I'm not a smart man, Jen-nay...

...but I know who

is

.

So, I'm feelin a little Gumpish this morning. Actually, when it comes to political or economic topics, I'm downright...well...slow most of the time. I should be ashamed.

I ain't. But I should be.

Thankfully, there are a lotta smart bloggers out there that keep me thinkin all the time. And Guy is one of 'em.

"In 1965 wholesale price of West Texas sweet crude oil..the crude oil benchmark..was about $2.10 a barrel. The price of gasoline average about 25 cents a gallon. The price of a gallon gasoline was roughly 1/8 the price of a barrel of oil.

Today the wholesale price of crude oil is around $75 per barrel and the price of gasoline is $3 bucks a gallon average. This means that the the price of a gallon gasoline is about 1/25 the price of a barrel of oil.

Does this mean that the oil companies were REALLY gouging us back in the 1950s? Oh and keep in mind that in the 1950s the oil companies had one hell of a tax break because of a thing called a inventory depletion allowance..a tax break based on a finite inventory."

So, in percentages, we're paying less for gas than we did in 1965. And when we compare what we pay at the pump to what most of Europe has been paying for a long time, well...we've really been pretty lucky. So far.
Though I know this probably won't make those of you who hafta fill up those big SUV's feel any better, maybe it will put a little perspective on it.

Also from Guy: "If the price of gasoline has risen accordingly with inflation since 1955 it would be over five bucks a gallon."

But unknowingly, Guy has opened up a whole new can 'o worms in my little pea-brain. Since he's not nearby to give me one of his insightful answers, I'll pose this little question to y'all.

After Katrina hit, I read a news story about a guy from the midwest who decided to buy up 50 gas generators, rent a truck and drive down to the affected gulf states and sell 'em. Now, his motives were essentially pure. He knew that no generators could be found in the area and people needed 'em. He was willing to provide a much-needed service. But he figured that he'd jack up the price just a bit...50 bucks per generator...for his trouble.

He figured, and rightly so as far as I'm concerned, that it was something people needed, they couldn't get it there, so they'd be more than willing to pay just a little extra to get it. He knew that people were hurting already. He wasn't out to make a killing...just a teeny profit for his time.

If you consider the hours it took to buy the generators, rent the truck and drive down there, well he might make a couple bucks an hour. At most.

The poor guy gets charged with price gouging, gets the remainder of his generators siezed (and probably sold for WAY higher than he was lettin 'em go for) and gets slapped with a big, fat fine to boot.

Soooo...my question is this. Why is it "price gouging" if Joe Blow off the street makes a couple of extra bucks, but Exxon can make billions in profits and it's all good?

Is it simply a matter of taking advantage of people who are already in dire straits?

If that's your answer, it doesn't fly with me. There are people and businesses out there that were already in dire straits and gas prices have pushed 'em over the edge.

Or is it simply, as Ziggy said, a matter of who's doin the gougin?
Joe Blow doesn't have the bucks to pay off the politicians. Big oil companies do.

It ain't right. It just ain't right.

Oh, and while I'm mentioning intelligent bloggers, I need to add

Mark

to the list.

Gotta love those smart men!