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October 31, 2005
Coincidence?
Last week oil companies announced a record $100B profit. Within hours everyone all the way up to oil-friendly Republicans were questioning these record-high profits.
Today gas prices dropped 15 cents per gallon in my town.
Permalink | Posted by Joe at October 31, 2005 10:27 PM
Comments
That could be a reaction but I would be interested in seeing gas prices graphed along with inflation and the prices of other normal necessities. I'm wondering how it compares with inflation.
I have heard that gas stations have taken this jump in price to triple their take at the pump though. Thats another topic all together. Prior to the recent increases I believe the average markup was around 6 cents a gallon
Posted by: Dave at November 7, 2005 09:34 AM
That's quite a markup. In August I heard that the markup was about 1 cent per gallon.
It's certainly tough to begrudge the gas stations a few cents when they make so little. The big guys are more responsible, I think. Yes, supply and demand, etc, and yes, gas prices adjusted to inflation are right about normal, but as I said: it really was quite a coincidence.
Last Friday an online news article mentioned the price drop and offered plenty of ungrounded speculation without even mentioning the huge profit announcements. So maybe I'm wrong and it was just a coincidence...or maybe not.
Posted by: Joe at November 7, 2005 04:56 PM