The Hightower Report

BIG OIL'S FREE-MARKET HOKUM

Five honchos of Big Oil appeared before Congress last month, singing in perfect harmony their old song that skyrocketing gasoline prices are simply the product of free-market forces. "The fundamental laws of supply and demand are at work," crooned the president of Shell Oil.

Bovine excrement! There is no free market in the oil industry. Sure, global demand for petroleum is up, but under free-market laws, supply is supposed to rise to meet that demand and hold prices stable. However, there's only a handful of global suppliers, and these oligopolists openly conspire to restrict the flow of crude, thus doubling oil prices in the past year.

Who are the oligopolists? The OPEC cartel, for sure, which has flatly rejected pleas to open up their pipelines. But they're not the only ones. Yes, Saudi Arabia and Iran are the two largest producers on the planet, but who is the third? ExxonMobil! Exxon, Shell, BP, and other brand-name gasoline giants, who so piously invoke supply and demand orthodoxy in congressional testimony, are themselves major producers, and they have a direct interest in keeping supply short to hold their crude prices high.

Wait, you say, doesn't that raise their cost of making gasoline? Yes, but so what? There is no free market at the pump, either. Thanks to the rash of mergers that Washington has allowed, gasoline refining is oligopolized, too, and guess what? The big refiners are now slashing their output of gasoline to keep supply low and prices rising. Also, notice that pump prices are the same at Exxon, Shell, and other major stations. If a free market really existed, at least one of them would try to attract customers by cutting prices.

By locking up supply, these oil barons are able to rob us – and that's another reason America must push alternatives to oil.

SQUEEZING THE PUBLIC OUT OF PUBLIC PARKS

To find a splendid example of the "common good" in action, look to our nation's extraordinary network of public parks – spaces open to all people and available to the community for everything from recreation to public discourse.

But it's not easy to look at some of our parks, because boneheaded politicians have starved them of funds and let them deteriorate. Now these same boneheads say they know how to fix these public places: Privatize them! Yes, to save public parks, make them private. This is what passes for genius among boneheads.

Take Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City. He's got a plan for the historic, enormously popular people's space known as Union Square. Innumerable rallies and protests have been held here. The nationally renowned farmers' market called Greenmarket operates in it. The square also serves the neighborhood as a peaceful respite and a site for everything from chess matches to a children's playground. It's a community treasure.

But it's a dilapidated treasure, for city officials have failed to maintain it. Finally, Bloomberg announced a renovation – with a privatization kicker. Without any community input, a wealthy restaurateur – who is a big Bloomberg backer – suddenly surfaced with a private plan. He quietly enlisted Whole Foods Market, Barnes & Noble, and other chains to get behind his scheme, and this group intends to remake Union Square into a shiny new corporate space.

The size of the park will be decreased, severely squeezing the space available for free speech; the farmers' market area will be cut by half; the venerable pavilion – a landmark for public gatherings – will be turned into a swanky high-dollar restaurant, perhaps to be run by the mayor's buddy; and 14 trees will be chain-sawed to expand the restaurant space.

Privatization doesn't "save" public parks; it turns them into corporate profit centers that shove out the public.