DOJ Should Investigate Origopoly of Gas Industry

Dear Department of Justice,

As the gas prices in our area, NJ, gone up steadily from $1.39 to now $2.19 for NO meaningful reason since economic situation is still very bad, the demand of gas has been very low, oil price steady, I suspect gas companies may be in an oligopoly arrangment that violates US Anti Trust Law, according to Microeconomics professor at Rutgers University.

Because gas is such an inelastic product, most American have no choice to absorb the price hike, but oligopoly is like monopoly and duopoly that created huge "deadweight loss" that hurts the economy and consumers in a huge way.

Below are detail information that I know with energy market research from UC Berkeley and listed based on the questions of DOJ.

Cheng

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What are the names of companies, individuals, or organizations that are involved?

// I do not know the names, but as a consumer monitoring gas price like gasbuddy.com I feel some invisible hands behind the scene to orchestra the gas price up.

How do you believe they have violated the federal antitrust laws? (For details on federal antitrust laws, see Antitrust Laws and You.)

// If you keep a detail look at the gas price, it increases a few cents REGULARLY every week for past few months; it appears to be COOPERATED, ORCHISTRATED and OLIGOPOLY manner of price setting which is violating the Anti Trust Laws.

Can you give examples of the conduct that you believe violates the antitrust laws? If so, please provide as much detail as possible.

// If I were the DOJ investigator, I would obtain all consumer posted gas price data from GasBuddy.com for past months and analyze the corelation of the gas prices. DOJ needs to find out why gas price almost double while economic situation is bad and gas consumption is very low.

What is the product or service affected by this conduct? Where is the product manufactured or sold, or where is the service provided?

// When gas industry teamed up to gauge the gas price up, many daily products cost increased, from supermarket grocery, to restaurant, to subway cost, to many other things that transportation is a must.

Who are the major competitors that sell the product or provide the service?

// There seemed to be NO major competitors, all gas stations seemed to raise their price as if some big hand behind ordering them to. In fact, that's why US Anti Trust Laws. The law wants all business to compete so that the production will be the most cost effective, and the consumers will benefit the most. If there is monopoly, duopoly or oligopoly, then there will be "deadweight loss" in production gain and consumers pay much higher cost than supposed to be.

What is your role in the situation in question?

// I am just a concerned US citizen, and I feel deeply painful every week I went to gas station to get gas. I filed an Anti Trust Laws violation complaint last year but did not hear back any result from DOJ yet. But, at least, the oil price was proven later it was NOT due to demand and supply. My observation was correct.

Who is harmed by the alleged violations? How are they harmed?

// All Americans are harmed by the oligopoly of gas industry. They are harmed by cutting down travel, and cities and states losing tourists also got worsen economy, hotel, restaurant, museums, ...etc all sufferred fewer visitors, and state got insufficient sales taxes due to fewer travel. They are harmed because all gas related products all increased the price, e.g. subway ticket, train pass, ...etc. American auto industry is also a big victim that their cars won't sell. I believe DOJ should not allow gas industry to function like oligopoly and gas price hike again.

What should DOJ do to solve this Anti Trust Laws case?

// DOJ should make gas industry fully compete. Just like in 1984, when AT&T was dominant to set the long distance price that costed American 40 cents per minute, now less than 1 cent. DOJ broke up AT&T into 8 companies to make them compete fully to drive down the telecommunication cost of Americans. DOJ should take similar actions or more creative ones to promote competitions, not oligopoly, of gas industry, and drive down the transportation cost of American.