply goes?

These by far are my favorite excerpts:

"The Federal Trade Commission would be given authority to investigate price gouging in the sale of crude oil, home heating oil, propane and natural gas. 'The FTC has never brought a gas price gouging case to court,' said Stupak. In fact, the agency has no authority to do so since there is no federal energy price gouging law. FTC investigations into crude oil or gasoline pricing have focused on whether companies have colluded in violation of antitrust laws."

"Twenty-nine states have price gouging statutes, but they vary widely and some go into effect only in an emergency."

Translation: We already have all the necessary (and maybe even unnecessary) laws in place! Are companies colluding? If so, the FTC can hunt them down. Are companies exploiting unexpected market power and jacking up prices during an emergency? That is already illegal (in 29 states, and in at least some cases, with negative results)!

What we are instead seeing here is a group of "populists" arbitrarily dictating prices for oil, and using empty rhetoric to address the nation's problems, fruitlessly I might add, rather than coming up with workable solutions to resolve our energy problems.

Sigh... I guess I can't be surprised.

The Significance of 1996?

What can we say about the year 1996 (aside from the fact that I was in 6th grade and my voice was higher than my Mom's)?

1) Princess Diana and Mother Teresa were still alive.
2) President Bill Clinton is re-elected over Bob "Boring" Dole.
3) Java is first released.
4) The Dallas Cowboys win their 3rd Super Bowl in 4 years, becoming the first team to do that. Yeah, remember when they were "America's team"?
5) Michael Jordan's father is killed.
6) The Bulls set an NBA record for most wins in a season (hitting 70 on April 16).
7) The computer game Quake I is released.
8) Martina Hingis becomes the youngest person in history to win at Wimbledon (she was 15).
9) The OJ Simpson case begins.
...
10) THE LAST TIME DUKE PLAYED AS UNDERWHELMINGLY AS IT IS NOW! :-(