--- In [email protected], "authfriend" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Shemp, you'll love this... > > Read the whole column at: > http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnStossel/printjs20050907.shtml > > http://tinyurl.com/9jruh
As long as we're discussing the merits of higher prices, Slate weighed in on the topic as well: "gouging, if it occurs, typically begins when the stations' costs start to come down again." http://slate.msn.com/id/2125814/?nav=tap3 Pump It Up Don't worry about price gouging now. Worry later. By Austan Goolsbee Posted Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2005, at 10:18 AM PT If gas prices did not rise across the country now, in fact, the short-term impact would be disastrous. Demand would vastly exceed the current supply. As people continued to buy as much or possibly more gas, stations around the country would run out because wholesalers would refuse to supply them at the lower price. Families who'd driven off on Labor Day trips would still be stuck out on the highway, looking for a place to fill up. Somehow, hunts for gas gougers always seem to start at the wrong time. A classic economic study of the gasoline market (by Severin Borenstein and Richard Gilbert of the University of California at Berkeley and A. Colin Cameron of the University of California at Davis) looked at the extent to which retail gas prices respond to changes in crude oil prices and wholesale gasoline prices. They found that the immediate retail price increases essentially reflected the increasing cost of oil and wholesale gas. There was little evidence of increased profits on the heels of increased wholesale prices, like the hike that followed Katrina. Instead, the study showed that gouging, if it occurs, typically begins when the stations' costs start to come down again. The stations in the study took about twice as long to cut prices when their costs decreased as they had to raise them on the way up. It was after a crisis ended that their profit margins shot up. Full article at http://slate.msn.com/id/2125814/?nav=tap3 ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/JjtolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
