Re: Re: Gas prices

[Jim Devine <jdevine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 12:38 AM 9/15/00 -0400, you wrote:
> In a message dated 9/15/00 12:17:43 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
> michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
>
> << why gas
>  prices are high.  Do you have any inputs that I should pass on? >>
>
> Isn't the FTC looking into possible antritrust violations? Tell him to ask
> over there. --jks

I doubt this would reveal much. In my experience, the role of oligopoly or
monopoly in gas prices mostly causes asymmetry: gas prices rise quickly in
step with oil prices, while they fall slowly following oil prices down. The
high gas prices have to do with high oil prices internationally, low
refining capability in some places, and not enough pipelines in others.

Conservative (and some would say "crackpot realist") Edward Luttwak argued
in yesterday's LA TIMES that prices of oil need to stay high. Low oil
prices cause severe problems for the high-cost producers. He's onto
something. I think that a key reason why Iraq invaded Kuwait was because of
low oil prices...

Jim Devine jdevine@xxxxxxx &  http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine