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A numbers game that’s hard to win
Mark Davison, Sydney Morning Herald
Motorists “know” that petrol retailers get together and fix petrol prices or, at least, think they know. Motorists also think government should “do something” about it.
The legal reality of proving the existence of price fixing and doing something about it is difficult, as was made clear by this week’s Federal Court decision exonerating a number of Geelong petrol retailers accused of price fixing.
The government-appointed watchdog for anti-competitive conduct, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, is the meat in the sandwich between the public perception that something is rotten in the petrol industry and the legal problems of proving it.
It is no bad thing for our watchdogs to be expected to perform their task diligently, but motorists should be aware of the price that they are paying for their demand to “do something” where the commission’s prospects of success are limited both by the market reality of the oil industry and the limits of the law as it is written and interpreted. Success may require that the law be changed to make it easier to prove price fixing.
…Motorists should think long and hard before repeating demands for the government to “do something” about petrol price fixing. They should also consider that petrol could be bought in Geelong in 1999 for about 60 cents a litre, the virtues of public transport and the inevitability of peak oil. Neither of them will be affected by the way lawyers interpret words in an act of parliament or retailers’ discussions about flight numbers and times.
Mark Davison is a professor of law at Monash University.
(1 June 2007)
Record gasoline prices amidst hyperconsumption and slaughter
Jan Lundberg, Culture Change#160
For someone who professionally analyzed gasoline prices and the petroleum industry from 1972-1987, maybe it’s a bit surprising I’ve not had much to say about May’s record gasoline prices. For many years I’ve not been one to often make a prediction on the price of gasoline or oil. This is because I’m much more interested in bigger issues that cover more than prices and particular fuels.
With that sense of priorities, I’m much less desirable as a most-quoted U.S. energy analyst, as I once was. Up until two decades ago I spouted many a market pronouncement taken seriously by those interested in short-term economics, whether for a household or to serve corporate power. When I gave it all up to fight pollution and perhaps help improve the way people live in this country, I was freed from the data-gathering and analysis of price changes that increasingly struck me as trivial. This was partly because I became a non-driver.
Mainstream news media are nowadays a little more prepared to hear oil analysis that’s more ecological, and price changes can occasionally be discussed in dollars-per-gallon changes than cents-per-gallon. So it’s time for a look at gasoline prices with a whole-system approach.
(28 May 2007)
Playing Politics at the Pump
Ben Stein, Yahoo
..The Stupak bill is just a way for an eager Congressman to grab the spotlight and act as if he’s found a better way to run the economy than the free market. He’s just a big kid with a fancy chair in the capitol — but he’s dangerous, as little kids with power tend to be.
Mind you, I dislike high gasoline prices, too. I hate that so much of our money goes to petro-states. But socialized energy isn’t the way out of trouble — it’s the way into trouble, a la the gas lines and “no gas today” signs of the early ’70s. It’s frightening how little we human beings learn from our mistakes.
So what’s the way out for us? Drive less often. Buy a smaller car. Don’t consider burning gasoline via aimless cruising as a legitimate form of amusement. Open the windows and turn off the air conditioner. Walk instead of drive. Stay home and read a book.
But don’t socialize Big Oil — that’s a guaranteed disaster.
(24 May 2007)
