You take a big bite out of the profits from this venture for letting Cape Air use what you view as “your” route. Please keep the kids in line so you can keep the cash flowing and we can keep getting back and forth to Guam using your air service instead of someone else’s. Thank you
Gas prices fixed again
I also can’t help but notice that Mobil stations and Shell stations once again raised prices to exactly the same price within hours of each other. I can’t help but notice that this kind of price fixing activity is illegal and is specifically prohibited by U.S. Anti-Trust Law. The U.S. Department of Justice Anti-Trust Division is tasked with enforcing these laws. I wonder where they are in their investigation of these two companies and the several different station owners and contract operators that violate these laws.
I don’t care whether gas prices go up or go down. I don’t care whether Shell and Mobil makes a lot of money, a little money or no money at all. I do care, however, when they illegally fix prices in order to kill the competition that keeps businesses honest and provides the best products at the best prices to their customers.
I know the bureaucratic wheels sometimes turn slowly, but it has now been nearly two years since I turned this over to the new case division of DoJ. Surely, that is enough time to finish on an open and shut case like this. The evidence stares out at every person on our islands, every day of their lives. A casual drive by shows precisely the same price for every brand, every station, every operator, every owner, every day. Coincidence? Not hardly.
Even with the sale of all the Shell stations to the Delgado family did not stop the illegal price fixing. He just signed up as a new member of the Good Old Boy Petroleum Price Fixing Network I guess. It looks like business as usual for the gas monopolies…for now.
If the U.S. Department of Justice continues to drag its feet I will have to take these parties to court myself in the name of the people of the commonwealth. This lawlessness cannot be allowed to continue.
REP. STANLEY MCGINNIS TORRES
17th CNMI Legislature
