[arin-ppml] ARIN-prop-146 Clarify Justified Need for Transfers

[Owen DeLong]

On May 5, 2011, at 10:58 AM, Warren Johnson wrote:

>> 
>> Based on the fact that you call it "petrol," i'll assume you're not in
>> the United States. My trips to the gas station take about < 5 minutes.
>> I would call that a testament to the free market.
>> 
>> As near as I can tell based on significant travel, gasoline or petrol
>>> prices are quite artificially low in the united States compared to the
>> rest of the world. I don't actually know why that is, but, I would say
>> that the energy companies in the US are some of the best examples
>> of free market dysfunction that are available.
> 
> If you don't know WHY they are artificially low, then you can't rightly make
> the conclusion that they ARE "artificially" low.
> 
I said as near as I can tell. What I do know is that they are lower in the US
than virtually anywhere else in the world.

> 
>> My trips to the gas station take between 5 and 45 minutes, depending
>> on the length of the line. The price of gasoline fluctuates randomly
>> and is obviously  detached from the realities of the costs of the raw
>> materials. The price only drops significantly after it has risen so much
>> so rapidly that there is public outcry and congress starts to seriously
>> consider additional regulation of the industry. Then it drops just enough
>> to silence the cries for regulation.
> 
> 
> They are not "detached" from the price of the raw material. There are simply
> more factors that adjust the cost like supply, demand, speculation,
> refining, which way the wind blows and the color of the fairies in the
> Wizard of Oz.
> 
Uh, right... I think that paragraph speaks for itself. The net effect is detachment
from predictable or expected factors.

> 
>> But in all fairness, all governments have their hands in the cookie
>> jar. Your government more so from what I can tell.
>> 
>> There are a number of possible explanations outside of the government's
>> hand in the cookie jar for the disparity in experiences at the gas pump.
> 
> I agree.  One thing is for sure, someone is making a lot of money and that
> can't just be supply and demand.

Indeed. It's not clear that the "someone" is necessarily the oil companies,
though I tend to doubt the voracity of their claims on the amount of their
profits that are from gasoline or their claimed "$.10/gallon".

Owen