However, you cannot ignore what Georgia did.
They floated the rumor that they might run out of gasoline.
The resulting panic caused gas lines, panic topping off of the tanks, and the gas station owners raising the prices by the quarter hour. Some raising the price as much as a dollar at a time.
They are training the public not to be like foolish children. Not to panic like ninnies on rumours.
Anyone who's dumb enough to pay $6 for a gallon of gasoline based on some rampant rumors about a pending "shortage" is a freakin' moron. A government official is not doing anyone a favor when he tries to protect people from their own stupidity.
Look at the stories floating around here about an "eight-day supply of gasoline in Atlanta." Yes, that's probably right. Atlanta probably has eight days' worth of gasoline available for purchase at any given time. Your grocery store has about five days' worth of milk, five days' worth of bread, and one day's worth of fresh fish. Anyone who thinks this means Atlanta is going to run out of gasoline in eight days, or that the grocery store is going to run out of milk or bread in five days, is dumber than a bag of rocks and shouldn't even be allowed to drive a car, let alone vote.
Oops, I gotta run . . . the pizza joint around the corner only has a couple of days' worth of cheese in their refrigerator, and I really want to have one last taste of that pizza before they "run out" on Friday and go out of business forever.