April 13, 2018

Responding to Syria Fears, Gasoline Prices … Do Nothing

The LA Times reports:

Southern California drivers are paying the highest pump prices for gasoline in 2½ years amid fears that prices could jump even further if the United States takes military action against Syria….Oil prices shot up this week after President Trump tweeted that missiles “will be coming” to Syria following allegations of a government chemical-weapons attack on a rebel-held Syrian town last weekend.

Hmmm. Gasoline prices always go up in California around this time of year as refineries switch to their summer blend.¹ Nationwide, there’s been a slow, steady rise in gasoline prices over the past couple of years, but no spike in the past month:

The price of oil doesn’t seem to have spiked either:

This probably shouldn’t come as a surprise since, as the Times story itself notes, Syria doesn’t have any oil. Striking Syria may or may not be a good idea, but I doubt it will have any serious effect on gasoline prices.

¹And as refineries mysteriously shut down for a month or two due to “unanticipated” problems.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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