As if gas prices weren't bad enough, the recent hurricane seems to have caused a massive gas shortage thus jacking up the price even further. Around here, the most expensive I've seen it is $3.19 for regular unleaded gas. I can only imagine how much more expensive it is in other states and cities. How dare hurricane Katrina do that. Or did she? Personally I don't buy the gasoline shortage bit. Well, I do but not for the reasons people are generally getting. The main reason I keep hearing is that several oil refineries or some such were destroyed or damaged in Louisiana during the hurricane. Alright, that may be but I somehow doubt that it's enough of a loss to have jacked up prices like they have. One reason for this is the discrepencies in price around town. If there was such a big loss and prices really needed to go up, then why were there gas stations that were still selling gas for several days at $2.69 for regular unleaded? Apparently it wasn't that big of a deal for those stations to undersell everybody else, because if they were really going to lose a lot of money by doing that then guess what? They wouldn't sell it that cheap (well, cheap in comparison to $3.00+ a gallon even though it's still a rip-off). Here's my theory on why prices are going up and what the real gas shortage is: a bunch of stupid people who are easily convinced by the media about everything bought into the crap about a massive gas shortage. These people then went out and stockpiled five-gallon gas cans to horde gasoline with. These are the same people that when they hear rumor of getting maybe an inch of snow (which here in Memphis rarely ever happens and so people don't know what do do) they run out to the supermarket and buy out all of the bottled water for storage. I wouldn't be surprised if these same people had bomb shelters installed in their backyards because they thought that Y2K was actually a possibility. Any computer geek who wasn't paid to spread rumor of doom and gloom could have told you that the massive reprogramming binge to "make computers compatible for the year 2000" was the second biggest load of crap that the world has ever been told (the first being O.J. Simpson saying that he's looking for the "real" killer while he's out golfing). What's happening here with the gas shortage is that it's because people are panicking that we have a shortage. If people wouldn't buy more gas than they need, gas stations wouldn't have to worry about running out of gas. I think that the gas companies know that there are stupid people that will do this and so they've induced fear into the minds of the gullible. That way they can show proof of a gas shortage (which wouldn't have been nearly as bad if they would have kept their traps shut) that they caused. By causing people to freak out and buy gas like there was no tomorrow, they caused a shortage giving them reason to raise the price more than necessary. This is a classic example of price gouging. Price gouging is illegal and these companies should be held responsible. Back during the energy crisis, price gouging was rampant and companies were forced to lower their prices. The same thing needs to be done here. If you want lower prices here's the solution: QUIT BUYING ALL THE FREAKIN' GAS! You don't need to buy 50 gallons of gas for a 20 gallon tank. That's retarted people, because you're not only wasting money but you and all your little gas-hoarding-idiot friends all over the city and country are doing it and your not leaving gas for anybody else. And then you have the nerve to look surprised with that blank stare, mouth hanging open with drool running down your face because you can't understand why gas is so frackin' expensive. You know why? BECAUSE YOU'RE CAUSING A SHORTAGE THAT NEVER WOULD HAVE HAPPENED HAD YOU NOT FED INTO THE MEDIA'S CRAP! AAAAAUGH!!! How can people be so gullible? Anyways, unless you need to go somewhere, don't. Don't buy more gas than you actually need because the more you people do this the less gas there will be and prices will continue to go up. Not only that but if you save gas, you'll save money too. Who can argue with that? I like money. Even more so because I have to spend most of it on college so I don't have any. You tend to appreciate it more when you don't have it. Oh well. In conclusion save your money.
