When there is a cap on gasoline prices, can long lines at the gas pump be far behind? How about rationing, say maybe 20 galllons a month, or for really hard-pressed commuters, 50 gallons a month? Could you live with that?
Gas rationing is so much easier today than it was during the Second World War. And it wasn’t even to save gas then, but to reduce the critical need for rubber, to replace tires as they wore out. Japan had cut off almost all our sources of rubber by 1942, and it was just taking too long to grow new plantations in Brazil.
Clever chemists came up with a substitute that could be made from petroleum, n-butyl neoprene, that turned out to be even MORE useful than the isoprene rubber previously used, as it would not allow air to seep out so easily. A tire with a tube made of neoprene could hold air for months, years even, whereas an isoprene rubber tube would leak down in a matter of a few weeks, making frequent recharges of air a necessity. Air used to be FREE at a gasoline station, remember?
Congressman Wants to Repeal Law of Supply & Demand
Representative Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) says he is drafting legislation that will “roll back gasoline prices.” Under his proposal, the price would be capped at $2.49 per gallon. Recently, gasoline has been selling for around $4 per gallon.
“If we leave it to the market there’s no telling how high prices will go,” Hinchey complained. “My bill will make fuel affordable for the average driver.”
The congressman was unfazed by the fact that the cost of the crude oil needed to produce a gallon of gasoline is around $2.75. State and federal taxes add another 50 cents or so, for a total of around $3.25 before transportation, refining and marketing costs.
“There’s no way we could get fuel to the customer for the price Mr. Hinchey wants to legislate,” said ExxonMobile Senior Vice President J. Stephen Simon. “In effect, his bill will outlaw the supply of gasoline. It’ll be worse than the gas lines we saw during the Carter Administration.”
Hinchey dismissed Simon’s objections. “President Carter had the right idea,” Hinchey asserted. “He just wasn’t tough enough on these corporate vultures. My bill will impose severe penalties for non-compliance.”
Under Hinchey’s bill, vendors would be subject to one year in prison for each gallon sold above the $2.49 mandated price. “These corporate profiteers will come around once a million-year prison sentence is staring them in the face,” said Hinchey.