Posted on 09/12/2008 1:41:12 PM PDT by Old Sarge
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Kentucky's governor has signed an order declaring a state of emergency and invoking the state's anti-price gouging law as Hurricane Ike bears down on the Texas coast.
Gov. Steve Beshear signed the order on Friday, saying gas stations started raising fuel prices overnight before the storm made landfall.
Beshear signed the order at the request of Attorney General Jack Conway, who said in a letter released Friday that invoking the law now will help prevent predatory pricing.
(Excerpt) Read more at whas11.com ...
What are sellers supposed to do? If it was me I’d cease sales till my wholesale price came down.
I have a sister who worked at a convenience store chain. They had no say, the would get the call and be told that their supplier put the price up, and they should go out and change the sign to read a higher price per gallon. When oil was on an upswing this happened two or three times a day. But now that it is going down, it happens only once a week or so.
So how then will the scarce supplies be allocated? Price is usually the best way to do it.
They are running out of gasoline, and usage needs to drop for awhile.
EXCELLENT suggestion, now if only the ignorant Dems would do it. and while they are at it, BUILD FOR BOTH GAS AND OIL! GET ALL THE GOV”S TOGEHTER AND MAKE THEM AGREE ON ONE EMISSIONS GRADE NATION WIDE TO REDUCE THE COST OF REFINING!
unspun - just another Hugo Chavez socialist
That is the policy at the local Swifty gas station where I waited in line tonight to buy gas at $3.51 versus the $3.89 elsewhere in SE Indiana.
I live in southern Indiana - just 7 miles from downtown Louisville—across the Ohio River. I live near 3 gas stations (right off I-64) - one of them is now at $4.19, another at $3.99, and the other is CLOSED—all the lights are off...which is very, very unusual.
The problem often ignored is who sets what percentage as proper profit.
Amen. In cases like this, when a national security issue such as energy is involved, I think the executive branch of government has a responsibility to protect The People from predatory extortion. That gasoline that they're selling now has NOT been affected by any supply and demand issues. They're using a storm as an excuse to extort money from The People for personal economic gain. Shame on them.
Those such as them are the ones I try to give the majority of my trade to. A local store owner last night was saying he was going up a dollar before opening the store the next morning. He was having his clerks tell the customers. His price went up because he got a delivery that last night. He could have just closed his pumps that afternoon and waited till this morning to begin selling again a dollar higher which I suspect is what a lot of stations pulled. Too many stations in Knoxville simply ran out too fast. I could believe it if it was say 50 miles out of town but not across the street from the blasted terminals.
What is even more strange is in our area the stations closest in to the regional tank farm are running out first. The shortages hit East Tennessee yesterday and Kentucky today. A lot of southeast Kentucky's gas is trucked in from Knoxville.
Yes, we should sell that glass of water to the dying, dehydrated man for whatever it’s worth.
Nothing wrong with that... nothing at all.
Why *should* we be forced to sell it at a price lower than what he’d pay.
I’m getting to this thread a bit late. My wife and I were wondering just how widespread the price increases are. In Memphis, the highest Iv’s seen is $3.99 pg. I’ve seen the reports on this thread about the prices in the southern USA. Is Ike going to affect the prices in the northeast, northwest, or western USA? Just curious.
BTW, prayers are with those of you who are in harms way. I wish all of you a lot of luck getting through this disaster. Good luck and God speed.
Oil doesn’t spontaneously change into gasoline, ya know.
If we don’t have the refining capacity to make the gasoline you buy, then the price goes up, up, up... until the demand matches the supply.
D@mn shame that most of America’s refining capacity is concentrated in ‘Hurricane Alley’.
(Thanks, Congress, for restricting the construction of any new refineries)
Adam Smith said something similar... but he didn't call it a free market.
The price of monopoly is upon every occasion the highest which can be got. -The Wealth of Nations, Book I, Chapter VII-
Although, he did mention what a free market price was supposed to be, but it is not what you think.
The natural price, or the price of free competition ... is the lowest which can be taken, not upon every occasion indeed, but for any considerable time together...[It] is the lowest which the sellers can commonly afford to take, and at the same time continue their business. -The Wealth of Nations, Book I, Chapter VII-
The problem is that there are only a few places in the country that have clusters of refineries -- New Jersey area, Gulf Coast and California. At least I am not aware of any other major clusters of refineries.
Certainly, nothing compares with the Gulf Coast refineries of Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi -- for capacity.
That is why the SPR (Strategic Petroleum Reserve is there, and it is meant to be tapped by refineries in the Gulf Coast in time of need.
But in this case, it is not a shortage of oil, but refinery capacity...
There are smaller refineries throughout the country...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.