Gas Prices!

I probably watch the news too much. I see anonymous tips to the media everyday. Are you saying that there are no disgruntled oil company employees that has the goods on their employer? No documents?

I hear and see allegations. Can you provide any hard evidence?

 

africa is poor because they have no economic freedom. their governments are coercive.

gouging is the difference between your local station haying 10 dollar gas, or none at all and you being stranded and unable to evacuate. high prices help the market sort out need, and people buy just what they need to get out of town and leave some for the next guy.

if you want to have you local station bombed with customers and be sold out immediately, by all means, control the prices. when you desperately need gas to get out of town to save your life, the one station in town that didnt sell out in 5 seconds is the one who is "profiteering". "price gouging" is exactly what the market needs to allocate goods according to need.

without "profiteering", people who dont even need gas will fill up all their cars with the first hint of an approaching storm. leading to shortages. plus, price fixing leads to black markets where the goods are sold for actual value, keeping the profits from going to the actual producer, who might need it more due to increasaed costs because of whatever disaster.

most economists recognize that there is no such thing as price gouging or profiteering that is bad for the market. but politicians prey on naive ordinry people who dont have a real understanding of how things are working. same thing goes with many other economic issues, the minimum wage is a good example.

 

A gross oversimplification of the issue as all of your arguments to date. Again, either black or white. Glad you figured out Africa.

That's the dumbest assertion I have ever read on this board. And that includes bitter d's assertions that Quinn is a better QB than Russell.

Yet another gross oversimplification. Black and white are your only colors. I have not ever mentioned price fixing. As usual, you assume there is either no governmental control, or absolute control.

Just as many economists disagree with this, and if you see gas as a commodity similar to items of choice, then you are mistaken. Politicians do prey upon naive people all the time, but you don't see them beating up the oil companies now. Must be because they have our best interest in mind. Isn't that what you assert government does best?

This argument is pointless as you think you live in Utopia and the extent of your offerings are like listening to Frankenstein - "Government BAD, Beer Good". Good luck in Utopia.

 

This is no secret that refining capacity has not expanded with the growing market, so there are no documents to produce. Why would you act like this is a secret? Now that there is a strain on the world market, the oil companies are kicking back and watching the price go up. They don't deny it, not a single one them. Where is the mystery in this?

 

I don't get your point. Are you saying that the wrongdoing is not building more refineries over the last 30 years?

 

thanks.

if a hurricane was on it's way, and gas station X didnt raise it's prices and was sold out immediately, and gas station Y "gouged" people and still had the fuel you needed to get out of town, i think you might reconsider.

regulations against profiteering or special "windfall profit taxes" are nothing if not price controls.

ok, what exactly are you saying? what is your solution to the "problem" of high gas prices?

i will tell you what my solution is. individuals manage their own usage and consider what they can afford. capitalists will see where there are new profits to be made in alternatives to oil, if the prices get high enough. when solutions are needed, they will present themselves because thats how the market works.

 

i am glad you brought this up. the key here, the key to everything, is that corporate manipulation is not by force. the government, on the other hand, they give you no choice, they can compel people to do what they say. they are not part of a free decision-making process.

if you and i have a dispute over a price. you can agree not to sell, i acan agree not to buy, no problem. if the governemt is involved, they can impose their will by force on the market. thats the problem. sometimes in the course of free exchange, one party or the other will want to involve the governemtn to help them beat down the other side. this isnt right, the government shouldnt take sides.


he key to freee enterprise is that both parties enter into transactions voluntarily, with prices agreed upon by the buyers and sellers, not the government. to buy ot not buy, that should always be the buyers choice. to sell or not sell, for any price, that should always be the sellers choice. thats the whole point.

a fair request, and honestly you got me, i have no survey or anything. but my experience is that economists always understand this, and the media and general populace do not. i have never heard anyone but normal passive fellas and the media decry price gouging. reasoned analysis always l;eads to the same conclusion: prices will and should rise in emergencies. i suspect you know this, you are just challenging me for documentation, which i respect.

here is your starter reading material:

http://www.conciseguidetoeconomics.com/book/priceGouging/