High, Higher, Highest

I am not going to write a column on the high price of gasoline! Who cares what the price of gasoline is --- except for my honey. Every time we drive past the corner station, he complains. "Look at that!" 

"What? I reply, feigning interest." 

"Look at those prices! It’s five cents more than yesterday! I’d better fill up before it goes up again." 

Funny, I always think that it might go down, which shows how little I know about economic matters.

I know it must be bad. All the papers say so. "Cost of gas reaches $3.00 gallon." I use super premium, so that sounds about right to me. Of course, super premium will be even higher now too. In our area the gas price is below the national average. We should be happy, shouldn’t we?

And then, there is the way the economists attempt to explain it. 

"The price of crude oil remains high." Wait! REMAINS high? That means it was high already, doesn’t it? So, that doesn’t explain the sudden increase. If it was already high and remains high, the price should be the same, shouldn’t it? I suppose I just don’t understand economics.

They used to say it was the blackout in New York that affected production in some refineries. Huh? I might buy that one if the blackout was still going on. How long did it last, two or three days? So, if production was affected for only two or three days, stands to reason to me that prices would only be affected for two to three days. 

Obviously, I really don’t understand economics.

Well, how about this one: A pipeline broke in Phoenix decreasing the amount of crude oil available. Because they do not have enough oil in Arizona, they pull from the available resources elsewhere, which makes the supply lower everywhere - or so the story goes. 

Now it is hurricane Katrina. We don’t produce enough crude oil to maintain an adequate supply? It must cost more because there is less. That’s the law of economics. But we have pipeline breaks, and refinery fires every once in a while. Couldn't they factor in periodic interruptions in production and delivery?

Finally, the economists blame it on demand. When people want something, they are willing to pay more. People are not conserving and people are not staying at home. It’s the law of supply and demand again, also known as the law of greed to those of us who don’t understand economics. 

The more we need something, the more we can be gouged is the way it looks to me.

Yes, I know the price of gasoline affects the transportation of goods and this loss of revenue is eventually passed on to the consumer in the form of higher prices. Why did you have to bring that up?

Anyhow, after summer is over, the demand is expected to go down and so will the price. But, six months from now the price of food will go up in the supermarket and economists will say, "It’s because of the high gas prices last August."

The conclusion seems to be stay at home and not buy the overpriced gas. And that’s why I’m not going to write a column about the price of gasoline. You won’t listen to me anyhow. So, quit grumbling, pay their inflated price, and you will hardly notice the difference. It’s only an extra few dollars per tank.

When the price of goods goes up, blame it on economics instead of greed. And don’t expect me to write a column about that either!