Gas prices going down. For weeks, we've been telling you that the five major U.S. oil companies have been price gouging, taking advantage of the hurricanes and the greed of OPEC to slam the American consumer.
As you know, some Americans have sided with the oil companies, citing the free market, supply and demand, that kind of argument.
Well, what say you now? The worldwide demand for oil's the same today as it was eight weeks ago. But oil prices are declining, so what gives?
Fear. That's what gives. Millions of Americans are angry with big oil and are buying less fuel. SUV sales are a disaster. And if you watch the car commercials, many of them are now touting good gas mileage.
Oil companies are frightened that the American consumer will begin demanding fuel efficient vehicles and alternative fuels for their homes and cars. That would be a disaster for Exxon Mobil and Chevron. And the rest, well, they're pulling back.
The official explanation is that speculators are not willing to pay as much for oil as they were a few weeks ago. That's bull. If the speculators are driving the worldwide energy industry, this planet's in trouble.
The truth is that the American oil companies set the domestic price of fuel based upon what they think they can get away with. By the way, the price drop again shows the power of the people. Individual consumers acting together can bring any industry to its knees.
Now our pals over at The New York Times are unhappy about falling gas prices. In an editorial today, the paper states "The best solution is to increase the federal gasoline tax, in order to keep the price of gas near its post-Katrina highs of $3-plus a gallon. That would put a dent in gas-guzzling behavior.A bolstered gas tax would raise huge amounts of revenue, roughly $1 billion for every penny of additional tax. Some of that money would have to be used to provide offsetting tax breaks to low income households."
You got to love The New York Times. Daily, they scream for higher taxes and this one's clever. Under the guise of helping the environment, they hammer home their theme of income redistribution. Take money away from the affluent through taxation and give it to those who don't have.
Nice try. Won't fly. This is not a socialistic country. Any federal gas tax would lead to a recession, which is on the horizon anyway, thanks to the greedy oil companies.
Summing up, there is no change in energy demand worldwide from eight weeks ago. The oil companies have been scared into lowering prices. And the far left wants to exploit the situation to redistribute income. That's the cold, hard truth in the No Spin Zone.
And that's "The Memo."
The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day
As you may know, there was a controversy, last week, between your humble correspondent, that's me, and a columnist for The Dallas Morning News who accused this broadcast of fostering hatred toward illegal immigrants, hatred that led to six murders in Georgia. Well, apparently thousands of you have contacted The Dallas Morning News, which is yet to correct the record, but I don't want to keep this thin going. We reported you decided. We will, however, keep our link to The Dallas Morning News up on billoreilly.com should you have anything additional to say to them. I'm sure they will be delighted to hear from you and if they aren't that might be ridiculous.
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