Complete frustration, and the ensuing chaos is now apparent in New York and New Jersey. This of course is being blamed on what would be anywhere else a minor storm. Because of the storm surge, more damage than expected occurred, but most of that damage was in the beachfront areas. So why all the problems?
There is very little gas available in New York and New Jersey, and tempers are running high. Much of this so-called shortage is due to a lack of available electricity in the region. And guess who controls the utilities, including electricity, in the tri state area? The government does of course. Without electricity, the service stations can’t pump fuel, so even if they did have gas in their storage tanks, they could not deliver it.
But what about those stations that have electricity? Why can’t they just sell more gasoline? Besides the government controlling and regulating electric and other life sustaining utilities, it also controls and heavily regulates transportation. Any gas that needs to be delivered, and any oil that is coming into the ports to be refined into gasoline, are regulated by the state and federal government.
Before any ships can come into the harbor to deliver oil, the government has to waive its ridiculous rules concerning all deliveries. Even the evil Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is in the way, and before any deliveries can take place, maritime rules, and other bureaucratic protectionist practices and laws have to be waived. International delivery of oil to the ports was already blocked by the DHS until November 13th.
Even the Obama administration and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ” are temporarily waiving some Clean Air Act requirements in 16 states and the District of Columbia to reduce fuel disruptions from Sandy.”
Next, even though there is great need and a very small supply, laws forbid any to price their goods to the market. Any raise in price, regardless of the fact that there is little supply, is labeled “price gouging” in New York. Not only does price gouging not exist (except by government), it serves in a free market to allocate goods to the most important use. By stopping those retailers from selling to voluntary buyers, supply becomes even more scarce, and many more are harmed in the process.
The “Hitler-like” governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo said:
“On this fuel situation, there is no reason to panic. We know why there was a shortage… will be better in near future.”
He should know why there is a shortage because it is his fault that any shortage exists in the first place! Isn’t it refreshing that he will do better in the future? But don’t worry, the EPA is also going to “allow” New Jersey residents to heat their homes using generators with heating oil, (just during the emergency) so long as they can get “cleaner diesel” approved by the state. They are so kind and benevolent after all!
All these problems can be traced directly to the state and federal governments. This situation was caused by government and government regulation, and will worsen due to those same factors. These problems would not exist in any free market.
Citizens relying on the government to help them during times of crisis will always be harmed the most. Those who are self sufficient, will be harmed the least. The lesson here is that government control and government solutions will always be very detrimental; therefore, government control should be eliminated, so that the free market can flourish. That is a better way.