Go Fill Up Tomorrow

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Gas will be going up later this week, bank on it.

[Ginofan]

And it was just starting to go down a little bit! I saw a $2.49 at the Chevron on Division and 35 South this afternoon :(

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Yeah, anyone have that gouging phone #? I went and got gas at lunch at $2.49, drove back by after work and it was already up to $2.67. That's bullshit that it went up that amount of time in 5 hours.

[scott]

Yeah, anyone have that gouging phone #? I went and got gas at lunch at $2.49, drove back by after work and it was already up to $2.67. That's bullshit that it went up that amount of time in 5 hours.

For a Republican, you sure seem to be anti-free market.

Oil was up around $4 today, and gas was up about $0.20 on the NYMEX. Its supply and demand, deal with it.

[Vashner]

If my back was not fucked up I would drive a motorcycle...

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

For a Republican, you sure seem to be anti-free market.

Oil was up around $4 today, and gas was up about $0.20 on the NYMEX. Its supply and demand, deal with it.

The anti-gouging laws state that gas stations are not allowed to raise their prices until they get a truck in with gas at a higher cost than what it cost for the gas in the ground.

When I paid I asked the girl if they had gotten a new truck and she said "no, hurricane's coming, prices going up."

That's illegal, screw free market.

[scott]

The anti-gouging laws state that gas stations are not allowed to raise their prices until they get a truck in with gas at a higher cost than what it cost for the gas in the ground.

Link?

[scott]

Oh yeah, you don't have one... because you made it up or read it on a retarded chain email.

Here is your price gouging law in the state of Texas.


§17.46 of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act provides that it is a false, misleading or deceptive act or practice to take advantage of a disaster declared by the Governor under Chapter 418, Government Code, by:

1. Selling or leasing fuel, food, medicine or another necessity at an exorbitant or excessive price; or

2. Demanding an exorbitant or excessive price in connection with the sale or lease of fuel, food, medicine or another necessity.

Or maybe we can start convincting investors for price gouging. They shouldn't be allowed to sell their stock at a higher price unless a new batch of stocks comes in that they paid more for.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

Nevermind. Wrong number.

From the AG's site.

Price Gouging is Illegal

§17.46 of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act provides that it is a false, misleading or deceptive act or practice to take advantage of a disaster declared by the Governor under Chapter 418, Government Code, by:

1. Selling or leasing fuel, food, medicine or another necessity at an exorbitant or excessive price; or

2. Demanding an exorbitant or excessive price in connection with the sale or lease of fuel, food, medicine or another necessity.

If you suspect a business is price gouging, call the Office of the Attorney General's Consumer protection hotline toll-free at 1-800-337-3928 or e-mail us at [email protected]

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

Scott beat me to it.

[scott]

Where is the number to report people for making up laws and posting them on the internet?

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

(Because this is in the bottom of this post)
Federal Trade Commission Act:

§ 45. Unfair methods of competition unlawful; prevention by Commission

* (a) Declaration of unlawfulness; power to prohibit unfair practices; inapplicability to foreign trade
o (1) Unfair methods of competition in or affecting commerce, and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce, are hereby declared unlawful.

Texas Deceptive Yada-Yada:

(27) taking advantage of a disaster declared by the
governor under Chapter 418, Government Code, by:
(A) selling or leasing fuel, food, medicine, or
another necessity at an exorbitant or excessive price; or
(B) demanding an exorbitant or excessive price in
connection with the sale or lease of fuel, food, medicine, or
another necessity.
(c)(1) It is the intent of the legislature that in construing
Subsection (a) of this section in suits brought under Section 17.47
of this subchapter the courts to the extent possible will be guided
by Subsection (b) of this section and the interpretations given by
the Federal Trade Commission and federal courts to Section 5(a)(1)
of the Federal Trade Commission Act [15 U.S.C.A. § 45(a)(1) ].
(2) In construing this subchapter the court shall not
be prohibited from considering relevant and pertinent decisions of
courts in other jurisdictions.
(d) For the purposes of the relief authorized in Subdivision
(1) of Subsection (a) of Section 17.50 of this subchapter, the term
"false, misleading, or deceptive acts or practices" is limited to
the acts enumerated in specific subdivisions of Subsection (b) of
this section.

[TheWriter]

Damn, AHF got Juice'd.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

Where is the number to report people for making up laws and posting them on the internet?

Texas Penal Code: Chapter 37

§ 37.11. IMPERSONATING[0] PUBLIC SERVANT. (a) A person
commits an offense if he:
(1) impersonates[0] a public servant with intent to
induce another to submit to his pretended official authority or to
rely on his pretended official acts; or
(2) knowingly purports to exercise any function of a
public servant or of a public office, including that of a judge and
court, and the position or office through which he purports to
exercise a function of a public servant or public office has no
lawful existence under the constitution or laws of this state or of
the United States.
(b) An offense under this section is a felony of the third
degree.

[scott]

Uh oh!

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

I'm actually not smacking you, AHF...I just wanted to help the funny move along.

I'm hoping that either you help me make sure the Aggies get food poisoning this weekend or that Rita makes this a low-scoring game. :lol

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Fuck, what crawled up your ass, scott?

Maybe it's not in Texas, but other states have it, it was talked about extensively in the run up to Katrina.

Go get laid or something man, sounds like you're wound too tight.

[scott]

Sorry brosef... normally I'd be sound asleep... I am a bit upset about the Cowboys game.

My apologies.

Buddy Holly is still a douche, though.

[TheWriter]

Buddy Holly is still a douche, though.

And you're still a bald bitter man.

[scott]

Note... calling someone who purposfully shaves their head bald is not an insult.

[TheWriter]

Note... calling someone who purposfully shaves their head bald is not an insult.

I'm sure it's on purpose. Just like Howie Mandel and Vin Diesel.

[Solid D]

Gas price vBookie?

[TheWriter]

Gas price vBookie?

I don't know. Last time we were told to fill up because prices were gonna skyrocket, they went down.

[MannyIsGod]

:lmao

This shit is everywhere. I can't get away!

[TheWriter]

:lmao

This shit is everywhere. I can't get away!

Dude, both MB and Weather groupy on my dick.

Can't swing them off.

[Vashner]

I am stuck with this stupid Ford Exploder till I can sell some games....

I want a 2006 civic.. it's easy on the Saudi Juice...

[TDMVPDPOY]

public transport?

[JoePublic]

I filled up yesterday for $2.53 a gallon.

[exstatic]

I filled up last night after I heard crude went up $4 a barrel.

[boutons]

Gas stations sell gas on very low margin due to the essentially daily price-war level of competition and the total disloyalty and mobility of the clientele. That's why all the pumping stations have opened higher-margin convenience food/liquor stores and esp coffee bars (exactly the same phenom is true in Europe. No store just pumps gas). The price-leading Wal-Marts/HEBs have opened pumps NOT to make money on gas, but to draw traffic to their store parking lots, .

So sporadic, local price gouging is possible when a supposedly gouging station would be deserted for a cheaper station across the street or down the road. Gouge, and watch your pumps sit idle.

I do know, from what I was told in Maine a couple weeks ago, that week-to-week, tanker-to-tanker wholesale prices have been varying a lot. The Belfast ME harbormaster was told his next tanker delivery would cost him $3.80/gal. So one tanker delivery can cost a lot more than the gas that was in a station's reservoir's a couple hours ago.

===============================

Cheap Gas Is a Bad Habit

By Robert J. Samuelson, Washington Post

What this country needs is $4-a-gallon gasoline or, maybe, $5. We don't need it today, but we do need it over the next seven to 10 years via a steadily rising oil tax. Coupled with stricter fuel economy standards, higher pump prices would push reluctant auto companies and American drivers away from today's gas guzzlers. That should be our policy. The deafening silence you hear on this crucial subject from the White House, Congress and the media is a sorry indicator of national shortsightedness.

Hurricane Katrina's message is clear: We are vulnerable to any major cutoff of oil. This cutoff came from a natural disaster, but the larger menace is a political cutoff. Two-thirds of the world's proven oil reserves lie around the Persian Gulf; these countries, led by Saudi Arabia, now provide about a quarter of today's oil supply. This flow could be interrupted at any time for many reasons -- terrorism, war, domestic upheaval, deliberate cuts. Many other oil exporters are similarly unreliable: Russia (the No. 2 exporter), Venezuela (No. 5) and Nigeria (No. 8).

Until oil's geography changes, a prudent society would respond to this unavoidable insecurity. After the first oil "crisis" in 1973, Americans did. Congress created a Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) and mandated fuel economy standards. Drivers were sobered by high prices. From 1970 to 1990, average fuel economy for cars rose from 13.5 miles per gallon to 20 mpg. For "light trucks" (a category covering pickups, sport-utility vehicles and minivans), the gains were from 10 mpg to 16 mpg. But in the 1990s, there was massive backsliding. Fuel economy stagnated as millions of Americans shifted to SUVs and pickups. The SPR languished. In 1992 it had oil equal to 83 days of imports; by 2000 that was only 52 days.

Complacency reigned. Americans reembraced the notion of cheap gasoline as a "right" that, if impaired, must be blamed on greedy oil companies, a monopolistic OPEC or some sinister conspiracy. Thus, "gouging" was last week's acceptable explanation for the sharp run-up of gasoline prices. Forget the law of supply and demand. Forget our continuing vulnerabilities.

More than 60 percent of our oil use goes for transportation, dominated by road travel. It's a myth that encouraging more fuel-efficient vehicles means that we will all have to drive shoeboxes. The advent of "hybrid" vehicles -- combining internal-combustion engines and electric motors -- promises fuel efficiency gains of 10 percent to 50 percent based on existing technologies, says David Greene of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. But it's also a myth that simply issuing tougher fuel standards will bring instant relief.

"It's going to take a long time," says Walter McManus of the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. "You've got 225 million vehicles out there. It's about 15 years to turn over the fleet." Actually, the math is worse than that. From 2003 to 2025, the number of vehicles may grow by 50 percent, projects the Energy Information Administration. The increase reflects more people (from today's 297 million to 351 million in 2025) and higher incomes. The upshot: To keep total gasoline consumption constant, average fuel efficiency must improve by roughly 50 percent.

We should be able to do this. Car companies can shift decisively toward hybrids. Despite the hype, annual hybrid sales this year will amount to a mere 234,000 out of sales of about 17 million, McManus says, and present production plans would raise that to only about 600,000 by 2009, he projects. But if companies are to be shoved toward hybrids, they have to be assured of strong demand, because there's a downside. On average, hybrids cost $3,000 to $4,000 more than conventional cars, says Greene. (The reasons: the cost of batteries and the need for two power systems.) The traditional U.S. car companies -- General Motors, Ford and Chrysler -- are unfortunately the least prepared for change. They tied their fortunes to the biggest SUVs and pickups.

Hence the need for a stiff oil tax. Government needs to foster a market for fuel efficiency. The tax should be introduced gradually -- paralleling tougher fuel standards -- and, perhaps, tempered if global oil prices rise sharply. One way or another, Americans should know that the era of cheap gasoline is history. Some drivers will want hybrid versions of their present vehicles; others will downsize. It's not a national tragedy for someone to trade an Expedition for a Taurus.

At times, individual freedom must be compromised to improve collective security. Even so, we cannot insulate ourselves from all upsets in the world oil market, including a catastrophic loss of supply. Barring huge oil discoveries or technological breakthroughs, "energy independence" is another myth. But we could limit our exposure. The fact that we're not trying is -- considering how warnings of New Orleans's vulnerability were ignored -- an irony worth noting.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/emailafriend?contentId=AR2005091301880&sent=no&referrer=emailarticle

============================

With wealthy, plutocratic Repug oil/energy politicians running the country with a national energy policy set in SECRET collusion with energy companies, aka "fuck the consumer out of 10s of $Bs", bitching at the local gas stations as gougers is totally misdirected. The gouging comes from the Repub politicians and energy companies at the top of the energy chain, who are pocketing $Bs/qtr in windfall profits, coming straight out of our pockets.

(then there is the $15B the Repubs gave to the profit-stuffed energy companies in a recent bill for "research", aka corporate welfare, that we'll never see any benefit from, and nobody will ever follow up on that $15B)

[TDMVPDPOY]

^^^ thats old news man, crap like that has been happening in australia for the last couple of years, and most of independent petrol/gas stations team up with small businesses to do business and promoting products and cheap fuel discounts.

[CharlieMac]

2.42 on Hildebrand today. bam!

[Willinsa]

There is a Texaco store on the corner of Huebner-Lockhill Selma and those bastards are charging 2.89 for unleaded, and 3.09 for the super unleaded.

:wtf