What's the opposite of gouging?

I've talked about gas prices a few times, most notably here. That's back when gas jumped a ridiculous 60 cents between morning and night, for no apparent reason. Back then, in September 2005, $3.57 a gallon was not unheard of. Last summer, in June and July 2008, it was even worse. I paid more than $4.00 a gallon at some points.

Now, look:



I actually paid $1.54 for regular today. That's almost 66% less than I paid 5 months ago, and just goes to prove how artificial the oil prices are, how manipulative the oil companies are, and how gullible the people are. The "powers that be" blame the drop on the recession. Okay, except, what other product has dropped it's retail price 66% in the past five months? Can I get a 32 inch LCD HDTV anywhere for $200 today? Nope. Is my Quik Chek coffee costing me only 37 cents a cup now? Nope. Is my grocery bill two-thirds what it was last summer? Nope. Only gas.

Prices for barrels of oil are WAY down. The average price of a gallon of gas dropped 22 cents in the past two weeks, and has dropped over two dollars and forty-five cents in the past five months. That just proves it's all fake. Whether it's OPEC, or the oil companies, or speculators, or what have you -- the prices were always artificially inflated and kept that way.

What I'm hoping now is that all those speculators who were buying oil futures last summer, who kept prices at artificially high levels, and did so expecting a huge profit because of the rising oil prices, are taking the financial beating they deserve. Those prices hurt so many people, and changed so many things. Airlines increased fares, and added "baggage charges," supposedly to offset their increased fuel costs. Groceries cost more because trucking things around cost more. But have those prices come down? Nope.

I blame them all. Oil companies, speculators, and OPEC producers all rakes in their millions (or at least attempted to do so) at the expense of you and me. They all deserve what they get.