If you ask a question then you should vote for best answer, even if you vote for "No Good Answers".

No, the government should not enact price controls to lower the price of gasoline.

The only things they should do are 1) authorize the construction and operation of new oil refineries, 2) authorize expanded exploitation of our oil resources, and 3) rescind requirements for specific blends of gasoline used in various parts of the country.

If they did those things, gas prices would fall as gasoline became more available.

But enact price controls to reduce gasoline costs? Absolutely not.

WE USED TO HAVE PRICE CONTROLS AND THEY WORKED.

There are two parts to your statement. First, we used to have price controls... I'm assuming you meant on gasoline. That is true. Second, you assert they worked. That is both true and false. True, prices were kept artificially low, but that had it's own price that we had to pay... gas shortages and long lines at the pumps.

I'll put as simply as I can: Price controls are bad.

"An attempt by government regulations to force prices above or below their equilibrium levels is likely to lead to shortages or surpluses, to black markets in which goods are sold at illegal prices, and to a variety of other problems. The market always strikes back at attempts to repeal the law of supply and demand. ... Price controls throw a monkey wrench into the market mechanism. Though the market is surely not flawless, and government interferences often have praiseworthy goals, good intentions are not enough. Any government that sets out to repair what it sees as a defect in the market mechanism runs the risk of causing even more serious damage elsewhere."
http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=977
http://www.hoover.org/pubaffairs/dailyreport/archive/2827286.html

If only they were old enough to remember..or wise enough today to listen to us.

Nope. Maybe more folks will find out what nature's like by walking again (to a bus stop, of course).

YOU SOUND LIKE ALGORE

its 3.09 here i think so

YES! In MI its 3.40!!!!

They need to lower gas prices or gove a hefty cost of living raise. It's bad when you have to work 8 hours to be able to buy gas to get there. A person making minimum wage with a child works 4 days for gas and child care and one for debts

it ia awful nana you and i will just hope JESUS comes back soon.

it is well within the scope, authority and power, yet due to "political considerations, financial accoutrements', supplemental contributions, jet rides, vacations and a long history" with oil companies....

sorry they (politicians) can't.

I think you got it right Rick. i accept your apolegy lol

I just filled up yesterday and paid $2.85. I thought that was pretty good. I must have caught it on a good day.

lucky KARMA!

Can't beat that KARMA!

Yesterday the lowest price gasoline went up to $3.03.9. That is terrible; I hate to think what fuel oil for heat is going to cost this winter!!!

In Vermont

Maybe the government will finally figure out some better alternatives.

The best thing government can do is stay out of it. Remove their restrictions on oil drilling, on refinery construction, and on required blends of gasoline to be sold in different states. They won't do this, though, because they want to fix it by "doing something", not by letting the free market do what it does best.