Don't be an idiot. Why do you think we have the Robinson-Pitman act? The fact is that companies in America collude and engage in price fixing all the time. As an example, in the 90's there was a group of CEOs from GM, GE, et cetera who formed an "investment" club. Something like 20 CEOs from the largest 30 or so companies were members. They would get together to talk about "investing". Now, any intelligent person knows that they were engaging in acts that the SEC would love to prosecute, but nobody could prove it. Another example that was prosecuted was back in the 80s when the largest water heater manufacturers were caught price fixing. IIRC the CEO or president of State went to jail. A plush one I am sure.
Rita: here we go again.... 2658The kyoto treaty is written as if CO2 from the USA and europe is bad but CO2 from China, India, etc was perfectly fine. It's design was...
If you believe that gas station owners give a poo about market share when they are raking in money faster than they can count, then you are truly deluded. If I owned one right now, and the guy down the street raised prices, I would be right behind him. I would probably try going slightly higher, and hope he followed. If half the stations do this, the other half will follow. Add to that the collusion that is occuring with the oil companies, and you get $3 gas.
Rita: here we go again.... 2657A 30s style economic depression will do more damage to the environment than increased energy capacity. However IMO the environment ceased to be reason many years ago and became the excuse...
Now for those who think it is impossible for oil companies to collude, let me explain how the copper companies do it. Copper tubing (as of 5 years ago) was made by only 3 companies in the US. Every one of those 3 companies closes down at the same time each summer. Guess what happens? The price of copper goes through the roof. Guess when most copper tubing is sold? The summer.
