OT - Gas to hit 4.00

[Andy Bradford]

Thus said Shane Hathaway on Wed, 31 Aug 2005 17:25:25 MDT:

> I did  not suggest new  legislation or  price fixing. I  suggested the
> government should react by:

My apologies for misunderstanding what you meant.

> - looking  for ways to  raise the capacity  of other refineries  for a
> short time

What makes you think  the government can do any better  at this than the
businesses? Remember, the  businesses have the customer to  cater to. To
whom does the government have to  cater? Ever hear the phrase ``Customer
is King?'' The same  cannot be said of the people  with respect to their
government.

In this case, if the price of crude oil goes to high, and hence the cost
of producing gasoline which gets passed on to the consumer, the consumer
will react by  purchasing less or finding alternatives.  If companies in
this business  want to stay competitive,  they will be forced  by market
forces to  become more efficient  or go out  of business. If  this means
raising the capacity, so  be it. No one is forcing  consumers to buy oil
based products.

> These kinds  of reactions  require a  level of  agility that  the free
> market does not have.

I tend to  disagree on this point.  I think the market  reacts much more
quickly and deftly than any bloated governmental institution can do.

Andy
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