Tuesday, May 09, 2006

The black helicopters swooped down...

Because of the importance of gas prices to Oregonians in all walks of life, this office invites information that might suggest the presence of an unlawful conspiracy in restraint of the sale of gasoline.

On the state level, Attorney General Myers invites your assistance in collecting data that might help distinguish between the lawful operation of the marketplace for gasoline and unlawful conspiracy in restraint of trade. Although a rapid and dramatic run-up in the price of gas charged by all of the retailers in a community would not in itself establish that any unlawful conduct had occurred, it could serve as a flag for further inquiry.

If you observe a rapid and seemingly uniform increase in the price of gas in your community, and you have some reason to believe that it results from something other than competition between independent merchants, please use the Gas Price Reporter link. (their emphasis)

The Gas Price Conspiracy Reporter

Please briefly explain why you believe the price you observed was the result of an unlawful conspiracy to fix gas prices.

But wait, before you report the possible "gas price conspiracy" make sure that your tin-foil hat is securely on your head. Government websites read your thoughts so they know how to better control you for their experiments.

And what about other things that us citizens use on a daily basis? Like roads for example. Is he going to establish a website where we can report conspiracies to get us out of our cars?

11 comments:

MAX Redline said...

They'll get me out of the car when they pull my cold, dead foot off the pedals.

Daniel said...

Ginny Burdick would like to...

Anonymous said...

I liked the way Big Oil used the environmentalists lawsuits to help them run the majority of the independents out if biz many years ago.

Please note how now $3.00+ per gallon wipes out a few more of those few remaining mom and pop independent stations whose pumps won't meter past $2.99.99.

Anonymous said...

Tonight's TV News tells what I have already seen on the Traffic Cams and that less people are on the roads than what were only a few weeks back.

They say its a positive side effect of the gas prices.

Oh yea, wait till their advertisers start reporting major drops in retail sales and then tell us about the Positive side of this painful situation.

Perhaps a 10% reduction in ad sales that results in a 10% reduction in news staff might just get the message through.

I hope we don't all get crushed by the Domino effect!

Anonymous said...

its funny exxon pays 47% in taxes, govt takes in some areas 20%+, but I guess gas companines cant make money.

Anonymous said...

Because of the importance of Tax revenue to Oregonians in all walks of political life, this office invites information that might suggest the presence of an unconstitutional conspiracy resulting in theft of tax payers hard earned money.

On the state level, Attorney General Hardly Matters invites your assistance in collecting data that might help distinguish between the constitutional operation of the Government and unlawful conspiracy in the theft of your income. Although a rapid and dramatic run-up in tax rates and fees charged by all of the levels of government in a community would not in itself establish that any unconstitutional conduct had occurred, it could serve as a red flag for further inquiry.

If you observe rabid and seemingly unending cries of “Budget shortfalls” and that there’s not have enough money to open jails hire more police, build more roads or other essential services followed by increases the budgets for non-essential “services” like OHP, Diversity, Tram, Light rail, Carousel of Information and you have some reason to believe that it results from dishonest self-serving politician with leftist agendas, please use the Tax Gouge Reporter….or just throw their butts out of office in the next election.

Bob said...

I'm going to buy one of those F-450 duallys, and cruise by the yoppie breakfast place in compound-low EVERY FREAKIN' SATURDAY!

jeff said...

I do wonder how, in Washington State, where the refineries are and which have self-serve gas, it's more expensive (even taking the tax difference into account) to buy a gallon in Olympia than it is to buy one in Salem....

When something like "zone pricing" exists, is there really competition and a free market?

I was talking to the driver of one of the gas trucks awhile back at Costco and he commented that with Costco's retail price they were losing money on every gallon they sold - essentially using it as a loss leader to get people into the store.

Scottiebill said...

While it is true that gasoline prices are too high, let's get things in a little perspective here.
A 12-pack of beer is $7.49 at Freddies - $7.98 per gallon
A bottle of wine at $12.00 per 32-oz bottle - $48.00 per gallon
A bottle of Simple Green cleaner is $4.29 at Freddies - $24.96 per gallon
An overnight stay in any hospital is in the neighborhood of $2500. to $3000. without any medications given
Coumadin at any pharmacy is something north of $40. for 30 pills. Coumadin is a must for heart patients.
Bottled water is $1.99 for a 16 oz. bottle - $25.92 per gallon
A 16 oz. glass of Bridgeport IPA is typically $4.50 at any restaurant - $36.00 per gallon

Many of these items I listed are not necessitites, but few of us go through life without them. I just wanted to show that many more things are a whole lot costlier than the same amount of gasoline.

If the government wants to prosecute the oil companies for high prices, perhaps they should also look into prosecuting other high volume, high revenue companies, such as Anheiuser Busch, Miller, all the micro breweries, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals (and others), to name just a few.

Scottiebill said...

Portland needs to get rid of Eric Sten and Ginny Burdick. These two advocates for a no-car city by letting the traffic jams build are costing real people real money by causing them to sit in traffic for hours.

Friday I had to go to Beaverton. On the way back I was doing fine until I came out of Vista Ridge tunnel right at 3:00. A 3:50 I finally got to Marine Drive.

This is uncalled for and could be fixed if Portland and Oregon would come up with a doable solution to this problem. I won't even mention the south-bound fiasco at Delta Park. Whoever designed that mess had to be drunk at the time.

When Salt Lake City had I-15 built through their city, they put in 5 lanes going each way through town. Salt Lake is a bigger city than Portland with less than half the traffic problems during the rush hour times. But then, the Mormons hd, and still have, some foresight. When Brigham Young laid out the street for the City, he decreed that each main stree would be at least 100 feet wide. And they are. The only narrow streets are in the outlying neighborhoods.

Maybe the ODOT planners would be wise to take a trip to Utah and Salt Lake City. They might learn something.

Or maybe not.

Anonymous said...

Nice idea with this site its better than most of the rubbish I come across.
»