Things that go bump in the night on Election Day

Posted at 10:58 AM on March 31, 2006 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

I was watching a couple of talking heads on CNBC this morning, just a few hours after filling up the car ($31) and noticing that gas prices have quietly hit $2.66 a gallon. "Shoot," I thought, "I must've missed a big catastrophe somewhere -- a hurricane, a refinery fire." Nope, it's just the, you know, market forces at work.

This can't be good news for incumbents because at least once a week the drivers of America are reminded that things aren't as "good" as they used to be ("good" defined by cheaper, and it doesn't really matter why).

There's nothing politicians can do about the market, really. But it doesn't matter. Voters are an emotional lot and if they sense things aren't all that great, no reciting of facts will change their mind.

Anyway, these CNBC folks were saying you can expect gas shortages and $3-a-gallon gasoline by the middle of May, just in time for the "driving season."

One wonders whether it'll drive a "throw the bums out" mentality.

Comments (1)

Incumbents can do a lot about market forces. By drilling the hell out of a tiny piece of tundra in Alaska, oil futures -- and thus prices -- would respond in dramatic fashion. Oil prices respond on the margin.

Posted by Gary M. Miller | March 31, 2006 1:54 PM

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