>Sorry, but that is obviously untrue. If it was true, gas prices would just go up and stay up.
Only if there was a monopoly or collusion, otherwise the competition would cause prices to fall to a point just above break even. Well, more complicated than that, prices would fall to a point where it is profitable enough for the companies involved to keep producing the goods and not switch to making something else.
>Then you'll have to accept that the inevitable shortages also mean death. Anti-gouging laws not only produce shortages, they make for less supply overall being available. (This is because high prices motivate increased supply.)
No, you can also over produce something and pay for the over production. We do that with food. That is why you hear a lot about paying farmers to not farm or dumping excess grain in the ocean as opposed to selling it.
>P.S. For just one example, when gas prices are low, people will drive to the store to pick up a loaf of bread. When they're high, people will combine errands and buy more items on fewer trips to the store.
I literally used that as one of my examples: "Now you could vary your shopping habits, go to a shopping center with several stores as opposed to the stores you like. You could put off a road trip or vacation but it isn't like either of those things are the bulk of gasoline usage."
But again, that is not the bulk of gasoline use. Most people are not going to the store for a loaf of bread, going back the next day for hamburger meat and going a third day for salad. Or even making 2 or three trips in a day. Most people don't like to spend their time in cars driving places.
