Quote:
Originally Posted by drp_69
Price gouging, and some fixing (collusion) is what I say causes it. Although there have been studies to show that this is not the case, I dont believe them. I just am very suspicious of price fixing at the gas pump.
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There are many things here:
for one, you think if there was ever any collusion it would have been found by now? What could be more popular for a politician than to be able to beat that drum? Man I don't even know where to start I'll just do pt form.
Prices are going up with the cost of crude, you may have noticed that the cost of WTI is north of $70, that may have something to do with it
Never in history has a commodity as important as oil been so poorly understood by the public. The gap between what people know and what is true is absolutely unbelievable considering how important oil is. Fact is, relative to the rest of the developed world, retail gasoline is still cheap. (US not withstanding)
Demand is insensitve to price, so if supply is decreasing and / or source of supply is becomming more expensive to develop then prices have to move sharply to adjust demand appropriately.
History has shown that prices don't rise anymore going into a long weekend than they do decrease, it's just that people only notice the increases, and even if they did, so what? Since when does the price of something not move when demand changes. Ever seen how airplane tickets, hotel rooms or anything else with a finite supply is priced?
The problem with the gasoline industry is that it has one big price on a big sign on every corner, so people become fixated on a number, and nobody is out there teaching anyone about market fundamentals and why prices move.