Please show me where I said "complete dictatorial control". I stated that the oil companies use any excuse that comes down the pike to justify an increase in the cost of fuel at the pump. You don't believe it? Try talking to people who work in that industry.
Oil companies don't control the price at the pump; they don't control the pump at all. Gas stations "control" the price at the pump, and their margins are pennies per gallon. As for using "excuses" to raise the price - why do they need excuses? They're a business trying to make money; they have the absolute legal and moral right to charge whatever the market will bear for their product.
ROFL. Well read my earlier post.
Do tell, whom did you talk to from that ‘industry’ ? The guy that owns/leases the pump ? The guy that delivers his gasoline ? The warehouse where the delivery guy picked it up ? The bulk tank operator who moves things through pipelines to the warehouse ? The refiner ? The multinational that produced/imported crude ? Everyone in that chain adds some cost, and, those costs VARY wildly on the day to day basis. These are around 10000 different companies that participate in this chain. To say that someone arbitrarily sets the price is ludicrous.