Why Gas Costs $3.00 a gallon in WI

I recently read that the "great" Governor of Wisconsin has issued a subpoena to the executives of "Big Oil" demanding answers on why Wisconsinites paid almost $3.00 a gallon in the wake of Hurricane Katrina followed by "Big Oil" recording record profits. When I read this I cursed a naughty word out of frustration.... I should issue a subpoena to the Governor demanding to know why he is wasting my tax dollars on something so ridiculous... and besides, isn't or hasn't Congress already held hearings of executives of "Big Oil".

I may be a simpleton and not understand the intricacies of policy and policy making, but I know common sense (something ALL liberals lack; maybe we need to create a new program in the Dept of Ed and send our tax dollars to teach Libs common sense?).

So, when the gas tax is indexed for inflation and has a natural adjustment built-in wouldn't that cause gas prices to be higher? (I would like to know why my hometown of Durand is an average of $.10 higher on gas costs than the other part of the Chippewa Valley/West Central WI?- Gov. can I subpoena you on this?)

The second point that needs to be made is a basic economic lesson in supply and demand. When there is a greater demand for a good/service and supply decreases price will increase. More will be willing to more pay to have that good or service. And the opposite is true, when supply increases and demand drops, a company will lower price to bring in consumers. My explanation is very simple, that is why I linked to Wikipedia. After Katrina, supply was disrupted thus prices increased. About a month/month and a half after Katrina I was paying $1.93 (note, in MN NOT WISCONSIN!) a gallon. Demand was reduced, supply up and prices fell.

Lastly, isn't it possible (100% likely) that policy decisions are the factor behind the profits? Let's say environmental policy dictates no new refineries, no new drilling in the Gulf or ANWAR, etc... So these companies get their revenues, pay their current expenses, and then the profits are there with no where to reinvest it because of gov't policies. Thus, these companies, who can't explore for more oil or build new factories have large profits.

So, if the Governor wants to question gas prices, maybe he should look at state/federal policy instead. This is too important of an issue to be playing deflect the blame game or election year politics on. Fess up that the state/federal policy is bad policy... you'll gain a lot more respect.