# Why can't somebody put out a PSA explaining exactly why gas prices aren't Biden's fault?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-somebody-put-out-a-psa-explaining-exactly-why-gas-prices-arent-bidens-fault/966074>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Created:** [June 12, 2022, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-somebody-put-out-a-psa-explaining-exactly-why-gas-prices-arent-bidens-fault/966074 "2022-06-12T17:01:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\
**Post date:** [June 20, 2022, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-somebody-put-out-a-psa-explaining-exactly-why-gas-prices-arent-bidens-fault/966074/41 "2022-06-20T01:18:19Z")

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> [@Moriarty](#):
>
> Aren’t gas prices really just the industry trying to make up for the fact that people weren’t driving during the pandemic, and so they lost lots of expected profit?

No. The oil companies don’t set the retail price at the pump.

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**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2022, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-somebody-put-out-a-psa-explaining-exactly-why-gas-prices-arent-bidens-fault/966074/42 "2022-06-21T16:03:39Z")

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Technically true but grossly misleading. If the oil companies charge a filling station $X/gallon for gasoline wholesale, the station isn’t going to sell it for less than $X/gallon retail.

Is it more likely that the present disparity between peak gas prices and non-peak oil prices are the result of

1. a handful of huge oil extraction and refining companies pocketing the gap between non-peak crude oil prices and peak gas prices,  
or
2. the wholesale gas price tracking the crude oil price but thousands of filling stations, many across the street from each other, jacking up the retail price?

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