Gas price elasticity

["William K. Medlin" <dev-plan@moscow.com>]

Oh, no! Not the gas pump again! Then don't read any further. BUT, it's
surely interesting how quickly the pump price jumps straight up following
rises in the international crude price (like in Jan.-Feb, about .20 in a
few weeks. Over the past two weeks, crude has dropped between 15-20%, from
a high of $30-33 down to between $22-25 (depending on sources). Bill
Richardson's oil diplomacy obviously had some impact. But have you seen any
change at the pumps? It's still $1.64-66 around here.
  Of course we Americans ought not to complain, as compared to European
prices,which are 2-3 times higher (but their economies run at higher unit
costs across the board-- at least twice ours). And our oil products benefit
from subsidies which we do not see, to ease transortation costs that
undergird our material life style. Higher costs of oil products will help
reduce pollution, traffic, accidents, noise, ozone depletion, etc. So I
guess I am not complaining about the price of gas, just pointing to an
anomaly that constantly plagues the Moscow-Pullman area, for unknown
reasons other than some pocketbooks seem to be better feathered with green
stuff than others. Is it fair? that's all.
   On a related but longer note, the more we consume, develop physical
plant, and burn fuel, the more we threaten earth's natural sustainability.
The evidence pointing to ultimate ecosystem breakdown is overwhelming but
rarely gets into the daily press to educate people about it. "It's just not
newsworthy!" Ho, hum, fiddle dee-dee.  Have a good week all, and don't buy
too much gasoline. Ken M.