[cherry]

if oil and gas were free market items with many, many competitors, I would say.....let them gouge all they like as long as we have other companies to buy from....

at this point, whatever we feeble consumers think is fair or unfair is a moot point....we are technically in a vise and they are operating it...

solution is to break their grip....break their monopoly....break their hold on all of us....

[Rodney King]

if oil and gas were free market items with many, many competitors, I would say.

Once it leaves the ground, it is the free-est and most competitive market their is.

[tfecw]

"solution is to break their grip....break their monopoly....break their hold on all of us...."

I was going to start a gas company, but they wouldn't let me build a refinery.

[Rodney King]

at this point, whatever we feeble consumers think is fair or unfair is a moot point....we are technically in a vise and they are operating it... solution is to break their grip....break their monopoly....break their hold on all of us....

So why is gas down 10 cents in the last 2 days? Are the stupid oil companies just deciding to charge less?

Why was gas only a buck 10 years ago? Were the oil companies just stupid allowing the price to get that low?

Or, are you wrong, and in fact the price is determined by market forces?

[Hendrix]

You don't have a clue what you are talking about. Our oil industry is highly competitive and operating perfectly within the bounds of our free market system.

[kx9088]

Exactly.

But I'm tired of hearing gas station owners say "We only make a penny per gallon!". Yeah, ok, sure, that's why yesterday your gas price was $3.35/gal and today it is $3.19/gal and two days ago it was $3.25/gal.

[ModelBreaker]

solution is to break their grip....break their monopoly....break their hold on all of us....

Do you know anything at all about the oil and gas industry? This kind of populist rhetoric appeals to the ignorant and consistently leads to damaging actions by public officials.

I agree with you in one regard--it would feel good to hurt someone when prices are high--just because it would. But that doesn't excuse me from the responsibility of using my brain before I punch the guy that owns the local gas station or the regional gas distributor or the president of Chevron.

What you propose is just as silly as punching the president of Chevron--it is a purely emotional response to a situation (the hurricane created refinery crisis), it has no benefits to anyone except to the extent some folks feel better if they hurt someone, and it hurts everyone by creating shortages of Gasoline.