GAS IS A BARGAIN (When Compared To Milk!)

Yes, I remember when gasoline was 50 cents a gallon…..I was pumping it at the Texaco station in Maryland back then. Of course, the Ford Maverick MSRP at the time was $1,995. Things change.

We’re never going back there-and although I dislike paying north of $3 a gallon as much as the next guy, at least I can understand the costs embedded in that price. What I don’t understand is why MILK costs $4.59 a gallon!

Let’s take a quick look at each commodity and compare:

Gasoline is a derivative of oil, a fossil fuel that is a non-renewable resource.
Milk is a renewable resource, as it comes from a COW.

Oil exploration is a costly and risky business. Whether drilling in multi-million dollar offshore rigs or at home and abroad, it is capital intensive and many drilling shafts yield nothing.

As far as I know, 100% of Milk exploration is successful (“Hey, there’s a cow!”)

Once extracted from the earth, oil needs to be transported many miles, often in hostile areas such as the Middle East.

Milk, once extracted, must be poured into a bucket.

Oil needs to be pumped into huge tankers and often must travel thousands of miles in all kinds of weather to reach the refinery.

Milk must travel many feet to reach a bigger bucket. It is then transported to the local dairy

Oil goes through a multi-step refining process in a plant containing sophisticated, state-of-the-art equipment.

Milk undergoes a couple of admittedly sophisticated processes too, but let’s face it, putting milk through a centrifuge (homogenization) and quick heating (pasteurization) are not cutting edge technologies.

Refined gasoline is then transported by tanker to locations around the country where you and I have supplanted the friendly Texaco man to personally deposit it into our tanks.

Milk is bottled and shipped to the supermarket. The distance between the producer (cow),the dairy and the supermarket and end user is usually under 50 miles.

Frankly, we should never be caught in a milk “shortage”. Breed more cows, grow more hay. There’s your answer.

The outrageous cost of milk is more likely due to artificial price supports and factors other than the market forces of supply and demand. OPEC has held America “hostage” in the past by restricting supply. Is there a “Milk Mafia” out there? Are farmers and dairies colluding to drive prices up? Are cows unionizing?

The plain fact is that milk is cheaper to produce-and should ALWAYS be significantly LESS than a gallon of gas. Why isn’t it?