Gas Price Hysteria

The lonely libertarian has heard a great deal in the news lately about out of control and skyrocketing gasoline prices. Obviously, the price of gasoline affects nearly everyone's bottom line, but as this MSNBC piece points out, when adjusted for inflation the gas prices of today are nowhere near the prices of the late 70's and early 80's.

The public tends to enjoy placing blame and responsibility for high gas prices, regardless of the complexities of the market. And the lonely libertarian tends to think this is solely out of people's concern for their own pocketbooks. After all, while gas prices remain under $3.00 per gallon, the average price of a gallon of milk this month is $3.23 per gallon.

Not that milk and oil are one and the same, but it's always interesting to note how high gas prices, subject to the complexities of an oil market I can not begin to understand, are met with self-righteous indignation, while milk prices, which have been kept artificially high by the government since the New Deal, are met with nothing more than a shrug.