| Comment Number: | 535819-00030 |
| Received: | 5/8/2008 4:35:51 PM |
| Organization: | |
| Commenter: | Joel Sharkey |
| State: | MI |
| Agency: | Federal Trade Commission |
| Rule: | Prohibitions On Market Manipulation and False Information in Subtitle B of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 |
| No Attachments |
Comments:
I continue to be appalled at the apparent oligopolistic behavior of the oil industry and the federal government's inability to deal with it. There is absolutely no valid market-based reason that gas prices should all change to within a penny of each other in a period of 1 hour in a metropolitan area. I've been told over and over again that it's just the market. I don't believe it. I see no similar behavior in any other segment of the retail market and I see no valid reason for it in the gas station segment. Prices change locally based on news of coming events, irrespective of the price of the stock of supply on hand. It doesn't happen in any other segment of the market like, for instance, the natural gas market. Why is it happening here? Is it because there is no one to hold anybody accountable for their actions?