FUEL SHORTAGE? SEEMS TO BE PLENTY NOW

A recent Associated Press dispatch featured this lead:

"A slew of diesel Volkswagens, including the new Beetle and old standby, the Chevy Metro, are leading the fuel misers of 1999. But with gasoline selling at $1 a gallon does anyone care?

"Not in recent memory have Americans paid as little attention to fuel efficiency when shopping for cars and planning trips, auto industry and travel experts say.

"In fact, gas-guzzling power machines such as the full-sized sport utility vehicles -- built on standard truck chassis -- are selling so fast that manufacturers can't keep up. And auto makers are coming up with more models and more horsepower each year, while phasing out some smaller, more fuel-efficient sedans."

The Environmental Protection Agency, in releasing its annual fuel economy statistics for 1999 model cars and trucks, singled out the Chevy Metro as the most fuel-efficient gasoline vehicle, getting 41 miles to the gallon in the city and 47 mpg on the highway.

"People just don't care about fuel efficiency any more" not when gasoline prices are the lowest they've been since 1992, even taking inflation into account, said Dave VanSickle of the American Automobile Association.

What is happening here is that markets are performing as they are supposed to. As long as they are unintruded upon by government meddling, markets are wonderfully efficient communications devices. Among the most vital functions of markets is to communicate information about scarcity and plenty in commodities. What the gasoline market is doing today is announcing to the world that gasoline is abundant, compared with demand, so the price falls.

Let's face facts: Fuel shortages of the late 1970s were overblown by the liberals. The gloom-and-doom predictions just didn't happen. Gas is plentiful and prices are competitive. It's not surprising then that the pendulum has swung so far to the opposite -- more people are choosing larger vehicles that consume more gas.

Will be the end of us all? Hardly. But today's increasing fuel consumption should provide a reality check for liberal politicians who continually warn that the sky is falling. When you cry wolf too often, the public will quit listening.