Notice the gas prices lately?

Every spring gas prices go up and politicians run out to demand action to stop what they assert is price gouging by the gas companies. Then, in the fall, gas prices fall, and the FTC also returns its answer to the politicians who demanded investigations of pricing. And that answer, this year, like previous years, is that there has been no gouging. But we've moved on, until next year when, predictably, the prices will rise and the politicians will schedule press briefings in front of gas pumps. The New York Post editorializes:

Last summer, Congress again called on the FTC to investigate.

Last month, the agency issued its report. The findings? Last year's spike was caused by . . . market forces.

That mirrors its 2006 report, which similarly found "no evidence of manipulation" in the post-Katrina price jumps.

The problem, instead, was a series of simultaneous events: climbing crude prices, refining capacity that had been reduced by storm damage and increased U.S. demand for gasoline.

That's not to say that only supply and demand are to blame. The reports also finger congressional policies - specifically regarding ethanol.

Last summer, refiners were essentially forced to start using more of the corn-derived additive, nearly doubling its cost per gallon. Demand for ethanol became so intense that refiners began importing almost 20 percent of their supply, despite a 54-cent-a-gallon tariff.

Obviously, the added cost got passed along to the pump.

Not that these lessons are ever internalized: When prices were rising this spring, Sens. Schumer and Hillary Clinton issued - what else? - demands for investigations into Big Oil.

So much easier to demonize oil companies than to recognize how economic forces and the very actions that Congress has taken are affecting prices. I can safely predict that we will see a replay in spring 2008. You'll be able to measure a presidential candidate's honesty and knowledge of economics by his or her response to the inevitable increase in gas prices next spring.