Gas Prices

There is an eerie silence when the gasoline prices go down.  Most news articles these days concentrate on local changes, but the prices are going down across the county.  According to this source:  “With gas prices in some states already at or slightly below $3 per gallon, the rest of the country could follow suit before the turkey is served on Thanksgiving next month.”  Credit for this is laid at the feet of supply and demand:  a slowing of economic growth in China and other parts of the world along with a greater supply coming from the US due to the use of controversial fracking techniques.  Overall, though, the situation elicits few comments from the media and even less chatter from the community as a whole.

Contrast this with the situation not too long ago when gasoline prices took a dramatic rise.  We heard complaints from friends and neighbors.  There were letters to the editor in local newspapers about the greedy oil companies soaking the little guy to make obscene profits and making accusations of a conspiracy.  News reporters were turning up unusual examples of people trying to decide whether to fill the tank or buy groceries.  Now gas prices are down and you hear hardly a peep out of anyone.  (Is anyone putting aside the extra money, I wonder, to help put food on the table when the prices go back up?)

Here we are right before an election.  If the situation were reversed we would surely hear some politicians telling us about greedy Big Oil getting windfall profits and overpaying their executives, and how, if we elect them, they would institute additional taxes on these profits to give us the feeling of getting a bit of revenge against those who would abuse us in this way.  The greedy speculators in the oil and gas futures market would also get their share of the blame.  Today, with prices moving in the opposite direction, there is only silence.

When the prices go up outside forces have ample opportunity to manipulate us into feeling sorry for ourselves, feeling like victims.  It is such a familiar pattern that many of us now begin to do it to ourselves without any prompting.  But when the prices go down, it’s supply and demand.  Fascinating!

Sauce for the Goose

An old expression, "What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander," conveys the idea that what’s good for one person is good for another.  If the behavior of one person or group is acceptable it must be acceptable for the rest.

This concept is often misapplied in politics.  If Politician A does something shady or immoral, pointing out that (otherwise) respected Politician B acted the same way years ago and it did not affect his (or her) job performance, does not excuse the behavior.  Telling lies or having extra-marital affairs is not made moral by the comparison to some great predecessor’s moral shortcomings.  Poor judgments are not excusable on the basis that my opponent or predecessor made equally poor judgments.  These excuses are as bad as saying that it’s right for any president to own slaves, because George Washington did.  No, using the idea for political excuses is clearly a misapplication.  Wrong behavior is not excusable by invoking some supposedly noble precedent.

I think a different application of “sauce for the goose” is more accurate, although I don’t expect many to agree.  That comparison is between the Black Friday shoppers and the top management of Wal-Mart.

Thanksgiving protesters held rallies at over 1500 stores to demand higher wages and better working conditions.  They argue that the company is rich enough and can afford to pay workers more.  Although most of the attention is on Wal-Mart, low-wage workers at fast food and other businesses join in the cry for a higher minimum wage and more benefits for their work.  The implication is that the company management is greedy and taking advantage of their employees.  They are paying as little as they must to purchase the labor to run their business.

Meanwhile, shoppers fight to get bargains inside the same stores, and the protesters expect these shoppers to agree with and back their cause.  People who have gone out of their way to pay as little as they can get away with for Christmas gifts and personal gadgets are expected to find at fault executives who want to pay as little as they can get away with, and to label them as greedy.  Good luck!

What gives anyone the idea that all prices should be low, while everyone’s wage is high?  Is there some kind of magic money tree that makes up the difference?  Aren’t the shoppers being greedy in the same way when they search for bargains as the executives when they want to keep their labor costs down?  Everyone wants the best deal, even, I suspect, those same protesters when they make purchases.  The irony raises an eyebrow among those of us who are lucky enough to be able to step back and look at it with cold objectivity.