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

[Sheri Herndon]

hi gentry,

you can propose this story by sending it to www-features with PROPOSED:  then the title.  since there's a link to a local feature, that helps as well.  jeremy's comments were good ones for clarifying api.  

i'd also suggest that the title reflect the us-focus of this article.  most people outside the us have to deal with the real price of gasoline and are clued in.  so "the 'real' price of gasoline in the united states"....perhaps.

great story and important!

sheri

>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>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Seattle-editorial mailing list
>Seattle-editorial at lists.indymedia.org
>http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/seattle-editorial
>