May 24, 2004
THE THEORY'S SOUND:
'Gas roots' protest over pump prices: Many consumers, blaming big oil, boycott stations. (Ron Scherer, 5.//25/04, CS monitor)
It sounds like a late-night joke: Did you hear the one about the Texan who drives a pickup truck and wants to boycott gasoline stations?Leno and Letterman, meet Stephanie Cain, a resident of Houston, who has been avoiding the pumps at her favorite gas station. "The oil companies have no regard for the consumer," says Ms. Cain, the owner of a "gas hog" Dodge Ram pickup. "They are just lining their pockets."
She's far from alone in wanting to punish the pumps. Websites are springing up (www. boycottgasoline.com, among others), e-mails zinging oil companies are flying through the ether, and, yes, someone is both trying to boycott gasoline in California and get a "fuel revolt" proposition on the ballot this fall. With gasoline prices continuing to ratchet up - the weighted national average hit $2.10 a gallon last week - a "gas roots" effort is being pushed with populist zeal.
Yet many an economic conservative goes wobbly on theory when you propose that exorbitant hikes in gas taxes would reduce consumption. Posted by Orrin Judd at May 24, 2004 8:59 PM
I love high oil prices. But I'm in the pocket of Big Oil, ya know?
That Houstonian is an aberration. :)
Posted by: kevin whited at May 24, 2004 9:47 PMEvery time there's a rise in prices of some commodity, but especially gasoline, it brings out the economicly ignorant with stuff like these boycotts, whose sole purpose is to get the promoters face time on television screens. It's as predictable as politicians demanding investigation of oil executives or dipping into the energy reserves, or envirogreens calling for mandatory cosmetic conservation methods.
The problem with gas hikes via taxes is that they are taxes, and like any "sin" tax, puts the government in the contradictory position of needing to prop up use when consumption does decrease. Besides, government should not be in the business of defining "sins".
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at May 24, 2004 10:16 PMThe real 'gas roots' problem is lack of new construction of oil refineries (due to NIMBY and anti-growth environmentalism), compounded by the EPA demand for 38 different kinds of botique gas. There hasn't been a new gas refinery built in this country since the 1980s.
Any extra gas that does managed to get produced in one region of the country cannot be redirected to another region because the EPA limits each gas formulation to one geographic region.
Posted by: Gideon at May 24, 2004 10:39 PMSo are these people quitting their jobs? Are they going to tow their boats and trailers with a bicycle? Who takes these people seriously?
Posted by: Robert Duquette at May 25, 2004 12:54 AM