After 60 Minutes exposed how Wall Street gamed gas prices using practices similar to those employed by Enron to game electricity prices in California, the myth of market-based prices went out the window.
Now with world oil prices in the cellar, many Canadians are wondering why pump prices have shot up twenty cents a litre or more, from the mid 70s as recently as two weeks ago to the high 90s today.
According to Montreal newspaper The Gazette, the latest price spike was caused by - the Israeli invasion of Gaza:
For the Montreal region, the realistic price yesterday was 86.4 cents a litre for regular unleaded fuel.
On Jan. 6, prices surged by up to 15 cents a litre during the crisis in Gaza. Those prices peaked at 84.5 cents a litre before dropping down to the 76 to 77 cent range we were enjoying this past weekend.
What? Did they think that the Palestinians were going to set fire to their non-existant oil fields, a la Saddam? Did they think the Israeli army was going to call up reservists from Israeli oil fields?
It's about time that oil speculators got a well-deserved smackdown. It's one thing when oil fields or refineries are jeopardized but the Gaza crisis was a gossamer-thin pretext for price gouging.
1 comment:
No kidding. Another reason to make our dependence on oil go the way of the dodo bird.
Big oil is all about them. Time to show them the door.
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