Cyreenik Says
It's a bit strange: Even more newsworthy, and consistently newsworthy, than "Man bites Dog" is "Gas Prices are Rising". Just one of many examples is this 7 Oct 12 WSJ editorial, California's Green Gas Shortages, which talks about why Californians have had a gas price spike over the last month. "Californians are grumbling about a gas price spike, which state officials blame on disruptions in the supply chain. Actually, they're paying through the nozzle for their greener-than-thou government."
The odd part is that rising gasoline price is so consistently newsworthy. For six decades I've seen blaring headlines about rising gas prices, and heard crickets chirping about falling prices. Along with this consistent media interest comes a full package of urban legend: The most consistent being the oft-repeated story about the guy who invents a better-mileage carburetor (back when car engines had those) and the oil companies secretly buying it to keep him from selling it to the car makers.
I find this odder now because in this day and age higher gas prices would encourage greener choices, but I never hear even the greenest media person enthusiastically saying, "Green has been helped today by another price rise at the pump."
This strong and enduring interest in fuel prices is felt around the world. An example being that fuel prices are subsidized by many governments. These governments feel they are buying social peace with their subsidies.
Taxpayers pay more so fuel consumers can pay less. The media always reports price rises as happening to boost the profits of corporations. There is a whole lot of instinctive thinking driving this aspect of our human lifestyle.
-- The End --