The Memorial Day Dividend For Big Oil

The Memorial Day Dividend For Big Oil

Oil companies contributed $2.6 milion to President George Bush's reelection campaign and this Memorial Day the dividend will be billions in added profits with the blessing of Bush's Federal Trade Commission.

This week's FTC report clearing oil companies of illegally manipulating the market in the wake of Katrina is so Orwellian that even Republicans in the Senate and House are rebelling with price gouging legislation.

The FTC found 15 instances of price gouging under a common definition, but said the laws of supply and demand in the unusual post Katrina world made the outrageous prices okay. Under the same logic the FTC would say there is no mob rule in Sudan simply because there is no law against mob rule.

What's really going on with gasoline pricing? Check out a new report by FTCR which finds oil companies artificially driving down supplies each Memorial Day, when there is peak demand, to pump up gasoline prices.

Every summer drive season, the oil companies short the market to jack up prices and profits. The bipartisan backlash this year could fuel some interesting reforms -- like modernization of anti-trust laws and price gouging laws being considered by the US Senate. Or passage of a pending California ballot measure this November that would create a massive state alternative fuel development fund.

Whatever new laws might pass, the FTC should not have any enforcement authority. Its recent report shows the FTC stands for Forget the Consumer.