The gouging argument about gas prices is bunk
MINOT, N.D. — Gas prices are up, so of course that means the politicians are working themselves into a high moral dudgeon about price gouging.
It’s a story that’s almost as old as the internal combustion engine.
This week the Democrat-controlled Energy & Commerce Committee in the House held a hearing about gas prices. Because these sort of hearings are about theatrics, and not pragmatic policymaking, they even gave it a title. Like it’s a movie or something.
“GOUGED AT THE GAS STATION: BIG OIL AND AMERICA’S PAIN AT THE PUMP,” is what they called the hearing , a bit of branding which telegraphed the fact that the proceeding wasn’t about fact-finding. The politicians in charge of it had already reached a conclusion.
They weren’t “hearing” anything. It was a performance.
