It looks like the Federal Trade Commission has determined that all the hype from the media about oil companies manipulating prices to gain their record profits is…(are you sitting down?)…FALSE.

Here is the press release at Reuters: LINK

Here is the release from the FTC: LINK

The FTC did however find 15 counts of what Section 632 calls “price gouging.” “Price Gouging” per Section 632 and this investigation was defined as “any finding that the average price of gasoline available for sale to the public in September, 2005, or thereafter in a market area located in an area designated as a State or National disaster area because of Hurricane Katrina, or in any other area where price-gouging complaints have been filed because of Hurricane Katrina with a Federal or State consumer protection agency, exceeded the average price of such gasoline in that area for the month of August, 2005.” While this is not TRUE price gouging it is in fact very wrong! The seven refiners, two wholesalers and six retailers that did this should be ashamed and fined.

I think the news media needs to give a public apology to the oil industry! I won’t be holding my breath!

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