What if Nabisco Owned the Store?

    What if you walked into a grocery store and every item on the shelves was made by the same company? Let's say Nabisco owned the store, so they only sold Nabisco products. If you wanted something from Tyson Foods, you had to go around the corner to the Tyson Foods store.

   That's what we have in the oil industry. An Exxon station sells only Exxon gas. One wonders what would happen if we outlawed oil companies from owning gas stations. 

   Right now, Exxon can control the prices at all its stations. Likewise, Chevron controls the prices at its stations. Conoco, the same. Now, the oil companies do not mind making a lot of money, of course, so they don't mind matching the competitor's prices if they go up. 

   If you want to lower the prices, you've got to force them to compete. If the station owner could buy gas wherever he wanted, he would buy the cheapest gas he could find.

  So, one effort to bring gasoline prices under control is to end the monopoly. Exxon has a monopoly at all of its stations. Chevron, the same; Conoco, the same. If you take the stations away from the oil companies, you might end their monopolies. 

   This would be a good place to start in efforts to lower gasoline prices.