Business & Tech

Tell Us: Price Gouging vs. 'Market Forces'

Do you believe that the only forces 'gouging' the public are local gas stations?

This is a loaded question, but here it is, Farmingdale: Do you believe that price gouging at gas stations only occurs after hurricanes?

We ask because the state Attorney General's office made a big splash this week about a default judgment of $23,733 against Mena Inter Inc., known locally as the USA Petroleum gas station. There have been similar judgements around Long Island and Upstate. See that story here.

But on any given day you can drive down Hempstead Turnpike and find 10 different gas stations all charging the identical prices for gasoline, give a penny or two per gallon. That's doesn't sound like free market competition; that stinks of collusion at some level.

The local owners all say they're only setting the prices based on what they have to pay for it from the distributor. So, we suppose the distributors will say they only can offer a price that reflects their costs from the refineries and oil companies. And big oil never says much at all, unless you read their earnings reports.

There are economists who argue this is all "market forces" and "the cost of doing business." We'd love to hear from a bona fide economist to "explain" this to us. Also, please explain how the price of gas always goes up at Memorial Day and always goes down at Labor Day. Economists used to say that, and the press dutifully reported it as the Gospel truth. Strange: that's not true anymore.

Must be the "market forces."

We're not trying to be light/sweet crude here, but it's really hard to buy all this, literally and figuratively.

So, maybe the question is loaded, but could we have a discussion, loud and noisy if you wish, about your feelings on this subject in our comment stream below? And we'd sincerely like to hear from some experts, teachers and those with opinions on all sides.

Also; feel free to respond on our Facebook page here. We'll use some of your comments in an upcoming story.


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