Very little reporting has been done about the sudden rebound in gas prices other than a few sparse stories about strikes breaking out at refineries across the nation. I refer you to a Feb 13 story in the Washington Post by Lydia DePillis. This story is typical reporting concerning the strikes. In that piece, money is not the issue; it is safety concerns and complaints about being forced to work too hard and being understaffed. Have you ever heard of a strike in which pay had nothing to do with the walkout?
This is the first strike at a refinery since 1980. The Steelworkers union represents over 30,000 refinery workers nationwide. These employees make an average of $62,000 per year with no college education and can make as much as $35 per hour. They enjoy the most lavish healthcare and retirements to be found in the private sector. OSHA statistics point to a significant reduction in workplace incidents in that industry and refining ranks better in recordable accident rates than other industries.
What is really happening that you are now paying for at the pump?
One of the most corrupt things a government can do is create exemptions from laws for certain favored groups, individuals or industries. I will show by this example how devastating this is: No two men are equal in any way except in the eyes of the law. For instance, a billionaire and a factory worker are unequal in many ways, but both are subject to the same legal punishment for running a stop sign. There is no one who has an exemption from running stop signs except maybe a presidential motorcade, EMS or police. However, I believe that most legislation that is created today is not for the legislation itself but for the unfair advantages that will be granted through exemptions to the new laws once passed.
Dr. Milton Friedman pointed out in his book Capitalism and Freedom the fact that labor unions are exempt from The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. This is the set of laws that were designed to protect you from Cartels and all forms of price fixing. According to Dr. Friedman, this exemption allows labor unions to “enforce a monopoly in the sale of a product.” Coal production was his example: John L. Lewis, president of the United Mine Workers would call general strikes when the amount of coal above ground was so large that it threatened to force down prices. According to Sherman Antitrust, industry executives cannot get together and agree to restrict production, but because of this exemption, union representatives can call a timely general strike across all producers that has the same effect. The industry receives the benefit in artificially supported prices which translate into increased profits and the union gets to maintain or even increase those high wages and benefits. Many unions today are really no more than businesses themselves that sell a product to an industry: they sell the service of cartelizing and their power to do so derives from an exemption to a 125 year old law.
Two weeks ago, refineries began walkouts according to the Washington Post article. The strike has now spread to nine refineries across the nation owned by at least four different companies. At that time, I paid $1.73 per gallon. I am now paying about $2.15. There is still plenty of oil. We are hardly in the peak driving season. Can you now plainly see this is why your gas prices have jumped almost $.40 per gallon in about a two week period? Do you see that the Steelworkers are coming to the rescue of falling gas prices and that these strikes are done with unspoken cooperation between labor and management? Can you see how exemptions to law has a direct impact on you and your family by this example?
We must recognize and resist all exemptions to laws to maintain our equality under the law. Whether it is Obamacare exemptions, down to PILOT agreements granted to industries by our local officials, all have similar devastating consequences and ultimately erode the rule of law.
Robert Bower