But that's the beauty of it

John Miller notes the return of Al Gore to the small screen today at The Corner. Al has made his first campaign ad since 2000 on behalf of the Yes on 87 campaign in California.

I caught part of the ad this very morning while getting ready for work. Saying I saw it would be not quite true, it's more like I heard it since I was brushing my teeth in the bathroom. But anyway, enough about me.

Miller notes: In what is apparently his first TV ad since running for president, Al Gore is back on the airwaves with a call for higher taxes in California. He wants Californians to approve Prop. 87, which would have oil companies cough up $4 billion to the government-- a cost that surely would be passed on to consumers at the pump.

But see John, that's the beauty of it; the law itself will make it illegal to pass on additional costs to the consumer at California pumps: The California Attorney General has confirmed that Prop 87 makes it illegal for oil companies to raise gas prices to pass along the cost to consumers. The U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled that states can prohibit oil companies from passing fees like this on to consumers.

Now, I'm no economist and I make no claims as such but my limited grasp of economics tells me there's only a couple of things can happen in this situation (if there's any economic know-it-alls out there who can expound on other outcomes, feel free):

1) Because companies doing business here will be prohibited from increasing gas prices in California, they will raise prices in other states to, in effect, subsidize the new cost of doing business in the Golden State.

2) Production will fall dramatically because profitability will be down, causing gas shortages and other economic hardships across the state. At the extreme, you could conceivably see some companies make the decision to pull out of the state altogether.

In the interest of equal-time, you can visit the No on 87 as well.

As to Al's performance...same old, same old. You'd think given the topic that some of the more passionate Al might find a way out but sadly, no.

And oh, I imagine that California as a state is no less or more dependent on foreign oil than any other. Exactly how do you track refined products back to their barrel-of-origin anyway?