The new Salem witch trials

Congress should blame itself, not imaginary ‘price gougers,’ for the run-up in gasoline prices

NEW YORK (Fortune) — Gasoline prices hit an all time high of $3.227 a gallon just before the Memorial Day holiday, and once again, Congress has taken the easy way out. Instead of doing anything substantive about the United States’ unquenchable thirst for gasoline, it has gone searching for phony villains – and found them in the personage of mysterious “price gougers.”

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill that would ban sellers of gasoline from charging prices that are “unconscionably excessive,” or take “unfair advantage” of consumers. Nowhere does it define exactly what it means with those terms. Creating a fictional solution for a serious problem gives everybody a way out without having to make tough choices. Even the normally sensible Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) couldn’t resist pandering to voters of the Nutmeg state by sending a letter to President Bush, directing him to “get a handle” on potential gas price gouging.”


There are lots of reasons why gasoline costs so much these days, but price gouging isn’t one of them.

In fact, if any lawmakers (or their staff ) made an effort to read publications put out by their very own government, they might find that out. As recently as a week ago, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported to the House Oversight Subcommittee on “Factors that Influence Gasoline Prices.” They were, in descending order:

CNN