Petrol

Does anyone else find all the doomsday predictions on CNN, Fox, etc. about the price of gasoline annoying? As the CATO Institute has clearly pointed out here, the idiots at the networks always forget to adjust for inflation. Sure, $2 is a lot more than the less than $1 we were paying about 4 years ago, but it's a lot better than the $6 per gallon that was being spent in the 70s (or similar prices that exist in socialist countries like the UK and France). I know people who drive around town to find cheaper gas, probably wasting a lot of it on the way. Others buy the gas wherever but vocally complain about either OPEC, the President, gas companies, and other people who they want to blame for this increase in price. The truth is, it's impossible to put the blame on any one person or organization for the >$50 per barrel price of oil. In today's economy we have something called a free market that determines the prices. The only kink when it comes to oil are the government (federal, state, local) taxes and OPEC's control over the output. Taxes add well over 50 cents per gallon to the price of gas. So, when you are complaining about paying $27 to fill up your car, you can blame at least $8 of that on our lovely government. Personally, I'm just happy that I'm paying a lot less than my parents or grandparents did when they were my age.