The Prices of Gasoline

 

The Prices of Gasoline

By Patrick Fero

What’s going on here? Gas prices are all over the map and the only thing they have in common is that they’re all going up. It’s crazy!

The administration insists none of this is their fault. I don’t believe it. At least some of it is. Restricting oil companies from drilling where necessary and delaying key pipeline projects have strained domestic supply. Compounding this, recent blockades in the Strait of Hormuz have rattled global markets, while the massive power demands from skyrocketing Artificial Intelligence infrastructure are complicating the broader energy usage side.

Not only that but the aggressive pursuit of renewable energy sources has led to both intended and unintended consequences. Diverting corn for ethanol contributed to a worldwide shortage, spiking the price of corn and every product that relies on it. Many view the heavy emphasis on biofuels as a taxpayer-subsidized scam that results in poorer gas mileage and potential engine corrosion down the road. Meanwhile, investments in wind energy have been cut back significantly due to the vagaries of wind availability, battery storage limitations, and high bird mortality rates.

Furthermore, the public is finally realizing a glaring irony regarding Electric Vehicles (EVs): the electricity they use must still come from the existing grid, which heavily relies on fossil fuels like coal. Additionally, significant amounts of carbon are burned just to manufacture these "green" energy components. While solar energy is closer to being viable, it still faces strict geographic and atmospheric limits.

This energy crunch directly impacts daily American life. The vast majority of gasoline in the U.S. is consumed by the transportation sector, with light-duty vehicles accounting for over 90% of that consumption. Beyond standard cars, gasoline powers motorcycles, boats, and aviation, and remains a staple for property maintenance, agriculture, construction, and portable generators. Interestingly, gasoline itself is not the raw ingredient for plastics, synthetic fabrics, or chemicals; those are made from other refined petrochemical feedstocks like naphtha, ethane, and propane.

There is no question that renewable energy is in our best long-term interest, but we must pursue this goal realistically. It cannot—and should not—be forced beyond the limits of current technology. In the meantime, we should maximize the safe and efficient use of our abundant fossil fuels. After all, without them, we won't even have the energy required to build the solar panels, wind turbines, or whatever next-generation technologies we have yet to discover.

Voters

 

Voter Manipulation

After every voting day, our thoughts turn to the ageless question of what motivates voters.

Sometimes voters get it right—whatever that is—and sometimes they make startling mistakes. Voters, as studies have shown, will even vote time and time again against their own interests. Don’t believe it? Ask yourself who was the last president who actually did something important for you. (When I say “you,” I’m assuming you’re not rich and powerful.) If Congress is so good, why is that this country continues to decline by almost any objective measure you wish to choose?

But it’s better at the local level, right? These people live amongst us, share our problems, and know right from wrong? Right?

When was the last time your school taxes went down? Can’t remember? I thought so. Forget about it. School board after school board, despite campaign promises to the contrary, has voted to raise our taxes. “It’s for the kids.”  They say so even though they are elected by and for adults.

The disheartening truth is that politicians at every level these days tend to be demagogues. Over and over, we elect people for whom “truth” is what they want it to be. More importantly, it’s what they want us to believe it is. They make up their own truths while burying the real thing under so much rubbish people give up looking for it. After all, people have jobs to work, shopping to do, bills to pay, families to care for, and entertainment galore grabbing at their attention.

Look around you. Look at your borough council, township board, county government and state representatives. They tell you one thing, do another, and all the while nothing important changes except that which is important to the politicians.

It’s really not hard to understand what happens in places where dictators take over. To be sure, the worlds of amoral strong men and adept propagandizing con men are unique. We can feel reasonably assured that those times and circumstances will never happen here. But don’t get too smug. Read “What’s the matter with Kansas?” by Thomas Frank. The voters in places like Kansas listened to the promises made by the people they in turn elected repeatedly but never seemed to notice that the promises were never delivered upon.

It’s sometimes called the Big Lie. Tell people the same thing over and over, shield them from the truth, and they’ll follow you like sheep. Only today, in small-town America, there is nothing to shield. The truth is what the demagogues tell you it is because there is no recognized entity telling you otherwise. The media is too busy making money, or in the case of newspapers simply trying not to go over the cliff of bankruptcy by refraining from angering anyone with power and money. They have neither the interest nor in many cases the ability to bother to uncover and report how you are being lied to continually by local politicians. They even help convince you that white is black, the good is bad and the bad good, and the candidates urged upon you are not what they are advertised to be (and sometimes much worse).

The situation is grim and getting more so. Sure, at the local level our taxes don’t go up so much right now (school districts are a special and separate issue). If the potholes are fixed and the snow removed, we assume all is well in city hall. But underneath it all, the system is rotting. The termites are running rampant and no exterminator is in sight.

The incompetence and petty corruption grow mostly unseen because the voters are unseeing.