From PR Newswire …
Hurricane Katrina No Excuse for Grossly Excessive Pricing
LANSING, Mich., Aug. 29 /PRNewswire/ — Attorney General Mike Cox warned Michigan gas retailers today of the harsh penalties associated with gouging consumers as Hurricane Katrina wreaks havoc in New Orleans and on many of the South’s oil refineries.
“While the pressure on oil and gas prices during this time of national crisis is naturally intense and complex, my office will be vigilant in protecting consumers from grossly excessive increases in prices at the pump,” said Cox. “Anyone looking to gouge consumers as a result of the hurricane will be dealt with swiftly and severely.”
Swiftly? Severely? What exactly does that mean? State-sponsored death squads, dealing out “nine-gram” justice to gas station owners? Expropriation? Exile? The pillory?
Stations found to be gouging are subject to up to $25,000 in fines.
Well, at least Michigan’s commissars aren’t going to be shooting people in the back of the head for wrecking. Is there a legal definition of gouging? A 19-cent per-gallon rise isn’t, but a 21-cent rise is? Or is this something the minions of the state will know when they see?
4:48 pm on August 29, 2005
