Posted by MoparNorm on Tuesday, September 19, 2006 at 11:23PM :
In Reply to: Rant o' the day posted by Mark Michaels on Tuesday, September 19, 2006 at 10:48PM :
Conspiracy theories aside, it's always supply and demand. Diesel on it's face value SHOULD be cheaper, but the demand is high and the supply plays second fiddle to gasoline because most people use gasoline. The first rule of politics is appease the voters first. In the aftermath of Katrina nearly 40% of US production and refining was disrupted, the government placed a high priority on resuming gasoline production first, ignoring the fact that heating oil, jet fuel, power plants, trucking and ships run on diesel or dirivatives of diesel. Production was just catching up and diesel was cheaper than gasoline until last week in SoCal. Now the refiners are gearing up for winter and the demand for shipments of heating oil (diesel) is high and supplies low (I guess that they forgot that winter comes every year?)
Bottom line, ANY time that you get the government meddling in the affairs of the market, you are taking a chance that things will either get screwed up or that business will take advantage of the situation. I've NEVER seen a politician or lawyer who was as smart as a businessman and therefore every stupid government attempt to regulate or tax falls on the shoulders of the consumer.
MN
Follow Ups: