by Sandy » Fri Sep 12, 2008 9:33 pm
It's the "Hurricane on the coast" excuse. The coastal refineries are shut down which means the pipelines to the east coast and upper midwest are not working. It is an interesting situation, since the price of oil continues to fall because of surpluses. Can you say, "price gouging?"
With all the lines at gas stations around here yesterday, the price went up 40 cents a gallon. It is against Texas law to raise prices during an emergency disaster declaration, and our illustrious and aggressive attorney general Greg Abbott has proclaimed the severest of fines for businesses who do. However, when a price increase of $1.10 per gallon was reported by a consumer who watched the station raise the price when the tanker showed up and a line formed, Mr. Abbott excused the business by saying that they probably had a wholesale price increase. Somehow, I think Mr. Abbott will not enforce anything that will cost any business owner a dime. Republican.
And our lieutenant governor, who has about as much meteorological expertise as Rodney Daingerfield, has predicted that there will be a tsunami-like tidal wave that will go up the Houston ship channel, threatening 25% of the nation's oil production. He is setting the stage for more robbery by the oil barons. Well, they bought his office for him, so why shouldn't he help them out?
We are being ripped off by oil companies, thanks to Bush.