I'm not sure makes you think that. I feel like you're trying to move the goalposts. My objection is with your characterization of gas prices as being "regulated", not that the government has zero influence over gas prices.
mostly I was just responding to the implication that gasoline is a product of the market: "Prices go up and down in response to crude oil prices and other factors."
Perhaps if we want to restrict the definition of regulated, then sure, I'll accept that gasoline isn't regulated, but it's hardly laissez faire pricing: the government frequently steps in to squash market pricing. There's a reason you don't see an 88-cent swing in gas prices as your drive across town (88 cents being the historic margin between wholesale and retail)
Note that during this exchange you've completely ignored the fact that many states are electricity deregulated. At this moment I can pick from dozens of providers with an array of pricing plans.
> mostly I was just responding to the implication that gasoline is a product of the market: "Prices go up and down in response to crude oil prices and other factors."
Are crude/gasoline prices not a product of the market? I guess you could argue that it's not the true market price because you could always compare it to the counterfactual price where there's no government involvement in oil production whatsoever, but the government is effectively hands-off when it comes to pricing. It might have policies to promote oil production/trade, but prices are set by interactions between market participants (ie. supply and demand) rather than some sort of government board.
>I'll accept that gasoline isn't regulated, but it's hardly laissez faire pricing: the government frequently steps in to squash market pricing. There's a reason you don't see an 88-cent swing in gas prices as your drive across town (88 cents being the historic margin between wholesale and retail)
Maybe that's because gas station have similar business models and expenses, which means nobody can charge a $0 markup on wholesale, and competition between stations means that nobody can charge too much above that?
>Note that during this exchange you've completely ignored the fact that many states are electricity deregulated. At this moment I can pick from dozens of providers with an array of pricing plans.
Actually if you read this exchange carefully I never claimed that electricity had regulated pricing, only the existence of government price boards (in general, not specific to electricity). :^)
That's a very creative interpretation of "regulated" means.