Trump decided the way to fix diesel prices was to let people pump the cheap stuff meant for farm equipment into their F-150s. The kind with the dye in it. Red dye. The dye that literally exists so highway patrol can tell who's cheating the tax system.
Diesel hit six bucks a gallon in September. Historic. Unprecedented. The first time ever, if you believe records matter. Transportation costs went up. Truckers got mad. Midterms loomed. So the administration's brilliant solution was to legalize what was previously illegal and call it emergency relief.
Off-road diesel costs less because it's taxed less. It funds exactly zero highway repairs. That's the whole point of the dye. You run it on public roads, you're stealing from the infrastructure budget. But when gas prices threaten your poll numbers, principles become optional.
This is what passes for economic policy now. Not addressing supply disruptions. Not increasing refining capacity. Not examining why the global diesel market looks like it got hit by a cement mixer. Just say the magic words "emergency powers" and turn tax evasion into patriotism.
Retail traders saw this headline and immediately started buying calls on truck stop chains. They thought cheaper diesel meant more profits. They forgot that legalizing the cheap diesel means everyone gets the cheap diesel, which means the margin stays exactly the same. They also forgot that midterms happen every two years and this "emergency" measure expires the day after the election.
The national average doesn't care about your political calendar. Supply disruptions don't fix themselves because you changed what color the fuel is allowed to be. Transportation costs were going up regardless of whether the diesel running through the injector was red, clear, or had glitter in it.
But sure, tell yourself the government solved inflation by making an exception to its own tax code six weeks before people vote.
Photo by Irfan Syahmi on Unsplash
Leave a Comment