The Price Of Gas -Price Fixing And Greed

Friday, May 22, 2009 03:46 AM

The price of gasoline at the pumps rose by about 17.5% yesterday in Prince George. Now you will hear all sorts of reasons for the increase, the bottom line on the issue never gets addressed, and the politicians who control the system seem afraid to tackle the major gas companies.

Let’s say that the Brick, The Bay, Sears, City Furniture and the Future shop got together, Oh forgive me for saying that , by some reason here to for never understood, the price of say a 42 inch flat screen TV , suddenly cost you $3,000 dollars at every one of these stores. The Competition Bureau would be all over the idea of price fixing so fast; even Ben Johnson on steroids could not keep up.

Lets says that the Chrysler dealers of BC, or for that matter western Canada suddenly told you that a specific type of car now costs, 17.5 % more than it did 30 minutes ago and your option is that everyone sells it for the same price, The Competition Bureau would arrive in the province in special jets to lay the wood to any dealer. Now you might say that they could go to another dealer, another company, but what if that other company say GM said okay folks beginning twenty minutes from now the price for a new car is 17.5% more than it was twenty minutes before and every time, we at the dealer increase the price so does every other dealer. Do you think the Federal government would stand for that?

Absolutely not.

So would someone in place of authority explain to me how gasoline, sold at many different stations,(however for the most part owned by several different oil companies) and within twenty minutes they can set a new price for the consumer, and they say there is no price fixing?

The price for a barrel of crude oil is at $59.93 US at the time of writing, keep in mind that the Canadian dollar has risen more than 6 cents to 88.27 cents as of Thursday May 22^nd. So what possibly could the oil companies offer up as an excuse for the 17.5% increase at all the pumps no matter who the company? It is all about price fixing, and while the world economy struggles, the giant oil companies continue to roll in their greed.

Unfortunately we in the free world don’t seem to have the collective will to tackle one of the main problems facing the world economy.

I’m Meisner and that’s one man’s opinion

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Posted on Friday, May 22, 2009 03:46 AM in Views by Ben Meisner

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Comments

Posted by: Denaljo on May 22 2009 5:51 AM

C'mon Ben! It is just free enterprise forces at work here. You do not want to be branded one of those NDP commies with such a rant!!!

Posted by: metalman on May 22 2009 6:59 AM

Right on Ben!
metalman.

Posted by: saywhat on May 22 2009 7:36 AM

NDP commies
well if that means going back to Government regulation for essential services ie:Gas,Hydro,Natural Gas,Infrastructure,Railways and those type of services then I could care less which gov is in office NDP,Liberal,Socred,ProConserv,Green,Red or any other colour.Sure there would still be GREED but at least the money would have a chance (small,but a chance)to benefit the people paying the price.

just my opinion

Posted by: Windigo on May 22 2009 10:50 AM

It is not the government that was elected that runs the province or the world. Oil barons and big banks are our leaders....it appears that we like this type of control and do not want to see this change.
Our elected leaders, no matter what party holds the chair, are completely gutless in all that they play a part in, especially when it comes to taking on the big oil companies and the big banks, its like biting the hand that feeds you.

We should all be used to this by now!

Posted by: caranmacil on May 22 2009 11:42 AM

I for one am in favour of some sort of price regulation on essential services. Gas and diesel are essential and are obv. prone to price fixing.

Posted by: Loki on May 22 2009 12:16 PM

bilderberger

Posted by: yxsops1 on May 22 2009 1:09 PM

I have two observations. First, while in Seattle last week, the price of a US Gallon was on average $2.35. Converting that to Canadian funds at today's rate that Ben quoted, it works out to $2.58 CDN a Gallon. Again doing the math for our $107.9 per liter, for that same gallon of gas in Canadian funds we are paying $4.39 here in Prince George.

Further as a commercial traveller, I see the cost of gas at stations right across the country. The gas station on Dixon Road in Toronto across the road from Toronto's Int'l Airport is the CHEAPEST fuel in the whole country averaging $.82 per liter in February. Even Albertans were paying more.

The oil companies tell us that it takes 60 days to have the price trickle through to the consumer. Sixty days ago the price of oil was hovering in the mid $40 range. That was the lowest it had been in years.

On May 22, 2008 I filled up my car for $133.9 per liter. The price of crude on that date was $115.12 USD. As can be seen, from historic data, we are continuing to be ripped off. And that brings me to my second point.

As Ben said, if any other organization colluded to raise prices by 17% in one day, the competition bureau would be laying charges under the Competion Act. But not so with this commodity. The problem sits squarely on the shoulders of our leaders...or rather the lack thereof.

President Obama has shown intestinal fortitude and true leadership to take on the big banks and the auto industry and they are taking notice! And what have we heard from our representatives. Absolutely nothing...other than they are willing to do another study.

Until the people that we elect choose to protect us from those that hold us ransom, the price of fuel will continue to escallate unabated and we had better get used to it. I short order I foresee we will again be paying the $1.409 that I paid on June 06, 2008 when the cost of oil $126.33 even though the current price is a fraction of that at $63.00 per barrel.

Posted by: skabowl1 on May 22 2009 4:25 PM

Drive less, beat them at their own game.....if they can't sell it then the price will drop....... but........
darn it.......gotta run....my tank is empty and I have to fill up before it gets even higher!

Posted by: palomino on May 23 2009 9:35 AM

Check out this site to get a little insight into what's going on behind the scenes.

http://ev1.org

With big oil owning 42% of GM's stock, (enough to control the board), when do you expect oil consumption and thusly oil prices to decrease? They will kill alternate energy in every way they can, for as long as they can, and keep the prices up for oil because we have been FORCED to become addicted to it.

Wake up people !! Start looking for ways to force big oil to release their stranglehold on the car companies, and let them build those plug-in electrics that the entire world needs desperately !!

Refuse to buy any new vehicle, until an affordable plug-in electric vehicle is available as an option, and let the car companies know it.

Then, and only then will oil prices start to come down, and big oil knows it!! However as soon as oil prices come down, we start to buy gas guzzlers again, but once there's millions of no maintenance, no oil vehicles out there to choose from, big oil will have to keep those prices low to keep the ones that are still hooked on fossil fuels coming back to the pumps.

Posted by: BCRacer on May 24 2009 3:26 PM

And hold on everyone, criminal Campbell is about to raise it another 8 cents....
then summer will come along....anyone ready for $1.50 a liter by August????

Posted by: BCRacer on May 24 2009 10:10 PM

Gas companies are going to make sure their investors and VIP's get paid well...!!and a few other vested interests I believe...!! so much for world recession....