"A stupid idea"

So says Fereidun Fesharaki at the East-West Center in Hawaii. The idea? A $2.74 price cap on wholesale gas prices in Hawaii. Hawaii seems full of bad ideas lately, and I agree with Fesharaki's assessment of this one. Once that $2.74 cap starts to eat into the margins of the refineries, they will have few good reasons to continue to refine gasoline for Hawaii. I'm sure the politicians in Hawaii used this cheap ploy to get good PR with citizens who distrust the entire petroleum industry right now, but the refineries have little control over the rising prices of their raw material. This will backfire on Hawaiian politicians if the price of oil continues to rise.