General Discussion

Do you remember the rumor that went around the US until the eighties that there was a 400 mpg carburetor that the oil companies bought the patent and buried it. Sounds plausible until one thinks critically. If there were carburetors that that improved miles per gallon by 10 times, Big Oil would try to give one to everybody and raise the price per gallon by a factor of 11.

The oil companies are not known for giving the public any breaks at all, ever. If prices are high they pump oil, if prices are low they buy someone else's oil and bump prices up. The barrel price in Texas determines if the grasshoppers are working or at rest. They only work after a certain price per barrel goes over a certain bench mark price, it's been $40/barrel and been as high as $80/barrel.

Why in the world would the richest industry cut prices lower than they can gouge?