We're at War - Ration Gasoline!

When there is a water shortage, you don't sell water to the highest bidder
and let the poor go thirsty. You ration. Gasoline is headed the same way.
I understand there is already rationing tickets printed in anticipation of
shortage, but you hear no talk of rationing anytime soon. If it comes, it
will come as an unpleasant surprise, I assure you. One act of Congress at
the bidding of the President and it will become fact.

Gasoline rationing was done during World War II. Your allotment was maybe
five gallons a week with exceptions for medical doctors and other emergency
services. Even during the Korean War, there was rationing of certain
materials, notably nickel; that is why the chrome fell off '51 bumpers
which depended on the copper/nickel/chrome plating process.

The free market won't work with gasoline as natural or man-made shortages
develop. The demand is simply too high so the price will keep skyrocketing
until the price-demand curve eventually limits consumption. So, what you
will have eventually is perhaps $10 a gallon with the wealth being able to
buy all they want and poor folks mostly walking or peddling. Overall
consumption will drop to meet the supply at that point. If we weren't at
war, then you could say that is how the capitalist system is supposed to
work. But we are at war as President Bush so often reminds us and
consequently rationing is the pain of war we should require citizens
(outside of government) to accept:

Five gallons a week is just about right for anybody who can prove ownership
of a gas powered street-legal vehicle. It doesn't make one iota of
difference if that vehicle is a 50cc motorbike or a twin engine Beech 10.
Rationing is eagleitarian.

The beauty of this rationing system is excess ration tickets will be
transferrable. That IS the capitalist approach to rationing. So, the 50cc
motorbike owner can sell four gallon's worth to the Beech owner, say at $5
per gallon for an extra $20 a week cash to buy his booze with. It may cost
an extra $500 in coupons to gas up that plane, but if the dude wants to fly
bad enough above us peons, he'll pay.

Nobody loses. Consumption is down, gas prices stay high and poor folks who
drive econoboxes pocket some cash. Now in the case of an econobox driver
who drives for a living like a travelling salesman, he needs to buy extra
coupons. At least he doesn't have to buy as many coupons as the Beech 10
driver. Since not all coupons will be sold and since 5 gallons a week
represents a net savings in fuel consumption, overall fuel consumption will
come down and gas prices will also come down. Instead of $10 a gallon,
perhaps gasoline will cost only $5 a gallon. The poor folks will be better
off as a result of rationing as these figures speak for themselves.

Along with these coupons, there should be a Federal Excise tax on them.
That will bring in revenue to the Government and boy will they ever need
more dough! With $5 a gallon gas prices, even under rationing, do you know
how much it will cost to fill up Air Force One? That baby burns more
kerosene gallonage in one Presidential excursion for a political booster
than all the fossil fuel you can burn given 10 years in your Viper, driving
full throttle. Somebody's got to pay for it and that somebody is you.

Sure rationing is going to hurt. Its time for us little guys make sure
this war against drugs hurts good.

 

Funny thing is that I'm not aware of anyone not getting gasoline that
wanted it. I'm not seeing gas stations with signs saying "no gas
today" and others saying "gas here - $10 / gallon".

In a rational market that knows what it's supply is and what it's
demand is, prices should remain stable until demand reaches 99% of
supply. It's when demand = supply (or demand > supply) that prices
should rise to reduce demand.

Gasoline is also funny relative to crude oil.

We have a situation (in the USA) where gasoline refinery capacity is
more of a problem vs the supply of crude oil.

Yet when gasoline supply gets tight, crude-oil prices spike up (which
doesn't make sense because a refinery problem necessarily means a
temporary "glut" of crude waiting to be refined).

Gasoline has tripled in price in say 5 years. Did it cost more to
refine that gasoline? Did it cost more to transport that gasoline to
service stations? Crude oil has also trippled in price over the past
5 years. Does it cost more to pump a barrel of oil now than it did 5
years ago?

Maybe 50 years ago individual gas stations bought and paid for their
gasoline supply and then could turn around and sell it for what-ever
the market would tolerate, but today I think that gas stations owned
by individuals (or independants) don't actually own the gasoline in
their tanks (the refiners do, and they're the ones telling the gas
station staff what price to set the sign at).

When it comes to crude oil that pumped from the ground (or oil well)
in USA/Canada, does anyone know if the oil is "owned" by the gov't -
and the oil companies pay a royalty or set amount for the right to
pull it out?

There may be a global price for crude oil once it's in a barrel (or
tanker ship), but what cut do the various gov'ts around the world get
when that oil is pulled from the ground?

Why is gasoline in Venezuela cost 17 cents a gallon?

 

It's about 6 USD / US gallon here (London)... and no rationing/shortage...

DAS
--
For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling
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I suspect the higher gas prices are caused by under production and they are
lying about how much oil is really out there. There is a limited amount of
companies that drill for oil, and no real way for us peasants to verify that
there is only as much as they say. These people who run the oil companies
are from the same mold who brought us WorldCom and Enron. A bunch of liars
and thieves and I would not put it past them to artificially inflate the
price of fuel to line their pockets.

 

That's as ignorant a post as I've ever seen on Usenet. That's saying
something, too.

OPEC openly works to control the price of cruide oil. Underproduction is the
only tool they have. Did you miss that announcement? For the last 30 years?
There are plenty of oil wells producing here in the States for $5 a barrel.
But you don't have to sell for $5 a barrel, you can sell oil for the OPEC
delivered price. So whoever controls each hole in the ground sets his price
and keeps the money. No conspiracy required. If you don't like my oil at $60
a barrel, by golly you can get OPEC's. The oil companies own a some of the
holes in the ground, and that's why they are making a more money when oil
prices are high.

The reason gasoline is 15 cents a gallon in venezuala, then, is because
people are selling their oil not at the OPEC price. Simple. They're selling
it based on cost, I guess. American oil companies could do that, but they
don't. It's also apparent that their refining costs are much much less than
American costs.There are several reasons that could be so.

Now, the refinery supply and demand situation is completely different from
OPEC. If oil company employees conspire to get prices up with any
anticompetitive act here in the States, they stand a good chance of getting
caught and put in jail. OPEC's toolbox is totally anticompetitive. Nothing
they do would be legal here. So oil company employees in the States have a
very different set of rules than do OPEC members.

There are certainly a lot of people who are ignorant about business who
think that oil company employees sit around trying to figure out how to make
less and less gasoline because it's profitable to not have enough. That's
stupid. Whenever expanding the product pays more money than bank interest,
it's time to expand.

 

I'm going to just keep pulling my gas guzllin boat with my BIG OLE ra
1500 with the hemi and getting 10MPG..

My family car is a dodge charger R/T which a floor it all the time an
get down under 15MPG most of the time and 20MPG highway..

Screw gas rationing cause I want to use my hem