Day and Nite Stores, with nine stores in England, Camden, Sheridan and El Dorado, are among 10 other gas station companies being targeted today by Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel for alleged price gouging, according to a report on the Arkansas Times blog.
The subpoenas will go to businesses that charged prices ranging from $4.29 to $4.64 a gallon. They follow thousands of reports of big prices increases to his office.
Click here for more.
We survived rumors last week that gas prices would rise to $5 or $6 a gallon. They didn’t. We saw increases, but nothing that should have warranted a mad panic like the one seen just before Hurricane Ike made landfall.
Gas prices rose to gouge levels because of the panic. It fed station owners’ pockets. It didn’t help a single person who idled for 30 minutes then pulled up to the pump to top off their tank.
I found a great analysis of what I like to call The Great Panic of 2008 on, of all places, CNN. Click here for access.
By the way, if anything like this ever happens again, please forward this story, along with the one on the jump, to everyone you know. Perhaps we can avoid another panic.
Below are charts of gas prices around the state today, courtesy of Arkansasgasprices.com.
And on the low end:
Here’s a sampling of the morning papers in New York City:
No one is for sure what this all means yet. Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers tanked. That’s a given. Lynch has been snapped up by Bank of America, which, according to some, was a wise move. The two will make one mega-power once the “crisis” blows over. Lehman is history.
Now reports are that insurance giant AIG must raise more than 70 billion today to avoid bankruptcy. The company had insured many of the mortgage banks and other companies that haven’t done well this year. It needs cash now.
Meanwhile, stocks dove yesterday as news of all this broke. Some even called it the most significant event since the Great Depression. Keep your eyes peeled today. It could get rough.
For an Arkansas point of view, click here to access Roby Brock’s business blog out of Little Rock.
**UPDATE** Click here for an AP story reporting that the U.S. government may help bail out the insurance company AIG. Also, stocks are looking up, somewhat, today.
OK, I know this isn’t a sports blog, and I swear I won’t make this a habit, but did you see that game last night? Whew. Former Hog Felix Jones ran more than 95 yards for a touchdown. He’s gonna be a star. Heck, he’s already a star.
The above photo is part of the front cover of today’s Dallas Morning News. That’s not Felix. It’s Marion Barber, another of the Cowboys’ jewels.
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