On Wed, 12 Feb 2003, Bill N wrote:

> In this case, gas prices are rising in the USA mainly because of the
> problems in Venezuela.

That crisis has been going on for months.  We've already seen a price
increase from it weeks ago.  Why would there be a delayed effect?

> We don't get any oil from Iraq, and haven't for years.  Canada doesn't
> either.

That may be true, but two points:

- Oil is fungible, and the price of oil is set on a global market.  It
doesn't matter if we don't buy directly from a specific country; if the
overall supply drops, the price still goes up for everyone.

- It doesn't matter if it really costs the oil companies more.  It's all
about whether they have an excuse to raise prices.  Look at 9/11; there
was *no* disruption of oil shipments leading up to that day, but by that
afternoon some stations here had raised their prices by fifty cents a
gallon!

             _ _
  __ _ _   _| | |  | David M. Brodbeck (N8SRE)              Ypsilanti, MI
 / _` | | | | | |  +-----------------------------------------------------
| (_| | |_| | | | @ cyberspace.org
 \__, |\__,_|_|_| "Everything is linear if plotted log-log with a fat
 |___/             magic marker." -- Mar's Law