As Americans continue to suffer at the gas pump, it is worth remembering (or discovering) what happened to energy prices when the market was free. Between 1865 and 1874, the price of kerosene declined by 83 percent, falling from fifty-eight cents a gallon to ten cents a gallon. Compare that to the 100 percent increase in energy prices Americans experience between 2001 and 2010.
In the nineteenth century, energy producers did not need to get government permission to drill for oil or build a refinery. They acted on their own judgment, and everyone benefited from abundant and inexpensive energy.
Today, while the government throws billions at non-productive boondoggles like Solyndra, it makes it increasingly difficult for energy producers to operate. Energy producers cannot act on their own judgment, but must act according to the mandates and decrees of politicians and bureaucrats.