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Viewpoints: Letters / Opinions

GASOLINE: $2.65 A GALLON AND FALLING

By David G Hanger

 

November 08, 2014
Saturday AM


Free enterprise and the great American way are wonderful things, so it really is too bad that folks in Ketchikan don’t get any of it; but instead get price gouging, price fixing, and exclusive monopolistic practice; and a bunch of dud (bought and paid for???) politicians who have no leadership skills at all. They are happy to blow your dough sky high, but anything involving saving their community money is beyond any possibility of their contemplation.

Do the math, folks. In June the price of gasoline was around $4.10 at the pump in Ketchikan, $3.80 to $3.89 in Washington state; nothing to really complain about. But since around the Fourth of July the price of gasoline has been dropping, dropping, dropping, pretty much every day, not every week.

That price is now $2.65 a gallon and is continuing to fall. Apparently, the Saudis are pissed off at what Putin is trying to do with the Ukraine, and are assisting in preventing Putin from using oil and natural gas to blackmail the European nations by glutting the market. Gas prices are projected to be very low for the next six months.

But not in Ketchikan, oh no!! Grovel, friends, for your very existence is solely to aggrandize a handful of con artists. You are all paying $1.50 more a gallon for gasoline than the fair market price. Your community is being ripped off to the tune of $40 million a year or more, and your politicians’ response is the silence of the tomb.
On those occasions when I have brought up this issue with our elected “corporal’s guard” (No, they are not leaders, nor do they demonstrate any capacity whatsoever as “officials.”) I have simply been told, “Oh, but he’s a nice guy.” Those are the birdbrains you have elected.

As the old Italian proverb tells us, “The smile is abundant on the face of the fool,” and this is known to be true. But the glad hand, the manure eating grin, is the basic stock of the con man and the rip-off, so what does being a nice guy have to do with anything? Oh, he gets to steal from all his neighbors. (But he does not think of any of you as neighbors; you are his victims.)

Monopolies are illegal in this country, and monopolistic practices, price fixing, price gouging, etc. are crimes. An article published last week indicated that the average savings per family on gasoline prices would exceed $720 by the end of the year, enough to bolster both the holiday season and the economy in general. No, contrary to “Fox Fixed News, Propaganda, and Lying Bullcrap” the reduction in gasoline prices is not detrimental to the economy; it is beneficial because it stimulates the economy by putting more discretionary money in consumers’ pockets.

And wouldn’t it be nice for the citizens of Ketchikan to have the opportunity to enjoy something of this economic boon; but NO, it all goes into one pocket.

Do not expect anything from any of these dud Alaska politicians. Whether the local, regional, state, or national level, you will be greeted with deafening silence. For what this one guy cleans out Ketchikan for annually, you can pay the upgrade costs for the hospital and probably build a new school, yet our incredibly oafish politicians just don’t get it. To hell with every one of them. Do it yourself.

Monopolies are illegal. Price fixing and price gouging are crimes. This is interstate trade. File complaints with the U.S. Attorney General in Washington, D.C. A couple dozen of these emanating from the citizens and victims of Ketchikan, and the fur will fly. These excess profits need to be disgorged, and free enterprise must be sustained by the law. Write today; it doesn’t really require anything more than a simple statement: “I am sick and tired of being ripped off by this gas monopoly, and I would like you to do something about it.” For the sake of your family and of yourself show the backbone these jellyfish politicians clearly lack, complain to the U.S. Attorney General, and seek to get your money back.

David G Hanger
Ketchikan, Alaska

 

Received November 05, 2014 - Published November 08, 2014

Related Viewpoint:

letter Gas prices in Ketchikan By Jesse Kvale

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