- Jul 6, 2004
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A commentator from Oilwatch.org (see article quoted below) described gasoline as a "broken market." What does she mean by that? What is a "broken market?"
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The California "Gasoline Price Penalty"
Like all of you I could see it coming, but that doesn't make California's gasoline-price record easier to take. We shot this week past last year's record of $3.38 a gallon, even though oil prices are $6 a barrel below where they were last year. The difference this year? Huge, unheard-of profits on manufacturing gasoline. Even the national pump price average is nudging $3.00, about to break a record set last August.
Still, it's California paying the big price penalty ? $7 to $15 per fill-up above the US average, according to a new Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights study released today. See footage of the press announcement here.
That's not all we talked about at OilWatchdog this week. High points include a chicken deal that won't fly, the tabloid adventures of the BP CEO and Chevron attorneys leaning hard on one of your watchdogs, Jamie Court. Talk about "crude" behavior.
Some of you ask why OilWatchdog doesn't rejoice at higher prices, since eventually they would reduce gasoline consumption. It's because, without alternatives, high prices punish those least able to afford a $60 fill-up. And in the unregulated Wild West of gasoline prices, drivers' wallets empty straight into oil company pockets instead of boosting public transit or renewable fuels or conservation.
OilWatchdog demands that government step in, since gasoline is a broken market, and fix supply issues and price manipulation first. We all know the permanent fixes: renewable fuels, better transit systems, green technologies, auto efficiency. Quit letting oil companies talk green while they embrace the global petroleum drug.
So why is it so hard to get government off its duff? (Aside from a White House occupied by oilmen.)
Read on for the lowdown on how oil companies took last quarter's record profits directly from your pockets, as well as our more lowbrow offerings. Exxon profits here, Chevron profits here.
Sign on to OilWatchdog, too, and let us know with your comments what you think.
Judy Dugan
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The California "Gasoline Price Penalty"
Like all of you I could see it coming, but that doesn't make California's gasoline-price record easier to take. We shot this week past last year's record of $3.38 a gallon, even though oil prices are $6 a barrel below where they were last year. The difference this year? Huge, unheard-of profits on manufacturing gasoline. Even the national pump price average is nudging $3.00, about to break a record set last August.
Still, it's California paying the big price penalty ? $7 to $15 per fill-up above the US average, according to a new Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights study released today. See footage of the press announcement here.
That's not all we talked about at OilWatchdog this week. High points include a chicken deal that won't fly, the tabloid adventures of the BP CEO and Chevron attorneys leaning hard on one of your watchdogs, Jamie Court. Talk about "crude" behavior.
Some of you ask why OilWatchdog doesn't rejoice at higher prices, since eventually they would reduce gasoline consumption. It's because, without alternatives, high prices punish those least able to afford a $60 fill-up. And in the unregulated Wild West of gasoline prices, drivers' wallets empty straight into oil company pockets instead of boosting public transit or renewable fuels or conservation.
OilWatchdog demands that government step in, since gasoline is a broken market, and fix supply issues and price manipulation first. We all know the permanent fixes: renewable fuels, better transit systems, green technologies, auto efficiency. Quit letting oil companies talk green while they embrace the global petroleum drug.
So why is it so hard to get government off its duff? (Aside from a White House occupied by oilmen.)
Read on for the lowdown on how oil companies took last quarter's record profits directly from your pockets, as well as our more lowbrow offerings. Exxon profits here, Chevron profits here.
Sign on to OilWatchdog, too, and let us know with your comments what you think.
Judy Dugan
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