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In Big Oil’s Back Pocket
From CNNMoney.com:
A new survey by the National Retail Federation said rising gasoline prices are a growing worry for consumers and retailers as prices at the pump hit a record high for a sixth straight day Friday.
The motorist group AAA said the average price for a gallon of self-serve unleaded hit $3.129 in its latest reading, based on a daily survey of up to 85,000 gas stations. That’s up from Thursday’s record of $3.114.
The group warned in congressional testimony this week it believes that more record prices could be on the way. It’s forecasting prices will approach $3.25 a gallon over the next 60 days.
Neil Cavuto reminds us (video | transcript) of what some key Democrats have said on gas prices:
SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER, D-N.Y.: Had George Bush gotten his hands around this problem when he first took office, the price would not be $3 a gallon, but $2 a gallon or a $1.80 a gallon or a $1.50 a gallon.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON, D-N.Y.: This is a serious problem that needs to be addressed. We are not going to get that from this administration or this Republican Congress.
SEN. BARBARA BOXER, D-CALIF.: We will do better. We need a new direction.
Well, we’ve had a new direction since the Democrat-controlled Congress took office in January, and it looks a lot like the old one. Gas prices continue to rise, and if The Media were really interested in playing fair they would start waxing philosophically about Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid’s ties to Big Oil. Perhaps they know what everyone else knows; that Congress has no more control over gas prices than the President does, at least in the short term.
However, that hasn’t stopped them from their shock-jock reporting of record-high gasoline prices that are still lower, when adjusted for inflation as any responsible economist would recommend, than they were in March of 1981 ($3.223 in today’s dollars). Barbara Hagenbaugh makes the same mistake when she supposes the current national average ($3.10/gallon) to be higher than the national average of $3.07 per gallon in September 2005, right after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita damaged refineries and pipelines in the Gulf Coast region. I’m no economist, but I’m guessing that inflation over the last 20 months has been a little higher than .97%, which is the gap between these two “record prices.”
I guess there’s a lesson here for all of us. When it comes to gas prices and Democratically-led congresses, don’t believe the hype!