Lemony Spigot's Series of Unfortunate Events
I managed to fill up both cars this week with $3.70-ish a gallon gas. How? By paying attention. You see, Ike wasn't exactly a surprise (hey look maw, weather radars!). And by now folks should realize there are a lot of oil derricks and refineries along the Texas, Louisiana coastline. But when FEMA and others were using words like "certain death" I knew something was gonna happen. Within two hours of my filling up our minivan the price per gallon for regular had gone from under $4 to $4.49.
So what? Well, panic struck Knoxville. Fearing shortages, a number of people went crazy and started filling up their Canyoneros and lawnmowers. Hey folks, guess what: when you make a resource scarce, the price goes up. It is called supply and demand. I didn't realize the full implications of this until some good ol' Twitter friends pointed out a couple of things:
1. We're at the end of the Galveston pipeline, so once everyone else has had a drink, we get the dregs (oversimplifying, but the key is we're USED to getting oil from that area)
2. As a result, we had to buy more expensive "Yankee" gas from the Northeast region. Damn Yankees! (I kid)
3. The panic-buying simply drove up the cost and caused minor shortages and outages in various places. Call it the stupid tax.
You can read a more detailed telling of what's going on at Shots Across the Bow, a terrific local blog.
I had half-jokingly expressed my shock at TN not investigating price-gouging and Scott and Lissa pointed out there's no gouging. True, the rise in prices overall wasn't gouging, but I would bet there were isolated pockets. In fact, I know that one station was trying to sell for quite a bit over $5, but they were reported and quickly fixed it. Good, that's where the "system" works as it should.
The lesson: plan ahead and don't panic. This is a lesson we've increasingly forgotten in this country and we should bring it back. My 3 Laws for Living:
1. Pay attention
2. Slow down
3. Think about it
Next time something bad happens, try that. I'll try to keep the kneejerk Tweets to a minimum as well!
So what? Well, panic struck Knoxville. Fearing shortages, a number of people went crazy and started filling up their Canyoneros and lawnmowers. Hey folks, guess what: when you make a resource scarce, the price goes up. It is called supply and demand. I didn't realize the full implications of this until some good ol' Twitter friends pointed out a couple of things:
1. We're at the end of the Galveston pipeline, so once everyone else has had a drink, we get the dregs (oversimplifying, but the key is we're USED to getting oil from that area)
2. As a result, we had to buy more expensive "Yankee" gas from the Northeast region. Damn Yankees! (I kid)
3. The panic-buying simply drove up the cost and caused minor shortages and outages in various places. Call it the stupid tax.
You can read a more detailed telling of what's going on at Shots Across the Bow, a terrific local blog.
I had half-jokingly expressed my shock at TN not investigating price-gouging and Scott and Lissa pointed out there's no gouging. True, the rise in prices overall wasn't gouging, but I would bet there were isolated pockets. In fact, I know that one station was trying to sell for quite a bit over $5, but they were reported and quickly fixed it. Good, that's where the "system" works as it should.
The lesson: plan ahead and don't panic. This is a lesson we've increasingly forgotten in this country and we should bring it back. My 3 Laws for Living:
1. Pay attention
2. Slow down
3. Think about it
Next time something bad happens, try that. I'll try to keep the kneejerk Tweets to a minimum as well!
posted by Victor Agreda, Jr. at
8:37 AM
1 Comments:
I like to think of the free market as natural selection for money. You're right...if people slow down and think, everything will be just fine.
But sometimes the only thing harder than slowing down is thinking.
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