• Frank
• Jun 26,2008
• In: Blog

Inane Facebook groups

A comment I made earlier today on the wall of the Facebook group “15,000,000 for lower gas prices”, which contains 1,684,698 members at this point (only off the mark by a few million):

Of course all gas consumers want lower prices. Everyone who buys gas would like it to cost $0. And of course all gas sellers want higher prices. Everyone who sells gas would like it to cost $1,000,000 per gallon.

The whole point of a market is to find the price in between where supply and demand are roughly equal. By saying that the market price is the wrong one, you’re just rehashing the old and dead concept of the just price. Just saying “we want lower gas prices” means nothing; it’s changes in supply and demand that count.

Rather than joining this group and complaining about gas prices, I’d recommend that you help reduce demand by conserving energy and driving less, and encouraging others to do the same; and help increase supply, by writing to your representative/MP and encouraging him/her to back measures to remove taxes and environmental measures that discourage and reduce drilling and refining. Everyone wants lower gas prices, but it won’t happen just by complaining.