Thread: $4.00 + gas pricing coming for the summer

Tweet

I guess we'll see, half the time the predictions are wrong, but nobody brags about when they're wrong, only when they're right, so the wrongs fade from notice more often.

I don't know if Al is joking about the need for "price controls" or not, but maybe a history lesson is in order. Here's a chart showing the inflation adjusted (if anyone is unfamiliar that means what an old pricing point would look like if expressed in today's less valuable dollar)price of gasoline since 1918. There are a couple interesting things to notice when you take an almost 100 year overview.

We did price controls in the 1970s, started by Nixon, carried on by Ford, and Carter administrations/congresses. You'll note that the chart indicates the fastest and highest previous price spike is in that period.......so much for the actual outcomes from price controls. The dramatic drop off of that spike was when Reagan removed the controls and free market conditions took back pricing.

Another thing to think about are the four highest peaks on the chart each happen to be at a time when Government was most active in trying to shape market pricing and choose winners and losers in the private economy. The beginning of the chart is during the Wilson administration, the second F. D. Roosevelt, the third as noted above, and the fourth in the last 5 or so years. Government as solution? Hmmmmm