Whether or not it can be fixed, Lingle has confirmed that she'll implement the controversial gas cap law in September, as established by the Legislature.
Like Hawaii's bottle bill, it looks like this one's got too much inertia to stop now. If it can't be tweaked, the only hope is that it isn't too disastrous... else we'll be in pretty deep kimchee before we can back out of it.
Regulating such a price-sensitive and competitive industry is, IMHO, a bad idea. And of course, there's good evidence that this "gas cap" will in fact raise prices at times, as there are indeed places on the mainland that pay more for gas than we do.
The Advertiser has an interesting graph (which rightfully notes we see more ups than downs, compared to other markets)... but I'd really like to see a line added for what the gas cap price would've been if the law was already in place.
"We firmly believe that (price caps are) the wrong approach" [DBEDT Director Ted] Liu said in an interview this week. "If a repeal bill fails, the gas price cap law is the law. I want to absolve you of any notion that the governor is not going to implement it, or that DBEDT is not going to implement it."
Regulating such a price-sensitive and competitive industry is, IMHO, a bad idea. And of course, there's good evidence that this "gas cap" will in fact raise prices at times, as there are indeed places on the mainland that pay more for gas than we do.
The Advertiser has an interesting graph (which rightfully notes we see more ups than downs, compared to other markets)... but I'd really like to see a line added for what the gas cap price would've been if the law was already in place.
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