Political Hypocrisy and the High Cost of Gasoline

In his weekly column, Thomas Sowell notes the hypocrisy of current politicians regarding high gas prices:

 

The very politicians who have piled tax after tax on gasoline over the years, and voted to prohibit oil drilling offshore or in Alaska, and who have made it impossible to build a single oil refinery in decades, are all over the television screens denouncing the oil companies.  In other words, those who supply oil are being denounced and demonized by those who have been blocking the supply of oil.

 

Furthermore,

 

The government collects far more in taxes on every gallon of gasoline than the oil companies collect in profits. If oil company profits are "obscene," as some politicians claim, are the government's taxes PG-13?

 

In the early 20th century, the A & P grocery chain became renowned for both its low prices and its high quality.  Its profit rate never fell below 20 percent during the decade of the 1920s.  That's a higher rate of profit than the oil companies make.  The relationship between prices and profit rates is not as simple as media hype or political demagoguery claims.

 

Source: “Is thinking obsolete?”, Thomas Sowell, May 10, 2006