Blaming you, me, or Uncle Sam?

Proof positive that the intelligence of journalists is an
intermittent phenomenon, in a

recent edition of Slate, Timothy Noah basically fingers private enterprise for the high cost of gasoline in the Midwest.

First, he quotes an ExxonMobil "op-ad" in the June 22 New York Times, which argues that government regulations are the cause of the price hikes:

But most important is the impact of new federal regulations to improve urban air quality. These new regulations required that a cleaner-burning reformulated gasoline (RFG II) be available in service stations in selected cities on June 1, the start of the summer driving season. RFG II is more difficult and expensive to make and requires more crude oil for each gallon produced.

Then, he cites a recent report by the Congressional Research Service to back his notion of private enterprise blame. Reformulated gas regulations, he points out from the report, add up to about 25 cents on the present cost of gas. But then, Noah points to an oil spill in the Midwest which similarly tossed 25 cents to the cost tally because of distribution problems.

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"While the RFG rule can certainly be tagged 'government regulation,' "Noah writes, "oil spills fall under the rubric 'private enterprise.'" I'm not betting, but I think there must be something about the concept of premeditation that Noah doesn't grasp. Let me rephrase this sentence to something more sensible: "While the RFG rule can certainly be tagged 'deliberate regulation,' oil spills fall under the rubric 'accidental or mistake.'"

How do you compare private snafus to deliberate government actions as roughly equivalent?

If your wife accidentally capsizes the coffee mug over the carpet, would that be on par with the neighborhood kid purposefully ripping out your gladiola beds? Of course not. We always hold premeditated actions to higher levels of responsibility than accidents -- ask anyone on death row.

Like the bumpersticker says, "Stuff happens." There's nothing the petrol companies can do about the spill -- it's oil under the bridge.

The government, however, is not out of the responsibility woods. Not only are the gas regulations deliberate in nature, they are ongoing in their effect and still changeable -- like the neighborhood kid only finished with yanking half the gladiolas while threatening to continue until finished. Either kind imploring or a baseball bat can stop him, depending on his attitude.

So who's worse: private industry for a one-time foul-up or government for an ongoing problem that could be remedied with simple legislation?

I think it's safe to say blame lies not only at the hands of government for causing at least part of the problem to begin with, but also for continuing to duck responsibility by not repealing the ridiculous reformulated gas regulations. Noah, it seems, would rather blame private industry for a mistake than government for purposeful and, in the end, deleterious regulation.