Gas supply and price update; the ghost of the old British Labour Party

AJC reports this morning that gas prices in metro Atlanta are still above $4/gallon, even though there was only limited damage to refineries thanks to Hurricane Ike last week -- and the fact that the price of crude oil has dropped. AJC points the finger at pipeline shutdowns and general supply problems in the region. Light sweet crude is at $94.65/barrel. On Tuesday, it went as low as $90.51, down from a record $147.47 in July.

Average prices in the Southeast remain above the national average of $3.85. I know that consumer gasoline prices generally take time to reflect the commodity prices of oil, but geez. A year ago, a gallon of regular unleaded cost $2.70 in Atlanta.

The lowest average price in Georgia is in Athens at $4.05, which is strange considering Athens (home of the University of Georgia) has historically had some of the highest in the state. Concurrently, Augusta (which used to have some of the lowest in Georgia) is the highest at $4.37, probably owing to major supply issues there.



Meanwhile, the feds have bailed out AIG to the tune of $85 billion and will take an 80% 79.9% [see update below] stake in the firm. This is essentially nationalization -- an element of the old British Labour Party's economics back in the mid-20th century (and indeed of most social democratic parties of Europe). It was outlined in the party's Clause IV -- the intent to nationalize (government take over) certain industries. Clause IV was repudiated in the early 1990s, allowing Tony Blair's "new" Labour to take power as a centrist party.

We've also had the nationalization of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

So while the feds practice real socialism on one hand, universal health care is derided by the right as evil, evil commie pinko socialist stuff. Wall Street gets a bailout and can suckle on the guv'mint teet, but the rest of us are well eff'd and far from home.

UPDATE: The media is wrong to round up 79.9% into 80, because of this important reason pointed out by Steven M. Davidoff, professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law:

The government purchases 79.9 percent of the company in question. It can’t be more than that, because if it goes over the magical number of 80 percent, the company’s debts are then required to be consolidated onto the federal government’s balance sheet. Keeping it at 79.9 percent allows the government to maintain the fiction that it is still not responsible for the company’s solvency.

Accuracy. I strives toward it.