Gas Shortage After Hurricane Sandy Caused By Poor Policy

[Wehrwolfen]

Gas Shortage After Hurricane Sandy Caused By Poor Policy​

11/09/2012

Economics: Gasoline rationing has been implemented in parts of New York and New Jersey as an answer to the long lines that have cropped up after Sandy. It's the wrong solution. Why don't officials ever get this right?

Starting Friday, police in New York City and on Long Island were enforcing an odd-even license plate number gas-rationing scheme. It followed a similar program begun in some New Jersey counties on Nov. 3.

Drivers in both states have complained of waiting in line for hours to pump gas after Hurricane Sandy blew through the region. The lines were caused by a sharp decline in local supplies.

Politicians, of course, want to be responsive. So they sign orders and issue emergency measures, such as the odd-even rationing scheme. The 1970s-style rationing could have been avoided, though, if policymakers had not made poor decisions earlier.

Both New York and New Jersey have laws that prohibit "excessive" price increases on consumer goods during emergencies. New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie has promised to take a "zero-tolerance" approach with violators.

Such laws are not uncommon among states. But they are uncommonly foolish.

[excerpt]

Read More At IBD: Gas Shortage In New York After Hurricane Sandy Caused By Poor Policy - Investors.com

 

[Toronado3800]

Only in America could you helpless folks think installing or owning a generator to run a gas pump is a big enough investment and fancy enough technology to require a significant investment of money or time.

I was amazed when I found out almost no reception halls in your country have back up generators. $10,000 minimum for a once (or twice or three times) in a lifetime event and no back up power.

The greatest generation were poor educators.

 

[bripat9643]

Only in America could you helpless folks think installing or owning a generator to run a gas pump is a big enough investment and fancy enough technology to require a significant investment of money or time.

I was amazed when I found out almost no reception halls in your country have back up generators. $10,000 minimum for a once (or twice or three times) in a lifetime event and no back up power.

The greatest generation were poor educators.

Why would a gas station owner want to spend $10,000 with no conceivable return on his investment?

 

[Toronado3800]

Only in America could you helpless folks think installing or owning a generator to run a gas pump is a big enough investment and fancy enough technology to require a significant investment of money or time.

I was amazed when I found out almost no reception halls in your country have back up generators. $10,000 minimum for a once (or twice or three times) in a lifetime event and no back up power.

The greatest generation were poor educators.

Why would a gas station owner want to spend $10,000 with no conceivable return on his investment?

Consider neither do most reception halls also and darn it, if I had to choose between one which cared enough to have a generator and one which did not I would choose one with for my event.

There are more complicated mathematics at hand Americans must be unable to perform.

-If their business is shut down for three days of the month their rent is still the same. No gas pumping at all even if all the employees are at home means the place is losing money.

-The laws generally cover excessive price increases, not all price increases. Got 5,000 gallons in the ground and you can charge $.50 more per gallon? That is 1/4 your generator cost plus you have made your usual amount of money and no doubt emptied your shelves instead of just sitting there waiting to go out of business.

Now there is room for some flexibility in my dream policy before you think I am too too excited to defend whatever existing laws NY and NJ have. You could talk me into allowing 25% increases maybe? 50% and a matching profit percentage guarantee if the station owner had to pay more for inbound fuel in the midst of the crisis?

Also in favor of the price protection laws is another factor peace-nicks do not take into account. When I pull up in my Lincoln and fuel up on $20 a gallon gas which I can afford even if there are armed guards at the station to keep the masses from charging in and taking over the place I eventually have to leave and brave it in the streets full of people who will attack me at the stop lights for a product which is unattainable to them.

So in the end even someone like me in this scenario who is not threatened by a doubling or probably even tripling of gas prices comes out ahead by pacifying people who can't do math well enough to figure they need a generator.

Perhaps not the most coherent this time of night but you can ask for clarifications.

 

[Grandma]

It's not just gas - most gas stations now have convenience stores. With coolers and freezers. A proper backup system could save thousands in melted ice cream and spoiled milk.

And the crazy thing is that the individual stores/stations don't need their own generators. Most are part of a retail chain - the chain owner should have a dozen or so heavy-duty generators that can be sent out as needed.

 

[Sallow]

Odd/Even is working out fine.

And it wasn't "policy" that screwed things up..it was disaster.

 

[editec]

I completely disagree with the conclusion of the article

Placing a legal ceiling on prices kills the incentive for providers to ship more of their product into an area where supplies are short. This applies not only to gasoline but to any commodity or service that's in high demand during a crisis, including water and food.

