The Left loves to blame Big Oil for gas prices, but Senator Jon Tester has upped the ante accusing gas station owners of price gouging at the pump. The gas station owners I’ve talked to in Montana aren’t making a ton of money. Their profit margins are actually smaller than the cut that government takes on a gallon of gas and the higher tab at the pump is making people less likely to buy ancillary products like drinks or candy bars. They face the brunt of consumer frustration as their profit margins decline. Of course, for Senator Tester, these hard-working Montanans are convenient villains as he piles it on. Classy, Senator.
Tester goes on to describe what he thinks Congress can do about the problem of high energy prices:
Tester said the answer to America’s problems of dependence on polluting oil from unstable foreign countries is to move forward on several fronts. These, he said, include use of renewable energy sources, energy conservation, expansion of existing conventional energy capacity, and the continued development of hoped-for carbon capture technology to enable cleaner coal use.
Basically, his solution is to continue to explore hypothetical alternatives, and the option of increasing supply by using our own friggin’ resources isn’t even on his screen. My favorite part though is where he actually tries to invoke the free market:
Tester said that, in their early stages, new technology and potential markets may be less significant than federal tax breaks and research incentives, but that once established, “the government should get out of the way” and let the market do its work.
Yes, Senator, the government needs to get out of the way and let the market do its work. And right now, the market wants - more than anything else - to meet the increasing demand for oil with increased supply. That’s called supply and demand and it’s sort of a fundamental underpinning of the free market that you blasphemes.
Drill, drill, drill!
Posted in Energy, Jon Tester | | Write a Letter to the Editor
Tester is a rancher. He’s not qualified to comment or have an opinion on energy policy! Until he’s served in the energy industry, he doesn’t have any credibility. 
That being said, he’ll probably demand a windfall profits tax on the gas station owners. That’ll show ‘em!
Tester obviously doesn’t know that the “profit” a gas station makes on a gallon is in the 8 to 10 cent/gallon range. “Gas stations” use the same lure that McDonald’s and other fast-food places use in the form of a burger. The burger gets you in the door, or in the drive-thru, where the main goal is to sell you fries or a drink—where the profit margin is 90%. Gas stations lure you with gas in the hope you’ll walk in the door and buy a drink, snack, candy, etc.
One would assume a businessman like Tester would know a little something about profit margins. Perhaps it’s because Jon & Sharla have received $71,655 in subsidies for producing their organic grain since 2003 that they’re a little out of touch with how a real market operates.
I know a small convenience store owner who went out of business after one of the last run ups, to like $2.00 a gallon. He was actually losing a penny or so per gallon. There’s no huge margin in selling gasoline at retail. Contrary to popular misconception, it’s hard to gouge when your competitors all sell a completely fungible product at a price they display publicly in big letters.
Read this at Ace today. Some one needs to ask Tester if he gets a discount on his DC gas purchases.
” I am 99% sure Congressmen have access to special subsidized Congressional gas. Either they have vouchers, or get generously reimbursed, or even have their own gas station, maybe available at a military PX.”
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