i dont want to come off as an alarmist. im not, really. but i have noticed a lot of gas stations quietly running out and taking down their price signs. what baffles me is that while this is obviously hurricane related this is not a shortage due to panic buying. in the days before katrina there was panic buying that ran some stations short. when the pipelines were down there was panic buying that ran some stations dry. It is almost as though we are feeling rita's effects despite the near media blackout. that tells me its real and not media induced hysteria. hell saturday i saw diesel just under $4/gal in a lot of places. that is up over $1 in 24hrs.

in the course of my travels all around the metro atlanta area today i would say at least 1/3 of all stations are out of at least 1 grade of gas.

thoughts?

I noticed the same thing at the two dif. stations I filled up yesterday at. Both had 87 octane only.

lets all join together and thank Sunny Perdue for pandering to the economically illiterate for votes. *clap* *clap**clap*how
all arrows so far are pointing towards this getting worse for a short while, then getting much better. not back to $1.50 a gallon, but better.

You can have low gas supplies under price controls, and low prices, or plentiful gas, and high prices otherwise.

If you don't understand, then don't breathe.

Quoted: lets all join together and thank Sunny Perdue for pandering to the economically illiterate for votes. *clap* *clap**clap* let our state govt know how you feel about their attack against "profiteering" that is slowly giving us the only option of NO GAS as opposed to overpriced gas. all arrows so far are pointing towards this getting worse for a short while, then getting much better. not back to $1.50 a gallon, but better.

Unbelievable.

how so?

at first i thought maybe it was the effect of the price controls. but then when i paid $3.89 for diesel that kind of ruled out price gouging. the highest diesel i saw sunday was $3.94 and the cheapest was $3.24 and even off highway diesel is up $0.25 in the last few days so i really think its a supply chain issue

how so?

Some people don't believe in a free market economy.

Right now we are getting the worst of both ends, higher prices than neighboring states and shortages all the while under "anti price gouging laws"

how long before you think the media starts riding this and works everyone into a lather?

Quoted: how so? Some people don't believe in a free market economy.

haha! silly chinesehead.gif

Quoted: how so? Some people don't believe in a free market economy.

Yeah, we have been over this before.  You think that gouging is perfectly fine.

Gasoline is no longer a luxury item that we can do without.  Station owners know this.  They jack it up.  It is, for the most part, not the companies, but the franchise operators doing this.  Making a fair profit is fine, but a few weeks ago, some station owners were charging double what they paid for it.  That's gouging and it is not okay.

As for shortages, I have seen none over the last week.

Blaming Perdue is just partisan bullshit.

The reason for the price jump this past week was that State fuel & sales taxes came back into effect.   Gov Perdue suspended the those taxes for a one month period, which was a very smart move.

Four of the five stations around my office were out of gas. I got the last open pump when I arrived at the fifth station. By the time I left just before noon the line was about 10 cars waiting to get a pump.

Remember the lines for toilet paper at the State-owned, price-controlled stores in the Soviet Union? If it wasn't happening to me, I'd be laughing at the similarities.

i think youre wrong EOD, this isnt just a price spike. this is gas stations empty. the tax was $0.15. i buy diesel and it went up more than a dollar in 2 days. diesel is pushing $4 a gallon in the atlanta area. thats NOT taxes.

Good thing we're in  Iraq, fighting a gas war!!
before anyone get's worked up- it's sarcasm. All th lib, beatnik, peacefrogs "we're yelling we're going to war over gas!!" and then they got back in the giant SUV gas hogs feeling they did their part for the cause.

Basic economics: if the quantity demanded exceeds the quantity supplied, a shortage will be created.  The mechanism for correcting shortages or supluses is the raising/lowering of the price.  When gov.org steps in and fucks that up by regulating prices, preventing refineries from being built, mandating 50 different blends of fuel (half of which use ethanol, a nice subsidy to the already subsidized midwestern corn farmers) prices get all fucked up and usually the consumer is the one getting shafted.

