Just plain dumb? Try supply and demand. A big chunk of the North American refining industry is now underwater; of course the price of gas goes up. It doesn't help that some people are panicking and trying to hoard gas. Speculators always take these sudden price swings, whether up or down, and make them worse. Anybody remember the gas queues in 1980?
And before you accuse the oil companies of profiteering, consider how many billions of dollars they'll have to spend rebuilding those refineries . . . and how hard it will be for them to do so with all the environmental red tape now in place. Under present regulations, it's all but impossible to get approval for a new refinery in the U.S., and pretty damn difficult in Canada.
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