The Stunningly Beautiful Price of Gasoline
By Jeffrey Tucker -- January 15, 2015Beginning with the holiday season, American consumers have received an unexpected gift.
Mine came this morning when I filled up my car with gas. I paid $2.13 per gallon. This felt like luxury. It seems surprising, implausible, even wonderful. I asked around. Some people are paying even less, even $2. All the pressure is down. Down — despite everything.
Looking at the history, I found the following chart from the U.S. Energy Administration, already a bit out of date — the forecast doesn’t anticipate the extent of the fall– but it shows that gas prices are settling back to 1990’s levels and lower today in real terms than they were 40 years ago. Have a look.
That’s just amazing. Why? If all you followed were the policies and the headlines, you would think prices would be ten times what they are.…
Continue ReadingGeorgia Cronyism: DSM, Nuclear Plague Public Service Commission
By Jim Clarkson -- January 14, 2015“Georgia Power says the Vogtle project creates lots of jobs and buys lot of building materials. The same could be said about the construction of a large pyramid. The question should be about the value of the costly project verses other things that might have used the labor and materials.”
Thanks to Jonathan Gruber of Obamacare fame, we now know all about behind-the-scenes development of government policies that override consumer wishes, hide the truth, and generally regard the public with contempt.
In Georgia, one Dick Spellman, a consultant for the Public Service Commission, is the sinister architect behind the PSC’s imposed Demand Side Management (DSM) program administered by the utility.
The premise of mandatory DSM programs is that consumers are too stupid to know what is good for them; but policy experts, like Spellman, do.…
Continue ReadingBipartisan Energy Policy: Consumers, Taxpayers Beware
By Peter Grossman -- January 13, 2015Lately, people in and out of the federal government have expressed nostalgia for the good old days of bipartisan lawmaking. Today, we have legislative gridlock, and an ideologically polarized Congress; back then Congress got things done.
There is some truth to this, but what were the results of bipartisanship?
With respect to energy, the answer is mostly awful.
Here’s a list of some major pieces of energy legislation (and the votes) of the last 40+ years; commentary to follow:
| Bill/Year | Final House Vote | Final Senate Vote |
| Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act of 1973 (EPAA) | 348-46 | 83-3 |
| Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 (EPCA) | 300-103 | 65-27 |
| Crude Oil Windfall Profit Tax Act (1980) | 302-107 | 66-31 |
| Magnetic Fusion Energy Engineering Act of 1980 (MFEE) | 365-7 | Acclamation |
| Energy Security Act of 1980 (SFC) | 317-93 | 78-12 |
| Comprehensive Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPAct 1992) | 381-37 | 93-3 |
| Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005) | 275-156 | 74-26 |
| Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) | 314-100 | 86-8 |
The table shows there was plenty of bipartisanship.…
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