Observation. If the price of oil was going up as quickly as it is coming down

[Horse with no Name]

they would have someone changing the numbers outside continuously.
Why aren't the retail prices dropping with the same veracity as they increase?(this is a rhetorical question)

[Hugabear]

1. You're right, it's a rhetorical question

Oil could drop to $10/barrel, and Big Oil would try to convince us that paying $3/gallon is somehow a bargain.

[Horse with no Name]

2. Or the argument would go something like the oil is already paid for

because it is in the storage tanks...but isn't the oil in the storage tanks already paid for when they start RAISING prices?:crazy:

[Hugabear]

5. Funny, because they used the exact opposite argument to justify raising prices to begin with

They weren't paying for the gas they already had, they were paying for the gas they would have to buy the next time!

We always knew that argument was bullshit, and this is PROOF.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

3. Here are the present market prices:

CLX08.NYM Crude Oil Nov 08 87.90 2:57pm ET Down 5.98 (6.37%)
HOX08.NYM Heating Oil Nov 08 2.4702 2:28pm ET Down 0.1918 (7.21%)
NGX08.NYM Natural Gas Nov 08 6.842 2:28pm ET Down 0.516 (7.01%)
PNX08.NYM Propane Gas Nov 08 1.37 2:33pm ET 0.00 (0.00%)
RBX08.NYM RBOB Gasoline Nov 08 2.0555 2:28pm ET Down 0.1728 (7.75%)

Now the problem is that there are a lot of people making money between this market and you. There are those who levy taxes, and then there is the chain of people involved in getting it to you. Some of those people don't drop their prices as quicky as the market drops. In that manner, they can make a lot of money on the inflated margins.

[Horse with no Name]

4. The point is

They raise them as quick as the market jumps.:)

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

6. Show me where...

I said that they were not scumbags. ;-)

[RB TexLa]

7. If people are willing to pay a price for something and you won't have a significant increase in

sales by lowering the price why would it be lowered? There is no reason for it to drop.

[Horse with no Name]

11. Fuel is a necessity of life

People are not WILLING to pay it...they are FORCED to pay it out of necessity.
I am sure it is a subtlety that is lost on you, however.

[Greyhound]

8. Same reason they charge more for not putting stuff in and refining it less.

Because they are some of our masters and they say so.

[wishlist]

9. All stations I passed today in Asheville NC had gas for $3.99-highway robbery

We are not buying until prices come down.

[ContraBass Black]

10. Maybe they expect you to be gratefull that there's any gas to buy.

Isn't Asheville coming out of a major shortage and panic?