Rep. Paul Kanjorski is like an ignorant kid who doesn't know anything about economics
I wonder how much a gallon of milk and a case of Depends are running these days for a suddenly endangered Member of Congress
By Jeff Emanuel Posted in 2008 | dumb chain emails only ignorami believe | Gas Prices | PA-11 | pandering to the stupid | Paul Kanjorski — Comments (3) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
If you're like me and are on way too many email lists involving way too many people you don't know, chances are you've gotten a ridiculous forward (or six) like this one, which I received last Spring:
NO GAS...On May 15th 2007
Don't pump gas on may 15th
In April 1997, there was a "gas out" conducted nationwide in protest of gas prices. Gasoline prices dropped 30 cents a gallon overnight.On May 15th 2007, all internet users are asked not to purchase gas in protest of the high gas prices. Gas is now over $3.00 a gallon in a lot of places.
There are 73,000,000+ American members currently on the internet network, and the average car takes about 30 to 50 dollars to fill up.
If all users did not go to the pump on the 15th, it would take
$2,292,000,000.00 (that's almost 3 BILLION) out of the oil companys[sic] pockets for just one day, so please do not go to the gas station on May 15th and lets try to put a dent in the Middle Eastern oil industry for at least one
day.If you agree (and I cant see why you wouldn't) resend this to all your contact list. With it saying, "Don't pump gas on May 15th"
Remember Friend:
Don't Pump Gas on May 15th
Now, as any person with half a brain and a sixth-grade understanding of economics knows, as nice as this might sound, simple economics will tell you that it is an urban legend. Say that everybody doesn't pump gas on one day. If they still drive the same amount as any other day, the same amount of gas is needed; it's a "zero-sum game" - you'll just make up for that gas used by purchasing more on a different day. If you use the same number of gallons to drive, then you'll need to replace the same number of gallons; it doesn't matter one bit if you do it on one day or another - the same amount will be spent on the gas.
In fact, contrary to the nice idea floated in this email, if there was to be a shift in prices as a result of a day-long boycott on gas purchase that wasn't matched by a boycott in gas use, that shift would actually be upward, as there would be a greater need for gas, and therefore a greater willingness (out of necessity, not desire) to spend more on gasoline, rather than less.
Less demand or more supply is the only way to effectively lower prices; simply shifting the demand from one day to another will not accomplish that in the least. Creating more fuel efficiency, or recovering and refining more domestic oil, will increase the supply or decrease the demand and positively affect prices; a one-day boycott, as nice as it may sound, will not accomplish anything at all other than to cause a glut at the pump the next day.
As a result of this fact, the story told in the previous email is, quite simply, false.
Of course, Pennsylvania has a Congressman who either doesn't get that, or is so busy pandering to the stupid and ignorant in his district in hopes of saving his suddenly-endangered seat.
Read on.
12-term Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-PA-11) has proudly announced his support of the "Don't Buy Gas on One Day!" scam, according to a Times-Leader story that is prominently featured on the Democrat's campaign home page with the subheading, "He backs not pumping gas or driving Thursday to send message to OPEC, oil firms."
From the article:
U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski on Monday blasted members of OPEC and the U.S. petroleum industry and asked the public to “dump the pump” and refrain from pumping gas and driving on Thursday unless absolutely necessary.Kanjorski said that by cutting down the consumption of petroleum products by a few percentage points, Americans would send a message that “we’re aware of the fact that we’re being taken advantage of, and that this $135-a-barrel oil and $4-plus gasoline has to cease.”
Joined by Luzerne County Transportation Authority Director Stan Strelish at a press conference on Public Square, Kanjorski promoted public transportation and legislation he said would help reduce energy prices.
He asks that Americans use public transportation and refrain from pumping gasoline on Thursday as part of a nationwide initiative.
But wait, it gets better:
Kanjorski said those who must drive should try to carpool, and teens and adolescents should refrain from “cruising.”The congressman said a message also must be sent to oil companies in the United States that, “rather than being satisfied with good profits, have gone on to celebrate enormous profits.”
“If we send a message that we’ve had enough, and damn it, we won’t take it anymore,” Kanjorski said, pounding his fist on a podium, “even the American oil companies will begin to realize that they should be satisfied with a reasonable profit, not the gigantic profit they’re getting now.”
In mid-April, Kanjorski "said it’s time for America to stand up to the big oil companies and shout out, “We’ve had enough”" and introduced HR5800 (the "Consumer Reasonable Energy Price Protection Act of 2008"), which "would allow the federal government to tax windfall oil and gas profits resulting from historically high oil and gas prices that average Americans struggle to afford" when those profits "exceed what a Reasonable Profits Board determines is rational."
Now, we are witnessing Kanjorski's second attempt to "solve" the problem of escalating gas prices by buying in -- and asking his constituents to buy in, as well -- to an economic universe in which creating more demand mysteriously lowers prices, and in which increasing costs for producers mysteriously (and illogically) does the same.
As a commenter at Free Republic noted:
Kanjorski's previous plan to reign in high oil prices was to tax the "windfall profits" of the eeeeevil oil companies. Now, he must have received one of those emails to not buy gas on a particular day. I hope he keeps coming up with these idiotic plans, so that he is replaced by "Mayor Lou" Barletta.
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Rep. Paul Kanjorski is like an ignorant kid who doesn't know anything about economics 3 Comments (0 topical, 3 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
It would be great if I could shut my business down 4 days out of a 6 day week and then sell 3 times as much on each of those 2 days I'm open.
If you held a monopoly on the product you sold, you might be able to. Since you don't, there are competitors in the area who are open and therefore would get the sales instead of you. The point with the gas is that it only shifts the day of purchase, not the need for the gas itself, which still feeds the aggregate consumption of oil.
Interestingly my father and I recently had a discussion about something that closely resembles the argument you are presenting. Where I grew up in PA we still had Blue Laws (most retail stores couldn't be open on Sunday, including grocery stores). Then one store out at the Plaza moved in and sued to be open on Sunday (my Dad was trying to remember the name of the store). After a lengthy court fight they eventually won. My Dad's recollection is that at first other stores mostly stayed closed but over time they all opened. Mine is that the way the contracts were written, if one store was open, they all had to be. Either way, eventually all of the stores were open on Sunday.
Now the argument made for being open on Sunday was that they would make more money that way. But after all the stores were open on Sunday, somebody did an analysis. What they found was that per annum the stores were making roughly the same in inflation adjusted dollars as they were before they started opening on Sunday. What had changed was the cost of doing business because they now had to pay staff for more hours, as well as additional cleaning and maintenance costs. This scenario more accurately reflects what you are describing, although in reverse. There was an effective monopoly on not being open, and the first business through the door made a temporary increase in sales. But over the long term, because people still made mode at the same per week/month/year basis, only the timing of the spending changed, not the amount.
....as far as attacking Kanjorski and campaigning.
“.....women and minorities hardest hit”