I Knew It, We All Did

Hurricane Katrina didn't just hit New Orleans. It ravaged Canadians as well, at least at the gas pump.

The Toronto Star reports on a study released by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives that found that, post-Katrina, pump prices jumped between 15 to 27 cents per litre beyond the industry's traditional cost and profit-margin pricing.

Of course you might cling to the notion that gasoline supply is a competitive industry and, therefore, any price is fair. That must explain why an increase in pump price at one station is automatically mirrored at all the others, right?

There are four principal suppliers of gasoline to the retail market and, by all appearances, they all work in lockstep. That's not quite a monopoly but the distinction is all but irrelevant.

Time for the government to intervene but then again we're talking Harpo and Big Oil. Forget I mentioned it.