Politicians Do the Darndest Things

Suspending the Laws of Economics Politicians in Texas have come up with an ingenious method of controlling rising gas prices. They intend to suspend the laws of supply and demand: House OKs suspending gas tax […]

Windfall Profits: A Lesson from the U.K.

Regardless of your position on windfall profits taxes on oil companies, one thing has been demonstrated again and again. Governments consistently fail to accurately anticipate the consequences. As oil prices have increased, governments have seen […]

The FTCR Slander Continues

I have written previously about the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR). You can see a list of these essays here. Their web site states: FTCR is a non-profit, non-partisan consumer watchdog group. We […]

Gas Prices, Gouging, and Food versus Fuel

A few newsworthy items to cover: Gas prices, gas gouging legislation, and food versus fuel. Gas Prices on the Rise Surprise! It seems that gas prices are rising: Gas prices on the rise again, analyst […]

A Case Study in Cluelessness

I saw a familiar name today in a news article, which I will get to in a bit. I was reading an article from the Sacramento Bee that said that gas prices may have bottomed […]

Inventory Management

I have been engaged in an e-mail exchange with a journalist overseas who is writing an article on gasoline pricing in the U.S. I don’t want to give anything away, so I won’t be any […]

Rebuttal to “A Gouging Market”

Introduction I have been aware of Matthew Rothschild’s essay “A Gouging Market” (1) since it started making the rounds a couple of months ago. At the time, I decided not to respond as the article […]

Debunking the Debunkers

There are a few things I have learned over the years regarding the relationship between the public and oil companies. The public seems to have an especially strong distaste for oil companies, and especially Big […]

I’m Being Gouged!

Where’s the Outrage? They reported profits today of $2.89 billion in the first quarter on revenues of $10.9 billion. Their profit margin on sales was 26.5%! I was expecting outrage. Yet I haven’t heard anyone […]

Taxing “Windfall Profits”

I have a few essays in the queue (including a nifty biodiesel story), but I thought I would comment on an article in today’s Deseret News out of Salt Lake City. The article was entitled […]