
 |
|
February 10, 2012
Lisa M. Krieger: Man with defibrillator demands access to his own heart's information
David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
February 9, 2012
Laura McMullen: 10 Least Expensive Public Schools for Out-of-State Students
Kimberly Palmer: How to actually enjoy -- relaxing, financially -- your vacation
February 8, 2012
Warren Richey: Why momentous Prop. 8 ruling might not satisfy gay-rights groups
Menachem Wecker: Though Controversial, LL.M.'s Can Lead to Specialized Legal Jobs
The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
February 7, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Caught off-guard? President's Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer gives those who need a reason not to vote for him, a darn good one
Suzanne Bohan: Leaping lizards! Tiny reptiles advancing robot design
February 6, 2012
Jonathan Tobin: Iran Threatens Israel With Destruction, But the New York Times Doesn't Hear It
Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
Caroline B. Glick: Obama: Of course I intend to prevent a nuclear holocaust . . . in a few months
Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
Ben Lynfield: Israeli lawmakers move to annex Jewish Judea, one museum at a time
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
The Kosher Gourmet by Joseph Erdos: This mushroom and barley soup has an intense -- almost nutty -- flavor that mixes robust with Middle East. It has creaminess without cream
January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
|
| |
Jewish World Review
March 9, 2005
/ 28 Adar I, 5765
Gasoline prices 2005: An inflation-adjusted bargain
By
John Stossel
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
They've been saying it on TV, morning and night: "The price of
gasoline has risen again to a record high!" said one newscast, "The high
prices are making it harder for some to keep their heads above water," said
another. "Record high prices!" we keep hearing. "They don't even put the
price on the sign anymore," joked Jay Leno on the "Tonight Show." "It just
says, 'If you have to ask, you can't afford it.'"
Drivers aren't laughing. They think what they see at the pump
confirms what they've heard on TV. One told me the prices are "scary." A
woman said gas was "going up and up and up, and it's the most expensive it's
ever been." And she was on a bike.
Well, it's time to wake up from the gas-price nightmare. All
these media people are saying the gas prices are high for one simple,
simple-minded reason: They are looking at big numbers but they are not
accounting for inflation. So the numbers look bigger than the costs actually
are. That's what inflation does. The reporting is irresponsible and silly.
Not adjusting for inflation would mean "Shrek 2" is one of the
highest-grossing movies of all time.
If you don't account for inflation, lots of prices keep going
up. Comparing a price in the dollars of the 1930s when "Brother, Can You
Spare a Dime?" referred to a much more meaningful amount of money than a
dime is today to a price in 2004 dollars is like comparing a price in
dollars to a price in yen.
It's not as if the reporters would have to work at doing
calculations to figure this out. Not only are there instant inflation
calculators on the Web, but the federal Department of Energy accounts for
inflation in its annual report of gas prices. It says gas is actually
cheaper now than it was throughout most of the 20th century. Yes, it's 65
cents more than it was six years ago, but it's nearly a dollar cheaper than
it was for much of the 1920s and '30s and more than a dollar cheaper than
in 1980.
By failing to account for inflation, the media have some
Americans so alarmed that we can't think straight. "What costs more," I
asked customers at a gas station: "gasoline or bottled water?" The answer I
got from almost everyone was gasoline.
At that very gas station, water was for sale at $1.29 for a 24
oz. bottle. That's $6.88 per gallon, three times what the gas station was
charging for gasoline.
It gets sillier. I asked gas station customers, "What costs
more, gasoline or ice cream?" Most people said gasoline cost more. But a
gallon of gas doesn't even cost as much as a pint of Haagen Dazs, let alone
a gallon of it. At $3.39 a pint, "premium" ice cream costs about $27 a
gallon.
We should marvel at how cheap gasoline is what a bargain
we're getting from oil companies. After all, it's easy to bottle water, but
think about what it takes to produce gasoline and deliver it. Oil has to be
sucked out of the ground, sometimes from deep beneath an ocean, a desert, or
ice. To get to the oil, the drills often have to bend and dig sideways
through as much as five miles of earth. What they find then has to be
delivered through long pipelines or shipped in monstrously expensive ships,
then converted into three or more different formulas of gasoline and
transported in trucks that cost more than $100,000 each. Then your local gas
station must spend a fortune on safety devices to satisfy government
regulators and make sure you don't blow yourself up. At nearly $2 a gallon
(an average of 44 cents of which goes to taxes), gas isn't expensive it's
miraculously cheap!
But all we hear from clueless people in the media is, "Record
high gas prices! And they're going up and up." Give Me a Break.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
STOSSEL'S LATEST
Give Me a Break
Stossel explains how ambitious bureaucrats, intellectually lazy reporters, and greedy lawyers make your life worse even as they claim to protect your interests. Taking on such sacred cows as the FDA, the War on Drugs, and scaremongering environmental activists -- and backing up his trademark irreverence with careful reasoning and research -- he shows how the problems that government tries and fails to fix can be solved better by the extraordinary power of the free market. Sales help fund JWR.
|
JWR contributor John Stossel is co-anchor of ABC News' "20/20." To comment, please click here.
03/02/05: Washington's labor laws now hurt children more than they protect them
02/23/05: Outsourcers are the bigger job creators?
02/16/05: Selfishness is bad, right?
02/09/05: Fifth Avenue farmers
02/02/05: Buy a bridge? This $200 Million one isn't for sale it's being paid for by taxpayers and it leads almost nowhere
01/28/05: Aren't science and scholarship supposed to ask questions and open our eyes to facts?
01/26/05: Forced altruism
© 2005, by JFS Productions, Inc.
Distributed by Creators Syndicate, Inc.
|