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 thenelli01

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Meanwhile in New Jersey, there does not seem to be a problem with gas supplies, but a lot of gas stations don't yet have power. Imagine you were one of the many gas-station owners without power. Say you could buy a generator -- installed -- for $10,000, charge an extra $3 extra per gallon and make it back on the first (say) 300 cars. Why would you not do so? My guess is that there's a few laws in place that make this unfeasible.

Meanwhile, the Jones Act says that a ship leaving a U.S. port and going to another U.S. port must be staffed by a U.S. crew. So, a foreign tanker in New Orleans cannot bring fuel to New Jersey. Also, gas station owners in New Jersey are not allowed to buy gas from out of state dealers. Both these laws have been lifted. However, the presence of restrictive acts often changes long-term deployment of people, assets and relationships in ways that cannot be changed in a few days -- particularly if the act is only being lifted temporarily.

The situation in Staten Island shows a mix of two things: how people are overly reliant on government, and how that government is slow and ineffective.

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Say you could buy a generator -- installed -- for $10,000, charge an extra $3 extra per gallon and make it back on the first (say) 300 cars. Why would you not do so? My guess is that there's a few laws in place that make this unfeasible.

New Jersey has a "price gouging" law. It is illegal for retailers, including gas stations to raise their prices by more than 10% during emergencies.

The penalties are pretty severe.

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New Jersey has a "price gouging" law. It is illegal for retailers, including gas stations to raise their prices by more than 10% during emergencies.

The penalties are pretty severe.

True.

And yet, I wonder how much most gas-stations would charge, if the law did not stop them. The law is based on a very popular notion of morality and fairness, and gas-stations would probably be hesitant to raise prices for just a few days and have their regulars curse them and swear to use the guy across the street. If gas station owners discussed this and raised prices together, that might give them cover...but they'd probably be breaking a few laws by any such discussion.

So, I suppose -- all said and done -- the voters gets the shortages and long-lines that they deserve.

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True.

And yet, I wonder how much most gas-stations would charge, if the law did not stop them. The law is based on a very popular notion of morality and fairness, and gas-stations would probably be hesitant to raise prices for just a few days and have their regulars curse them and swear to use the guy across the street. If gas station owners discussed this and raised prices together, that might give them cover...but they'd probably be breaking a few laws by any such discussion.

So, I suppose -- all said and done -- the voters gets the shortages and long-lines that they deserve.

I dont understand do you mean you do not understand what gasoline prices on a retail level would be, during an emergency, or non emergency?

Either way the answer is what the market will bare.

It is also illegal for gasoline retailers to show on signage the break down of the sales tax. Since some states charge a percentage , they must like gouging.

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Higher gas prices would've actually been helpful. They would've limited traffic to the absolutely necessary while mass transit was down, prevented the jams both on the roads and at gas stations.

And, the downside of having to pay more would've been negligible. Even if prices tripled, it still would've only taken giving up your daily Starbucks visit and maybe an after-work beer, to cover your commute into the city. (besides, companies would've covered the cost for most employees).

Edited by Nicky
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Flashback to a time when gas-lines were not a localized 2-week phenomena. This, from a 1979 LA Times op-ed by Armen A. Alchian:

An obstinate belief of some people that the value of having gasoline can be kept low by limiting the price to be as low as when there was more gasoline is just plain wrong. The quicker that obstinate error is understood by politicians and the public, the better. Yet [President Jimmy] Carter and his politicians refuse to either understand or admit they understand that pervasive, inescapable, overwhelming fact of life. As a result we are suffering the consequences of these price controls. We are not allowed in a civilized fashion to offer money to sellers of gasoline. Instead we now compete like barbarians in wasteful forms – standing in lines, inconvenient service hours – a gigantic social waste in a futile, ignorant, deceptive effort to keep values and costs low.

[HT: CafeHayek.typePad.com]

Edited by softwareNerd
HT added
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The free gas isn't from any private gas stations. The stations are set up by the Department of Defense, and only those have free gas. On top of that, emergency responders are first, so it seems that people just get whatever is left from a supply that would not have been used otherwise. I wouldn't even know an alternative way to distribute that gas if it is not privately owned. Perhaps the best thing to do would have been to provide gas to first responders, and save the rest.

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