Huh, I live in Alabama and gas just jumped 20 cents per gallon and more. One station is charging $2.98 for the regular grade.
I won’t complain too much about the 20 cent jump at one station though–they went up for one day only right after Katrina, and then went back to the former price, where it stayed until today. So I guess that’s not too bad, really.
Let’s see… Katrina wiped out half our Gulf oil drilling platforms, Rita is about to wipe out 75% of our refining capacity. Not to mention that the evacuation of Houston et al is draining off the bulk of the gasoline available there (they’re on the coast, headed inland… gee, Dallas might be a place I might head… :rolleyes: ) 100’s of thousands, probably MILLIONS of people have no home, or have abandoned their homes…
And your sorry whiny ass wants to bitch about not being able to get gas so you can get to your (safe) home? And bitch about the price on top of that? FUCK YOU I is smart! You’re about as sharp as a bowling ball.
Huh? I drove around a decent section of both Dallas and Tarrant counties today and didn’t see any stations out of gas, nor any “gouging” prices. For regular unleaded I saw prices from 2.69-2.89 per gallon.
Similar situation in Cookeville.
Same here in Plano. There was one station that appeared to be out, and one with lines 3 or 4 cars deep, but every where else was business as usual (and “normal” prices).
I went to Albertson’s last night to get a battery for a smoke detector and out of curiosity peeked at the water aisle. Definitely picked over, but they had pallets full up at the front.
Damn this board… I meant to quote dalej42. Everything is pretty normal here (aside from the scary twilight sunset tonight. 
Alas, I do. Looking out my window, I see 2.99 for regular.
Hey, when Katrina hit the US, petrol (gas) prices here in Australia went up another $0.05c per litre…within 24 hours!!
Funny that the prices went skyrocketting even though we have our own reserves.
:rolleyes:
when I got home to wylie there was gas. back in dallas this morning & I have yet to see a gas station with gas. &nd if 6was9 chil buddy I do expect gas to actually be available. yes we do have houston evacuees which I acknowledged in post 1 but if that’s all it takes for stations to be empty I am concerned. it was just so sudden yest. morning I said damn lines
OK, according to the Dallas Morning News (registration may be required) SOME stations in the Dallas area ran out of gas. I’d guess that most of these were on the evacuation route. Still, there are thousands of gas stations in the area which have fuel.
I’m sure there will be isolated reports of “gouging.” One or two stations charging 5 dollars a gallon or something like that. Still, over the past couple of days I’ve been in a good portion of Dallas and Tarrant counties and haven’t seen any stations out of fuel, nor any prices over 2.89 per gallon.
I’m still unclear as to how you can “hoard” gasoline. The car can only hold as much as the fuel tank’s capacity. Most people don’t have huge jerry cans that they’re filling up.
I know we’ve discussed “gouging” in GD before. Just remember, if the market can’t set the price, other ways will be used to decide who gets the gas and who doesn’t.
Hell, from what I’ve been hearing, stations are running out here in Atlanta, ferchrissakes! Our fair Gov recommended that all schools close for Monday & Tuesday to save on gas, and the SUV-driving suburban sheep went out and horded. Again! At least prices haven’t spiked to $6 a gallon like they did last time. I can understand stations in Texas running out - there’s a lot of people evacuating, at least. This, though, makes no sense at all.
Price gouging is a tricky thing. I’ve never seen a formula that can be used to deterimine if a price increase is “gouging” or not. The laws that I have seen talk only of a “gross disparity” in price or “grossly exceeds” the pre-emergency price. If the OP wants some sympathy give us some numbers. If gas goes from 3.00 to 3.25, that’s probably not gouging. If it goes to 4.50, that might be gouging.