Supply and demand.  If there’s little supply and demand remains constant, things cost more. If there’s plenty of supply and demand remains constant or declines, they cost less. 

Unfortunately for Californians, the basic law of supply and demand doesn’t well fit with Democrat ideology. Democrats don’t bother to live in the real world. They create their own to conform to their self-imagined intellectual and moral superiority. Their imaginary utopia can’t compete with reality, which inevitably comes crashing down on their heads. In this case, reality is gas prices, which are credibly predicted to reach $10 a gallon while elsewhere in the nation, they’re declining to the $2.50 range.

California’s gas is already, in some areas, around $7.00 per gallon. Roughly $1.50 of that is taxes, and about 38 cents of that funds the high-speed rail to nowhere. Actually, it just goes into that bottomless money pit for a railroad that’s far behind schedule, way over budget and which isn’t going to get any more federal funding in a state with a horrific budget deficit with no way to make it up. Have I mentioned not a single track has been laid? 

CA gas prices are also so high because California mandates a special blend of gas supposedly better for the environment, which is much more expensive than any other blend sold elsewhere and is produced solely in California. So, what’s going to add $3.00+ to $7.00 a gallon gas?

According to reports I’ve seen, after 140 years or so of operating in the state, Chevron's CEO Mike Wirth decided to shut down operations in California. He texted the governor, saying, “I’d like to tell you about it before you read about it." Common courtesy, right?

But, do you understand the depth of this thing? After 140 some-odd years, a $300 billion company, with thousands of jobs on the line, is throwing in the towel, deciding to leave the state. The consequences of this are enormous.

Newsom’s response? “I don’t need to talk about it. I’m good."

Of course he is. The rest of California, not so much.

Graphic: Social Media Post

If you add in the Phillips 66 operation in LA County and Valero up in the Bay area, a total of three refineries are gone. History. Kaput. All the jobs, to say nothing of the tax revenue that came with them, are no more by the end of this month. That’s about 20% of the total gasoline supply in the state. That’s no small happening, and it will certainly not have a small impact on the already struggling people living in the state.

As I recently noted, Valero is fleeing California. Offered $200 million by California to keep operating—money CA doesn’t have—Valero opted to take a $1 billion dollar loss instead. That means California has already lost 20% of its refining capacity—highly specialized refining capacity.

Even if CA could talk oil producing nations in the Middle East to refine their special blend and ship it to California, that’s going to add tremendously to the price at the pump. Less supply and constant demand will also increase the cost of any kind of fuel--gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel--which is going to increase the cost of anything shipped by truck and of air travel. Yet, CA is still in denial:

Studies based on California's own data suggest they’re headed for between $8 and $10 dollars a gallon by the end of 2026. Sacramento responded to this report with vitriol and an attempt to discredit those doing the study. There was no attempt to dispute the data. Just denial, and an attempt to shut down the people who did the study.

That kind of increase at the pump, and the arrogance and intransigence of California’s one-party Democrat rulers, is going to dramatically accelerate the number of people fleeing the state, making just about the only winners U-Haul and foreign refiners if any can be found to throw money into that particularly bottomless pit.

One would think someone running for president—yes, Newsom’s running—and the party backing him would see this situation as a real political danger. But then again, they’d have to be living in the real world rather than their make-believe world of ought to be. In that world, they’re riding the high-speed rail to inevitable glory.

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Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.