Shitty time to own a new 2006 Mustang GT.

Muddy- a guy at work bought a Chevy Avalanche 8.0L 4x4 about 6 months ago because he got a great deal on it!

I don't see it in the parking lot much these days.

Quoted: Quoted: how so? Some people don't believe in a free market economy. Yeah, we have been over this before.  You think that gouging is perfectly fine. Gasoline is no longer a luxury item that we can do without.  Station owners know this.  They jack it up.  It is, for the most part, not the companies, but the franchise operators doing this.  Making a fair profit is fine, but a few weeks ago, some station owners were charging double what they paid for it.  That's gouging and it is not okay. As for shortages, I have seen none over the last week. Blaming Perdue is just partisan bullshit.

before i start this, i will first state that i feel economics should be handled from a fiscally conservative standpoint. (which means i would side with would-be REPUBLICANS on the matter) i might possibly be a republican if it weren't for their diatribe of legislating morality. other than telling others how they have to live by law, i often side with republicans for the sake of argument.

i find it odd that you would see my comment to be partisan bullshit considering that one of the staunch platforms of the REPUBLICAN party is for a free market economy. sonny perdue is a republican, by the way. please, do tell me how government intervention to mandate prices does not interfere with a free market economy. there are libraries filled with books stating otherwise. one of which being the "communist maifesto" by karl marx. read it. if you believe in capitalism and individuality, it will sicken you, as it has me.

i feel the same way that neal boortz(syndicated talk show host for am750wsb) does about capitalism. he stated, " The competitive free enterprise system is the greatest system ever devised by man to deliver essential goods and services to the people at a reasonable price.  For years the government has been interfering with the health care free market.  Now that power rests in government, not the competitive marketplace, we can all see the problems this shift has caused.  We will return the power to the marketplace and your control over your health care decisions to you." granted, boortz was talking about health care, but the principle remains the same and applies to gas as well. free enterprise is the best way to ensure the supply of goods and services. remember "supply and demand" from good ole' econ class? the rules haven't changed, just people's perception and ideals thanks to assimilation by our govt schools.

have you ever seen a young boy from africa with ebola? i doubt so. my point is, just because you personally haven't seen something, doesn't mean it isn't happening somewhere outside your own bubble. 425 people in uganda were infected with ebola between 2000-2001.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: how so? Some people don't believe in a free market economy. Yeah, we have been over this before.  You think that gouging is perfectly fine. Gasoline is no longer a luxury item that we can do without.  Station owners know this.  They jack it up.  It is, for the most part, not the companies, but the franchise operators doing this.  Making a fair profit is fine, but a few weeks ago, some station owners were charging double what they paid for it.  That's gouging and it is not okay. As for shortages, I have seen none over the last week. Blaming Perdue is just partisan bullshit. before i start this, i will first state that i feel economics should be handled from a fiscally conservative standpoint. (which means i would side with would-be REPUBLICANS on the matter) i might possibly be a republican if it weren't for their diatribe of legislating morality. other than telling others how they have to live by law, i often side with republicans for the sake of argument. i find it odd that you would see my comment to be partisan bullshit considering that one of the staunch platforms of the REPUBLICAN party is for a free market economy. sonny perdue is a republican, by the way. please, do tell me how government intervention to mandate prices does not interfere with a free market economy. there are libraries filled with books stating otherwise. one of which being the "communist maifesto" by karl marx. read it. if you believe in capitalism and individuality, it will sicken you, as it has me. i feel the same way that neal boortz(syndicated talk show host for am750wsb) does about capitalism. he stated, " The competitive free enterprise system is the greatest system ever devised by man to deliver essential goods and services to the people at a reasonable price.  For years the government has been interfering with the health care free market.  Now that power rests in government, not the competitive marketplace, we can all see the problems this shift has caused.  We will return the power to the marketplace and your control over your health care decisions to you." granted, boortz was talking about health care, but the principle remains the same and applies to gas as well. free enterprise is the best way to ensure the supply of goods and services. remember "supply and demand" from good ole' econ class? the rules haven't changed, just people's perception and ideals thanks to assimilation by our govt schools. have you ever seen a young boy from africa with ebola? i doubt so. my point is, just because you personally haven't seen something, doesn't mean it isn't happening somewhere outside your own bubble. 425 people in uganda were infected with ebola between 2000-2001.

