Replies

People will run out and buy a new iPod for $499 and they don't seem to get mad when they see the same model in a store 6 months later with a $349 price tag.

Yet these same people will go apesh!t if they seem gas rise from 2.75 to 4.00.

If these people were taught half as much about basic economics as they are about condoms this idiotic "gouging" talk wouldn't be polluting our national discourse.

People will run out and buy a new iPod for $499 and they don't seem to get mad when they see the same model in a store 6 months later with a $349 price tag.

Exactly. I saw a woman in the grocery checkout with 4 cans of Red Bull. While waiting her turn she put them back in the aisle-end cooler, and took out 4 of the new energy drink from Mountain Dew. I asked her if it was better than Red Bull. (which I don't drink) She shrugged, smiled and said "With gas prices the way they are.." The MD drink was $1.79 per 9-ounce can. I didn't bother bringing it to her attention that the drink was roughly $20 a gallon.

"Yet these same people will go apesh!t if they seem gas rise from 2.75 to 4.00."

An ipod is an item purchased with disposable income when the person buying it as able to afford it. Gasoline is a necessity for most people. No gas, no car, no work, no food. When you start asking people to choose between paying to put gas in their car and food on their table, and the price increase has nothing to do with supplier-side cost increases, then yes, people get pissed.

"If these people were taught half as much about basic economics as they are about condoms this idiotic "gouging" talk wouldn't be polluting our national discourse."

Would you say the same thing if every grocery store in a large area suddenly, and for no reason, raised the price of bread and milk to three times their normal cost?

Not everyone has disposable income. For many, doubling and tripling the cost of gas has very real and very serious consequences for their lives. Luckily, I don't have to drive long distances, I have a car that gets great mileage, and I'm in a position where it's financially feasible for me to deal with the pricing increase. That said, my cost for a full tank of gas has gone from $25 to about $45. That's $25 being taken out of my pocket. If it's not tied to an increase in the station's cost, then I'm pissed too.