Gas price hikes

[markperez]

Just saw that the exxon down the street went up 5 cents since this morning. About 25 cents since thurs. Been seeing spikes as high 60 cents on the news and some places in florida are over $6/gallon gas prices. I expect it to go up IF the refineries are damaged but that has yet to be determine. Hope the heads of these gas stations corp. or mom and pop owners get charged for price gouging.

[RKDauph]

My folks in GA called this morning to see how we were doing with the storm. My mom said regular gas was $4.49 there this morning.

There should be a law.

[markperez]

they say there is a price gouging law but I don't know how that helps during the time it is happening. Very frustrating to see wrong things happen yet nothing you can do about it.

[dbphotos]

http://gaswatch.energy.gov/

They have decided to be very aggressive with f/u and prosecution where appropriate.

[djroga]

Locally the Walmart went up $.16, Shell up $.15, and the two closet Exxons have yet to raise their price (which is $.15 LESS than Walmart).

[frameworthy]

Heard on foxnews this morning that some place in Arkansas was paying $8/gallon. Pres. Bush did address price gouging this morning...we'll see if anything happens...

[Beezwax]

this is effin ridiculous!!!

as if living without power and utilities or a flooded home isn't hard enough for us hardworking Americans, some bastards out there are concerned about their profits on fuel...

[groovyone]

Here in Katy a few stations opened and prices were lower than they were when I filled up Thursday. HEB was $3.37 and the Valero they showed on Westheimer was $3.45.

[Jenny Z]

I haven't noticed any huge jumps in Richardson...

[Cerbera LM]

It's called profit, if there's no profit then the shelves are empty and the gas tanks are dry. Supply and demand problems are never solved by applying price controls.

Gouging laws make matters worse.

I don't mean to be glib — far from it. Natural disasters wreak unspeakable human tragedy, and we can decide between interventionist policies that make things worse or noninterventionist nonpolicies that allow rapid recovery ("robust rebound," as it has been called by some scholars studying the post-Katrina recovery in New Orleans). The important point, as always, is that the restrictions on price gouging harm precisely the people they are supposed to help. And so it is in the wake of well-intentioned legislation aimed at helping the unfortunate victims of (disaster) : we see long lines as people try to secure limited supplies of basic necessities. A price control by any other name is still a price control, and price controls have always served to compound the miseries wrought by natural disasters.

[markperez]

So let them raise prices 10 - 50% in one day or two days when there is no data (at the time) to suggest the need to do so? Makes perfect sense to me. Anyone can see this isn't about supply and demand. It is about simple greed.

[AndrewCCM]

Funny how price of oil per barrel is at the lowest price in quite awhile too. Obviously, this doesn't translate to refined gas prices when it's low. Only when it's high..

[AlexMorse]

There are plenty of gas stations available. Use gasbuddy.com if you want to stick it to people that are trying to take advantage of the situation. There are lots of stations that have not raised prices, or if they have it's not much.

Most of you don't need to buy gas every day either. Wait a few days.

[epoh]

Originally Posted by Cerbera LM

It's called profit, if there's no profit then the shelves are empty and the gas tanks are dry. Supply and demand problems are never solved by applying price controls.

Gouging laws make matters worse.

Thank you.

Economics is very difficult for most people to understand, which is pretty depressing. This may help some understand - http://shotsacrossthebow.com/archive...44.html#003044 but many will still probably not understand. On the bright side - you don't have to buy gasoline from anyone! :) Ride a bike.

[Breezy]

Here it was 3.38 and several stations jumped to 4.94 and 4.99. They interviewed customers and needless to say there was a lot of "Bleeps" lol.
I paid 3.48 on Friday and it is as of last night 3.68-3.89 in most stations here.