Read More At IBD: Gas Shortage In New York After Hurricane Sandy Caused By Poor Policy - Investors.com​

I not only think that not allowing price gouging during a natural disaster is the right thing to do, I think that people who price gouge during a natural disaster ought to be taken out and SHOT just like LOOTERS.​

Is that POV stated clearly enough for you market forces advovates?​

 

[Jarlaxle]

It's not just gas - most gas stations now have convenience stores. With coolers and freezers. A proper backup system could save thousands in melted ice cream and spoiled milk.

And the crazy thing is that the individual stores/stations don't need their own generators. Most are part of a retail chain - the chain owner should have a dozen or so heavy-duty generators that can be sent out as needed.

Insurance will cover that. A generator large enough to power everything is huge (it has the footprint of a compact car) and VERY expensive. It also costs money even when not in use, since it has to be run up and maintained regularly.

 

[bitterlyclingin]

What else is new. Obama's main goal in running for the presidency was the destruction of the United States as the world knew it and aiding and abetting the political and military ascendancy of the Arab World as well as the installation of the Worldwide Islamic Caliphate. "The United States has always been a Muslim nation" Barack Obama. Everything is proceeding nicely apace. The looming sequestration will devastate the United States military, leaving it weaker than Mexico's and Guatemala's militaries but stronger than Costa Rica's, which has no army at all. Meanwhile all of the Governments friendly to the United States in North Africa have been replaced by hard line Islamist Governments dedicated to the destruction of the United States. The only Arab countries left in the world that might even hesitate to join in a war against the United States are Lebanon, Jordan, and Kuwait. Give Islam a chance and little extra tiime to set off a few suicide bombs in those countries and they'll join the ranks of the hard line Islamists too. Meanwhile Obama has been supplying America's sworn enemy, al Qaeda, with the latest and most sophisticated weaponry in our arsenals. We'll be bankrupt and stripped bare, meanwhile the Arabs will have the latest weaponry to use against us, the procurement and supply of which helped facilitate our bankruptcy. That was Obama's plan as of January 20, 2009. Meanwhile as to the rest of the US Government: A politically naive serviceman's story of his way to enlightenment. The first thing he noticed was as William Jefferson Clinton was being sworn in as President, January, 1993, Democratic operatives were going through the Interior Department ordering all timber operations on Government land shut down. The next thing he noticed was that while the Republicans customarily appointed business men and executives to administrative positions in the government "People who had had experience actually running something" the Clinton administration appointed people who had spent the last twelve years chaining themselves to the gates of nuclear power plants or sailing on GreenPeace anti whaling ships. Now Clinton had gained some administrative experience himself as governor of the State of Arkansas, Barack Obama had none. It showed the night the two Navy Seals, Ambassador Chris Stevens and Sean Smith were killed. The Seals were calling out for relief and assistance over their radios, the only person who could sign the Cross Border Authorization to grant them that relief and assistance was Barack Obama. Barack Obama went to bed instead in preparation for his next day Las Vegas fundraiser.

 

[Wehrwolfen]

Hmm, Big Brother just contacted me regarding that posting a new message regarding more bodies found in the Rockaways was repetitive and in line with this blog. Perhaps in a general sense, however there was no mention of dead bodies found in the posting. Hurricane Sandy and its victims served their purpose for Obama and now it's time for him to hone his golfing prowess.

According to Oblamer, Now let them eat cake, or more accurately, garbage.

Oblamer has better things to do

And yes, I do care more because I have family that have become victims and there has been no help from FEMA or any Federal governmental assistance.

Read the post:
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/11/more-dead-bodies-discovered-in-sandys-wake-media-yawns/

 

[Wehrwolfen]

Hmm, Big Brother just contacted me regarding that posting a new message regarding more bodies found in the Rockaways was repetitive and in line with this blog. Perhaps in a general sense, however there was no mention of dead bodies found in the posting. Hurricane Sandy and its victims served their purpose for Obama and now it's time for him to hone his golfing prowess.

According to Oblamer, Now let them eat cake, or more accurately, garbage.

Oblamer has better things to do

And yes, I do care more because I have family that have become victims and there has been no help from FEMA or any Federal governmental assistance.

Read the post:
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/11/more-dead-bodies-discovered-in-sandys-wake-media-yawns/

BTW there is still massive looting taking place.

 

[candycorn]

Odd/Even is working out fine.

And it wasn't "policy" that screwed things up..it was disaster.

The "Shortage" is due to stations not being able to pump gas either through vital infrastructure being vulnerable to storms and the like (ya know, the shit the GOP doesn't want to spend on) or physical damage to the fueling stations.

These are the stakes for wanting as small and as cheap a government to just get by with.