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April 24, 2006
Price Gouging?
As I said earlier I am going to provide some details on what has happened at the pump, but first this post from "DHB" which....
provides you with the most succinct and correct answer possible......
Yes, I think it is a pretty clear-cut case of price gouging, monopolies, and price fixing
.After the recent run-up in the price of oil per barrel and the price of gas at the pump, I got to wondering how many gallons of gas are derived from one barrel of oil and whether the increase is proportionate. The answer is, 20 gallons of gasoline per barrel of oil. Okay, do the math. If oil goes up a dollar per barrel, how much should the price of a gallon of gas go up? For those who have only studied under the new math system, where anything goes as long as you feel right about it, I will tell you the answer: 5 cents. According to the reports I have seen, in the past 3 weeks, a barrel of oil has gone from $72 to a "record high" of $75, causing gas at the pump to "soar." Really? Would 15 cents be soaring? Not unless the gas companies jacked it up to 30 or 40 cents. And before anyone starts bringing in extraneous data about the cost of refining, transportation, taxes, etc., remember, none of that has changed in the past 3 weeks. The oil companies justify their increases solely on the cost of crude oil per barrel. It's price gouging, pure and simple. That's why those CEO's are raking in hundreds of millions of dollars per year in salary and stock options."Posted by Post Scripts at April 24, 2006 07:29 AM
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Comments
Price gougning? Maybe. But really when you look at corporate profits from gasoline I doubt that it compares to the profit the government makes from gasoline given all the taxes involved. I will leave it to someone with better skills than I to determine how much of each dollar spent actually goes to taxes in all the different mainfestiations from drilling to refinery to gas stations. Like tobacco, I think the government is the real profiteer.
Posted by: Ron Acevedo at April 24, 2006 12:14 PM
I heard today that some idiot's want new taxes on the oil companies. All that will do is jack the price up higher. When does a company ever not pass added costs to the end user? If your looking for help from the government all you will get higher pump prices.
Posted by: Toby Stahler at April 24, 2006 06:08 PM