Answer: They are indeed gouging. The price of a barrel of oil is set by commodity traders six months out on delivery. The price you hear the media announce every couple of minutes is not the price oil companies are paying at that time. The oil they're selling you today actually cost them much less. They have no business raising their prices in accordance with the daily price fluctuations of the oil futures market. One of the worst incidences of gouging I've ever seen is directly after Hurricane Katrina, when gas stations around the nation immediately raised their prices. This was a shame and a deep disgrace—and the nation should have rebelled at companies gouging their fellow-citizens during and after catastrophes. But our people are fat—and our government is bought off. So we have to sit back and take the shaft. For when governments team with big business, citizens have no chance except to eat salt for dessert—if that is what the pair so desires.