again with the gas prices..., http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413, Options

[mikester]

http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,20...2119362,00.html

What we have here...is someone making a profit...who decides when you're charging too much for something?

Well - these guys are capitalists and they will CHARGE WHATEVER THE MARKET WILL BEAR.

So the only solution is to find some other way to work making fuel in less demand than it is right now.

I say we start a pool - winner gets a 914 hat or something...

Guess what the highest $ per gallon will be on labor day (end of summer).

I'm just saying...

[mikester]

I think the word Randal is grasping for is "cartel", not monopoly. There is most certainly a well - known cartel of oil producers setting the price of the raw material: OPEC. They declared MONTHS ago they were going to reduce production to raise the price of oil, and whadda know, the price of oil went up. Exactly who and why those strings are being pulled, I leave to the conspiracy theorists. Plain desire for money on the part of the OPEC nations is enough for me. I don't need any actions from our government to explain it.

Unrest in the world's key oil producing areas (y'know, those terrorists blowing themselves up in Saudi Arabia, you do watch the news, don't you?) is also making enough people nervous fearing that this is going to somehow impact their supply of oil that they're raising prices ahead of that. Something any resonsible business person would do. Again, no spooky government intervention required (well, I suppose the whole Iraq thing, but...) to explain this.

I'll accept the word "cartel" to describe this situation.

While it isn't a monopoly - the collusion of sellers agreeing to sell a product at a given price rather than competing in the free and open market IS illegal.

For example - the recent Grocery work strike here in CA brought Ralph’s, Vons and Albertsons together to share profits so that during the strike they could minimize their suffering while maximizing their ability to endure. THAT was illegal collusion and an investigation was ordered - the results of which I have not been able to find.

This collusion of the oil companies is not legal so why it is continually allowed I do not understand other than to say - the government doesn't want to jeopardize our ability to get oil from overseas. However if they DID subject the oil companies to the same standards of law as everyone else our prices would ultimately be lower.

Now I've got to go do some reading...