Maybe you haven’t heard about this hurricane thing. But it has idled 20% of US refinery production. That means there is less gasoline available for about the same demand as a week ago. That means prices have to go up so that people can actually buy it if they need it, unless the government gets involved. Then there will be shortages. On Fox and Friends, I believe, they said that Tennessee was about out of gas.
It’s call “supply and demand”. Look it up.
I simply reported that prices went up drastically at my local station. I did not speculate as to cause.
Are you familiar with the phrase “arrogant jackass” ? If not, you can “look it up”.
A free market means that prices will go up when availability goes down - and the product will be distributed to those who value/need it most.