No Gasoline Price Gouging

The FTC quietly released information stating that they found no evidence that the oil industry manipulated gasoline prices following hurricane Katrina.  Previously, many legislators had claimed the main reason gasoline prices were so high was because the oil industry was manipulating supply.  It turns out, however, that the only thing being manipulated was the American public.

From the Washington Post’s article on Gas Price Manipulation:

Tasked by Congress last September with investigating the sharp increase in gasoline prices, the FTC said its eight-month study showed that companies had not restricted supplies or altered their product mix to raise prices after the hurricanes last year.

According to the article, there are still many critics who claim that the FTC has only touched the “tip of the iceberg,” and that there is plenty of price gouging.  However, I feel this is doubtful.

My personal opinion is that legislators who claim there is price gouging are those who refuse to admit, or want to avoid the issue, that we are overly dependent on oil as a country.  It’s clear that we are very dependent - small supply shocks cause huge changes in prices.  Claiming that the reason for these price changes is because of price gouging is attempting to avoid the issue.  Maybe I’m just making a gigantic assumption, but I really feel like this entire price gouging nonsense is just a way to coverup the underlying problem.

Let me know what you think.