I know I’ve been enjoying the falling oil prices of late when filling up my minivan’s gas tank. At the height of the post-Katrina and Rita oil price spike, I was paying upwards of $70 to fill the thing up. Now that things have calmed down a bit, I’m even hoping to see gas drop back down to that magic $1.99 level or lower.
And who do we have to thank for these lower costs? At first blush, I’d say Adam Smith. But I’d be wrong. It turns out that one man singlehandedly took on the high-price beast… and won.
That man?
CAVUTO: Okay. Gas prices are down a lot. Why do you think that is?
O’REILLY: Because they’re afraid they’ll go to jail. And those C.E.O.s who manipulated them–
CAVUTO: Why are you sure that they manipulated them?
O’REILLY: I have guys that are inside the five major oil companies – my father used to work for one of those oil companies, by the way – who have told me that in those meetings they look for every way to jack up oil prices after Katrina, every way. When they didn’t have to. And they got scared because in my reporting and some other reporting, they said –
CAVUTO: Wait, you’re taking credit for gas prices being down?
O’REILLY: My reporting and reporting of others.
Hmm. Perhaps tomorrow night’s “Unresolved Issues” segment on The Factor will focus on Bill’s incomplete knowledge of the law of supply and demand.
