[clyde asbury]

..these sudden price increases are being made IN ANTICIPATION of decreased supply.

That's because the owners of the gas stations OWN the gas in the ground. They are free to charge any price, or no price. They can sit on it and leave it to someone in their will if they want.

Those are called property rights.

[savedbygrace]

Mostly true, but IIRC, there are anti-gouging laws in various States, maybe even federal.

And while we're on this discussion, now that gasoline prices are over $2 a gallon, could they drop the .9 cents from the end of the per gallon price, please? Say, $2.06, rather than $2.059. I mean, really. That might have been a clever deal back when gas was $0.399/gallon, but now? What's the point?