I hear ya, massacre and I generally agree with what you're saying. I don't think price controls work either. Free markets are generally the most efficient allocator of capital and investment and such, but that's only in a truly free and fair market.

Here in California, everyone thought electricity deregulation would drive down prices with competition and improve service. Uh-huh. What happened? Companies--Enron included--gamed the system by purposefully taking generating capacity offline during peak loads, pushing prices to outrageous levels and plunging people's homes and businesses all around the state into darkness. Is this what the public signed up for?

Here's my anti-Katrina gasoline example. I can't remember if it was in those reports I cited or in other ones, but there is similar evidence uncovered by the FTC that suggests that oil companies and independent refiners have similarly gamed the gasoline system. It's easier to do here in California, mostly because of our unique gasoline blend, limited pipeline access and tight refining capacity. There is evidence of slowing down refining, or even switching California refineries from California blends to non-California blends just when prices are peaking in California, higher than pretty much anywhere else in the country. In an ideal world, gasoline would go where it gets the highest price, right? Instead they moved to limit supplies even further and drive prices even higher. And yet they claim, "Hey, don't blame us. It's simply supply and demand."

In both cases I give, it's hard to prove and easy to justify the actions because you're working right on the edge. The generators are running at full capacity, the refineries are running at full capacity--of course unexpected events can lead to shortages...and higher prices.

I know that oil companies aren't the only ones to do these kinds of things all the time, but the sheer size of the oil/gasoline market means that billions of dollars are wasted by consumers on these shenanigans every year.