Republicans from George Bush on down caved last week to the latest round of hysteria by agreeing, among other ideas, to yet another investigation of gasoline prices. Never mind that every time the matter has been reviewed, the verdict has been the same: market forces account for virtually all of the supposed "gouging." Not that one need have warm fuzzy feelings towards the oil companies and their extremely well paid executives. As the founder of economics, Adam Smith, observed in 1776, "People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a...
