MANIPULATION

GOUGING AT THE PUMP

     There is pain at the pump, again!  Prices are creeping back up.  In California, where gas is more expensive due to the extra processes necessary  for clean air, it is getting closer to $4.00 a gallon.  We are getting jacked around.

      Five years, when I was a news executive and ran a large organization I tasked our investigative unit to explore yet another swing in gas prices.  Our award winning unit was headed by a former FBI agent who I had hired to lead the team.  He spearheaded our months long inquiry.  The bottom line on their work is that gasoline prices in the US are a product of manipulation often arbitrary and without good reason other than profit.

     You've heard the talk about running out of oil, well we are a long way from being there.  Some of that talk is disinformation, propaganda designed to affect political policy, but that is the topic of another debate on another day.  Where gas prices are concerned the primary shortage is in refinery capacity.  Our ability to refine has not been significantly increased for years, essentially because the oil industry likes it that way.  With the ability to exercise control, or manipulation, at the step between raw material and finished product, the oil companies are able to exert huge influence on what you and I pay at the pump. 

      We could easily increase the volume of gasoline and keep a lid on prices, but that is not in the best interests of the oil industry is it?  And big oil is big power in the world. So as you watch prices rise, realize we are being played again, but we must not care.  At least not enough to change efficiency of internal combustion engines, or auto design, or to find alternative sources.
      I have bumped up against this topic countless times over the years in my work as a journalist, documentary producer and investigative reporter.  For my money one of the best sources of reason and intelligence on the energy question is The Rocky Mountain
Institute.  If you care about this topic, you should be aware of RMI and Amory Lovins.  
LINK HERE TO SOME OF THE BEST INFORMATION AND INTELLIGENCE ON ENERGY

AND HERE IS AN AMUSING SIDE BAR

 Morly Safer, the urbane CBS 60 Minutes Correspondent vs. a changing order in an old boy's (and old girl's) Club

THIS IS WORTH AT LEAST A CHUCKLE OR TWO-LINK HERE

CHEERS, AND SEE YOU DOWN THE TRAIL.