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.
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