I thought the topic was your assertion of unfair gas prices and screwing the public (well, at least as the public exists in California). I wasn’t sure from your original post who you where blaming but you have made it clear that you blame the companies. I disagree with that and blame the government. Seems to be on topic.
In a market that is not restricted by government regulation companies compete on price. In one that is heavily regulated with little competition like refining and distributing in California, companies do not compete on price. That situation is the fault of the government or do you expect profit making companies to act like charities and charge what you can afford?
Why is gasoline so cheap in Ohio and many other states? Did the refiners and distributors get some sort of fairness religion and decide to give us a break? Or do these other states have more refiners and distributors because their state isn’t regulating them out of existence which means they must compete on price to keep market share?
So what is the fair markup? Tell us all what is fair for these companies to make. I am sure the companies would not mind signing on for a guaranteed fair profit.
You know, about all you have proven so far is that you are very dense. You have a problem with rationalization. You are not capable of addressing the issue that was raised on point.
Once again, first paragraph you’re off blaming government again.
Tell me bright path, did the government raise their slice of the pie to prevent prices from falling? No. The government did nothing here more than they normally do.
Did the same refinery situation exist before the drop in crude? Yes. A new situation can’t be blamed there either.
I haven’t complained about the percent of profit either. I expect them to make profits. This isn’t about normal profits. It’s about reaping excessive profits by refusing to pass along some of the crude oil savings to the public.
Prices go up, and these oil firms claim a need for profits. Prices go down and these firms do not reciprocate for the public.
They keep the prices artificially high, and then will raise them way beyond reasoned the next time crude oil prices rise.
Price drop 70%, public gets 25% in savings. Price goes up 70%, the price to the public goes up 200 to 300 percent.
I’ve seen this dog n pony show play out for decades here in California.
Why does California have a different blend of gasoline? We have a natural catch basin that runs from the beach inland to the Riverside area. In this are there are about 17 million people.
The air does not circulate well in this area. It’s called an inversion layer, and if the blends of gasoline were not different, we would see severe health problems.
I’m not happy paying higher prices than the rest of the nation, but then not all this is attributable to the special blends either. California has a very high level of gas taxation per gallon.
I lived here during the 70s, and you could see a haze just looking to the businesses across the street. It sometimes looked like the place was being gassed.
These things being said, the government is not specifically the problem here. Yes it needs to be addressed for over taxation, but this is a clear issue where the price of manufactured gasoline has gone down 60 cents per gallon, and only 14 cents have that has been passed along.
Instead of siding with your fellow citizens, you insult them, blame on the state, and at this point still haven’t figured out the oil companies have not been fair to the public at large.
If you can’t grasp these issues, why continue to convince everyone of it?