fuel

On Tuesday, the President ordered an investigation into soaring gas prices. Bush asked his Energy and Justice departments to open inquiries into possible cheating in the gasoline markets.
Give me a break.
Look, I know it's cool to knock the 'evil oil companies' but in a free market system, companies are free to set their own prices based on supply and demand, and when a particular S & D is based on a limited natural resource, prices can't easily be forecasted.
But an investigation into pricing manipulations?
How about an investigation into the government manipulation of our pocketbooks with bloated and largely unnecessary taxes? Here you will find a table listing state-by-state gasoline taxes. And when looking at these numbers, keep in mind that the Federal Gas Tax is 18.4 cpg. So in my state, Indiana, I pay a total of 36.4 cpg (including the federal 18.4 cpg) PLUS 6% sales tax in tariffs alone. And don't forget, the government collects taxes on the delivery of the fuel from the importation all the way down to the fuel delivery trucks rolling on the highways of America. The amount of money our federal and state governments collect in fuel taxes in just one hour of one day is mind-boggling.
Yet our government wants to investigate possible price manipulations by the oil companies, thereby tampering with a pillar of our economy, the free market system. A system based on supply and demand.
Want to see fuel prices fall? Don't look to Uncle Sam for assistance, simply cut back consumption, alter the demand! Too many Americans have become silent. Ignorant. Lazy. Amnesiac. We have forgotten that we can, even in this day and age, effect change. But change doesn't happen watching television. Or surfing the internet. Change doesn't happen from a drive- thru window. Or voting for your favorite American Idol. No, change is rarely a convenient act.
In 1775, Patrick Henry said "Give me liberty or give me death." In 1987, The Dead Kennedys said "Give me convenience or give me death." Oh how times have changed.

mc