The Fairness Doctrine

IN 1978 Congress enacted a lawyer’s dream called the Natural Gas Policy Act. As might be expected, it turned out to be a consumers’ nightmare. The act divided identical units of natural gas into 26 vintages and determined how much producers could charge for their chemically identical but bureaucratically subdivided product. Now, five years later, Congress is once again deliberating on the topic. Consumers should keep their fingers crossed, because there is at least a fair chance that our legislators will again prove more useful to lawyers than to householders with natural gas on tap—all in the name of fairness, of course.

Natural-gas pricing illustrates a longstanding Washington problem: many legislators think it is sufficient to have good intentions, no matter how bad the real-world outcome of their ruminations. Some, such as Senator Howard Metzenbaum (D., Ohio), mistakenly believe that they are being helpful when they adopt a punitive attitude toward the productive. Others just do not understand that prices are unruly and will not lie down on command.

TB

About the Author

Tom Bethell

Featured Tags

IN 1978 Congress enacted a lawyer’s dream called the Natural Gas Policy Act. As might be expected, it turned out to be a consumers’ nightmare. The act divided identical units of natural gas into 26 vintages and determined how much producers could charge for their chemically identical but bureaucratically subdivided product. Now, five years later, Congress is once again deliberating on the topic. Consumers should keep their fingers crossed, because there is at least a fair chance that our legislators will again prove more useful to lawyers than to householders with natural gas on tap—all in the name of fairness, of course.

Natural-gas pricing illustrates a longstanding Washington problem: many legislators think it is sufficient to have good intentions, no matter how bad the real-world outcome of their ruminations. Some, such as Senator Howard Metzenbaum (D., Ohio), mistakenly believe that they are being helpful when they adopt a punitive attitude toward the productive. Others just do not understand that prices are unruly and will not lie down on command.