He didn't mandate prices.  He just said that if they started jacking up the price when there was no increase in cost to them, that was not going to be tolerated.  When gas station owners double their selling price when there has been no increase to them, that is gouging, it is not free market.  It is unscrupulous, regardless of how some defend it.

Several weeks ago, they were gouging and still ran out.  This time, there was no gouging and still ran out again.  It made no difference except to line their pockets as they took advantage of a bad situation a few weeks ago.  What happened on the Gulf coast was a disaster for the whole nation and some assholes were taking advantage of it.

The governor's action in no way affected the supply chain.  In fact, Georgia still has among the highest prices in the Southeast.

Quoted: i think youre wrong EOD, this isnt just a price spike. this is gas stations empty. the tax was $0.15. i buy diesel and it went up more than a dollar in 2 days. diesel is pushing $4 a gallon in the atlanta area. thats NOT taxes.

We have no shortages here in Warner Robins.   The price of fuel jumped up $0.15 in one night on 1 Oct here.   Now the price is starting to drop again, it is right around $2.99 - $3.05 around here now.

Diesel I believe is more heavily taxed than gasoline.

Is this gouging.....

87 octane....
2.79/gal here, and 3.39/gal 20 miles down the road........

Someone explain........ Free market?...... Economics.... I would think the same truck delivered most if not all the gas to the stations in this area, and so price differentials are kind of blurry..... hmmmmm


Exxon and others started this by making the statement that they had not had any price increases in years (that is true), then it was the granola-eathing/tree huggers and anti-refinery rhetoric, and then it was hurricane Katrina, then Rita, then a temperature fluctuation in a flux capacitor in Guatemala, the sun-rise was delayed for .0000013 minutes due to sunspot activity..... Hell, they just need to be honest in regards to price hiking...... It is basic economics..... greed at times.....

I realize that they need to keep their investors happy, but they also need to realize that they are pricing the economy into decline. The rubber industry is massively scaling back right now, and so are a lot of other petroleum based industries. People making 6.00/hour cant afford to drive to work, so it is easier to stay at home and get a check that will eventually cost .50 to mail because of fuel costs (can you say "welfare state?").

Watch food costs skyrocket in the near future for a variety of fuel related reasons... If farmers cant get a premium price for their product, they will go under financially, then we have less farmers to supply the "world"and the same or growing demand, and a price increase, etc....you think they can stay in business if they cant afford to plow their fields..... Our economy is tied very deeply to fuel and its costs in a multitude of ways......

I could go on..... just my .02 worth

and...

Just feeling cranky about the wayward pricing of gas......

It is not just a Georgia thing. Last Saturday a staton in South Carolina I work near was out and yesterday two near where my wife works were out also in Carolina. Has nothing to do with our Govenor. Not taking up for the Gov. I am still trying to figure out how stopping mass transit to school did anything but cause higher gas use by the parents and teenagers driving around those days in thier personal cars.

Quoted: Is this gouging..... 87 octane.... 2.79/gal here, and 3.39/gal 20 miles down the road........ Someone explain........ Free market?...... Economics.... I would think the same truck delivered most if not all the gas to the stations in this area, and so price differentials are kind of blurry..... hmmmmm ......

Actually, the gouging was just after Katrina when some stations were charging up to $6 a gallon.  That is what I was referring to.

I misunderstood..... Still though is it not considered gouging when there is .60 difference between gas prices on just the other side of town?...... I realize that $6/gallon is much more sensational, but 2/3 of a dollar difference is a bit odd to me also.....

Glad to see we might just be on the other side of $6/gallon and going down for a bit.... until the next excuse........