[Seattle-editorial] Proposal: The Real Price of Gasoline

[Gentry Lange]

Hi All,

I'd love to have this go up today, or at least before the end of the
weekend, as it relates to Labor Day... How do we propose a Global Feature.
I'd love to see this hit global (and not just for my own ego).

Here's the link to a clean version...
http://seattle.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=32213&group=webcast

Gentry
______________________________________________________________________

Title: The Real Price of Gasoline
Subtitle: Record Labor Day Gas Prices Not Really Record Prices

<p>Gasoline prices have recently hit almost $2.00 per gallon accross the
United
  States. For a consumer culture that drives SUVs, that $2.00 price tag
makes
  many people believe that prices are at an all-time high? And recent price
spikes
  have led to renewed <a
href="http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/recall/story/7322481p-8266769c.
html">calls
  for government regulation</a>. </p>
<p>While the <a
href="http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/137351_gasprices30.html">mass
  media</a> is out to tell us <a
href="http://www.news-leader.com/today/0826-Gasprices,-145522.html">the
  same story</a> over and over, that <a
href="http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/6626793.htm">gas
  prices are too high</a>... especially for labor day, when Americans
traditionally
  set the yearly record for travel by car. The reality is that gas prices
are
  nowhere near record levels. </p>
<p>When adjusted for inflation, 1981 set the most recent record at $1.35
which
  is $2.69 adjusted to year 2000 prices (the most recent year for which
numbers
  are easily available). In fact, the all-time high was set in 1918, which
would
  be $3.00 per gallon in 2000 prices, and <a
href="http://www.narprail.org/gas.htm">prices
  have been falling ever-since</a>. For the real numbers visit the <a
href="http://api-ec.api.org/industry/index.cfm?bitmask=001004001000000000#">
American
  Petroleum Institute</a>, and download <a
href="http://api-ec.api.org/filelibrary/Historical%20Trends%20in%20Gasoline%
20Pump%20Prices%201918-2002.pdf">this
  PDF</a>.</p>
<p>Of course, these prices don't even begin to address the <a
href="http://www.icta.org/projects/trans/rlprexsm.htm">real
  price of gasoline</a>. Which according to a report by the <a
href="http://www.icta.org/index.htm">International
  Center for Technology Assessment</a>, could be as high as $15 per gallon.
In
  addition to crude prices and taxes, the environmental costs of burning
gasoline,
  and waging wars to procure the oil to make it, burning gasoline has an
almost
  incalcuable cost on society at large... though many have tried to put a
number
  on it. The <a href="http://www.iags.org/home.htm">Institute for the
Analysis
  of Global Security</a> provides a good overview of what this number might
be,
  read <a href="http://www.iags.org/costofoil.html">How Much are We Paying
for
  a Gallon of Gas?</a> </p>