I highly doubt there is any price gouging going on except at the pump. There are a number of market factors that cause the price to rise. Plus its a scarce commodity in high demand.

I believe there is a lot more collusion going on at the pump. How else can one gas station (Shell) be at $3.46 and the other right across the street (Arco) be at $3.19. Then a Shell station not 2 miles from the gouger be at $3.31.

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If the average person's butt caught on fire I'd be willing to bet the American media could convince them its not in their best interest to put it out.

Blaming the Left again?

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"There were no D-Day Heroes in 1973" - Cold Chisel Khe Sanh

Just some thoughts on the prices at the pump that you are seeing.

Are there any city limits county lines nearby? This can certainly effect prices depending on local gas taxes. I know I live a near a county line and right across the prices drop on average by about 5-10 cents.

The different prices between the shell stations is because Shell the wholesaler sells the gas at different prices to different retail locations. They charge a higher prices to locations in wealthier areas or that have slightly different demographics. They tried to pass a law against this in MD.

The fact that prices are so different tells me there is certainly no price gouging at the pump. Now if all of them had the exact same high price or within a penny or something then there might be cause for alarm.

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"Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end - Liberty is the only object which benefits all alike, and provokes no sincere opposition - The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern. - Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." - Lord Action

How so?? If all of them had the exact same HIGH price there would be evidence of collusion or price fixing. But its just 1 within a 5 mile radius that is a rediculous amount higher.

I don't really care. I have already Banned Shell permanantly. I purchase everywhere but there now.

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If the average person's butt caught on fire I'd be willing to bet the American media could convince them its not in their best interest to put it out.

And you wonder why the Republicans Lost the Election? They Lost control of Congress and the Senate because of the campaign called.
PAIN AT THE PUMPS-PAIN AT THE POLLS
And It Worked. Voters will vote what their pocketbook and wallet tells them. Republicans have gave Tax Breaks to the wealthy and nothing for the middle working class people.Republicans wont even consider cutting the federal Gas Taxes.
THATS WHY THEY LOST THE ELECTION!!
And Keep it up George Bush and youll see Hillary Rodham Clinton in the white house.

Steve actually speaks as if he is completely unaware that the price of gasoline dropped $.60 in the five months leading to the election (and a further dime after that).

Of course, at that time the Conspirati was convinced Bush was driving down oil prices to help Republican chances in 2006. Conspiracy Theories Abound as Oil Prices Fluctuate - washingtonpost.com

The above article is such a lazy piece of reportage they even repeat the easily-disputed claim that Saudi Arabia promised to keep oil prices low in the US to help Bush in the 2004 elections... they repeat it without bothering to note that between the time of the supposed "promise", May 2004, and the election in November, the price of oil rose by 20%!

Cite.

Heres a further point: There is nothing wrong with price gouging. Businesses should have a right to charge whatever they want. COnsumers dont have to buy it. If they dont, prices drop.

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http://www.fairtax.org

Elminate all taxes on income and replace with a national sales tax.

It's probably not good to use the term "gouging" then. If business have the right to charge what they want then the term is redundant isn't it?

Whether or not anything should be subjected to price controls is another issue.

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"There were no D-Day Heroes in 1973" - Cold Chisel Khe Sanh

Definitely an associated issue. Big oil and the rest of that food chain are well aware of public sentiment due to economic circumstances and satisfied with what's considered a normal after-tax net profit for acceptable ROI. They're not stupid enough to want regulation, almost an impossible scenario for an imported commodity priced by world demand in a debtor nation, by profits that would be considered excessive by industry standards. Maybe when the software improves.

The general public doesn't understand that the seemingly enormous profits enjoyed by big oil are generated by increased consumption and greatly increased commodity (oil) costs. All they see is what's at the pump. There are even those blind advocates who believe the US has enough oil reserves or can grow enough corn for fuel at the expense of food costs to be energy independent.

You are right. As much as I'm whining about it here the fact is they have the right to charge what they feel. Smart consumers will stay away from that brand.

All you can do is let the free market dictate the price.

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If the average person's butt caught on fire I'd be willing to bet the American media could convince them its not in their best interest to put it out.

Good points, thanks for them. Growing food for fuel....I think we're pissing on our kids' future and the future of their kids. I can see it now..."you did what for fuel? So that's where our food went!"

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"There were no D-Day Heroes in 1973" - Cold Chisel Khe Sanh

Here's a thought. What if there's no free market in oil? What if it's all a giant cartel? What if OPEC is the least corrupt of all the oil businesses?

This free market stuff is fine in a textbook but in the real world it gets a bit wobbly. Capitalists detest competition and they detest risk. All capitalists want a monopoly and if they can't have a monopoly they want a cartel. Capitalists detest free markets, they screw with profit.

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"There were no D-Day Heroes in 1973" - Cold Chisel Khe Sanh

If bush wants to prevent Hillary get in the white house all he has to do in his next state of the union adress is talk about cutting taxes on the middle working class families and cut the federal gas tax by 10 cents a gallon and wait and see what the democrats do.You know damn well democrats are against cutting taxes on everybody.Thats what will hurt them in next election if they fail not to agree on cutting taxes on gasolene or on middle income families then they lose the election and the GOP takes over again.

I'll leave that one for posters who know a lot more about domestic US politics than I do.

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"There were no D-Day Heroes in 1973" - Cold Chisel Khe Sanh