Just a little mental relief

Today it is common to hear individuals complain about gas prices. And who blames them? Gas prices are high. For the record one of the main things holding back the decline of gas prices is the regulation on drilling for oil. With demand rising around the world, supply needs to also rise and even at a slight quicker rate so that speculators are not as worried about international conflicts that could hurt the supply of gas.

But this column is not about lowering gas prices but more so about trying to bring some calmness of mind. I hope that it is some relief to know that gas prices rising is mostly due to a rise in demand. Profit margins are not much higher if any higher for oil companies than they are for other areas of commerce. A rise in demand world wide can be most impactful on gas prices. Our allowing free trade with foreign countries such as China and India has allowed us to save lots of money when buying their products. If these products were made in America they would cost far more and thus we would have less money to spend in other ares of our lives.

This saving of money has not only benefited us but it has also benefited India and China in their ever growing economies. Due to that, those two countries have continued to add to their infrastructure and technology. This has allowed hundreds of millions of people to begin driving. This has led to a large increase in the demand for oil around the country and thus the higher prices.

So just remember the lower prices we pay for foreign goods has allowed us to save money that we can then spend on gas. I know this might be of little comfort to most of you. But that is only because we have never lived in a society that does not allow free trade. We have no idea what the prices of goods would be if we could only buy goods made in America. But rest assure, those prices would be far higher than the higher gas prices we are paying now.