Gas Prices and the Neocons' Hurricane of Spin

You gotta love the chutzpa.

Tom Tanton, writing in The Commons Blog, which promotes market (read: government hand's off) solutions to the world's environmental problems, makes a case that gas are just too damn low:

Post-Katrina, there has been underpricing by some major refiners and retailers in an attempt to avoid political or actual prosecution. This has resulted in out-of-gas situations at some gasoline stations, even as people try to flee Rita. This problem is likely to become much worse post-Rita. Gas prices will likely need to go a good deal higher to the extent that refining capacity is interrupted, yet there is a good chance that prices will not go high enough, given the policitcal circumstances. Closed service stations will tell the tale, and even with such underpricing there will still be charges of "price gouging" and "unconscionable pricing."

Concludes Tanton: "Consumers do not really save money when gas is not conveniently available and time is wasted in gas lines. There is mental strain just knowing that gas may not be available to support routine activities or for that emergency moment as is the case today."

So, if gas was $4 per gallon, there'd be plenty of it, and we'd save money by worrying less about whether it would be available!

Like I said, you gotta love the chutzpa (if not the logic).