Lest anyone think that socialism isn’t festering in the United States, a look at the latest foolishness from Hawaii should rapidly correct that misapprehension.

Hawaii will begin enforcing a cap on the wholesale price of gasoline next week, hoping to curb the sting of the nation’s highest gas costs.

The limit would be the first time a state has capped the price of gasoline – a move critics warn could lead to supply shortages.

Someone give those “critics” a cigar.  We have a winner.  In any situation with a commodity that isn’t unlimited, the market has an automatic control in place to determine who will get that commodity:  price.  Should pointy-headed politicians try to muck with these controls, the market will respond in one form or another.  I expect that we will shortly see long lines at the pumps in Hawaii as gasoline ends up in very short supply.  If the producers are unable to make a profit at wholesale, then they will naturally produce less or even no gasoline for the Hawaii market.  In the above linked article, one expert even predicted that one of the refineries might even be shut down and that companies would leave the market. 

Perhaps that would be a good lesson for the pointy-heads in the Hawaii state legislature.  Let’s see how well the state economy handles having no gasoline at all available.