Call and Answer

[mazzie]

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The Senate Energy Committee will hold a hearing next month to determine reasons for the high cost of U.S. gasoline, the panel said Friday.

Driven by tight supplies and U.S. crude prices near $65 a barrel, average retail gasoline prices hit a record $2.55 a gallon this week, according to government data."


uh ... the Senate will have a hearing to find out what you just reported?

(from CNN)

Comments

[sskipstress.livejournal.com]

I really should've gotten gas for $2.44 on the PA turnpike last weekend.

[belmikey.livejournal.com]

Actually, yes, they do. This is one of the many reasons to take all media with a grain of salt -- they sound authoritative even when they have no idea what they're talking about.

Crude == $65 is certainly one of the proximate causes of the price of refined gasoline also being high. But that begs the question: what's jacking oil prices? Supply isn't actually all that tight right now -- nothing like the 70s shortage, for example.

Since energy policy is a national interest, it is not merely the Senate's prerogative but the Senate's job to ask questions; and the way the Senate is expected to ask questions is through the hearing process.

[mazzie.livejournal.com]

just a funny juxtaposition, 'sall.

[winterbadger]

And if I thought they were actually going to investigate a darn thing, I wouldn't mind so much. But my guess is that they're going to grandstand and make speeches and find ways to blame the opposition, instead of calling people in to testify on what's actually happening (like, the refining infrastructure being inadequate and poorly placed, or the fact that markets react emotionally instead of rationally). And I think I can guarantee that no serious time will be given to increasing the search for alternative sources of energy, possibly paid for by *raising* the federal gas tax and thus the price that people pay for gas to anyhting like what iti is in other comparable countries.

[belmikey.livejournal.com]

There is no chance whatsoever of Congress being able to pass a bill that would raise the price of gasoline right now, for any reason whatosever.

Why? Very simple: it's already being reported that the high price of fuel is starting to eat in to retail sales. Put simply: Americans are, by and large, not willing ot stop going places in order to keep buying things. And America's economy relies heavily on people buying things.

[winterbadger]

Oh, I think it's waaaaay simpler than that. The rise in gas prices has been linked to a serious drop in support for Bush and for the "war"--remarkable given that it has had a much more serious and rapid effect than the US forsaking its ideals of democracy and justice to support a president lying to the people, preemptive war, massive killing of civilians, torture of prisoners, signficant infringement on civil liberties, and the deaths of hunders of American servicepeople. All those things have together taken years to eat into the president's popularity in a way that a rise in gas prices can do almsot overnight.

Congress knows that making the lifeblood of the American Dream (automotive fuel) more expensive is worse than immoral, impractical, unlawful or unethical: it's unpopular.

[belmikey.livejournal.com]

Most people don't really want democracy or justice. They also don't want freedome of speech, religion, or press.

They say they do, of course, but what they really mean is that they want a say in government, they want to be judged favourably (not fairly, mind you, but favourably); they wan to be able to say, print, and believe what they like. They don't give a shit about anyone else.

[winterbadger]

I'm not quite cynical and bitter enough to believe that. Yet...

[belmikey.livejournal.com]

The framers of the Constitution knew it was true 200+ years ago. That's exactly why they attempted to make it impossible for Congress to someday, in a populist fever, restrict speech, restrict press, or establish a religion.

That's also why most of them died terribly disappointed at how much America had become a democracy, rather than a republic. Because they knew that the demos were stupid, selfish bastards.

[cochise15.livejournal.com]

They should ask themselves why they just passed an "energy" bill that gave 2 billions dollars for research to companies like ExxonMobile who made 7 Billion Dollars last quarter. Yeah, QUATER, 3 months.

[ruffian-wind.livejournal.com]

*Shakes head sadly*