If I didn't know better ...

[welshTerrier2]

I just heard on the radio that gas prices at the pump have risen again for the seventh straight week ... doing a little "calendar math", that would put the beginning of all these price increases back to the week of the November, 2006 elections ... prior to that, we saw a voter-pleasing drop in prices ...

now, a less astute observer than I might presume that there was some hanky panky going on here ... of course, that sort of price-fixing would be illegal, you know ...

but I know better ... much better ... you see, the republicans are so deeply committed to a "free market" ideology that they would never, absolutely never, enlist the support of their corporate friends in the oil industry to manipulate prices to give them a political bump at the ballot box ...

some of you lefty cynics should have known that !!!!!

[leftofthedial]

1. don't you read the posts from DU's resident economists?

it is HARD WORK understanding the complexities of the oil markets. Not only would the dedicated patriot RW repukes who run the oil industry never fix prices, it would be WAY TOO HARD for them to do it (for reasons that are WAY TOO HARD for the likes of you and me to understand).

Nothing to see here. Move along.

[valerief]

2. Yeah, they'd have to read newspapers and stuff. nt

[welshTerrier2]

3. did you mean "never"?

thankfully, those who "watch over" America ensure that, especially in critical industries like the oil industry, oligopolies are NOT permitted to exist ...

so, your point is a good one: "it would be WAY TOO HARD for them to do it" ... good old competition would have seen to that ...

surely, if the information about the timing of price decreases followed by price increases is correct, there must have been totally legitimate market forces at work ... i know i feel better knowing this ...