Thursday, May 10, 2007

When Government gets to big, round 3


Story: "A service station that offered discounted gas to senior citizens and people supporting youth sports has been ordered by the state to raise its prices.

Center City BP owner Raj Bhandari has been offering senior citizens a 2 cent per gallon price break and discount cards that let sports boosters pay 3 cents less per gallon.

But the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection says those deals violate Wisconsin's Unfair Sales Act, which requires stations to sell gas for about 9.2 percent more than the wholesale price.

Bhandari said he received a letter from the state auditor last month saying the state would sue him if he did not raise his prices. The state could penalize him for each discounted gallon he sold, with the fine determined by a judge."

Ah, and there we have it. A government panel doing its best to protect you and me, the consumers. If I was in Wisconson, I'd be saying 'NO THANK YOU' to an enforced price on gasoline, be it a floor or a ceiling.
When the government steps in to help, a lot more will be broken in short order.

3 comments:

jonathan said...

This is a capitalist country, right? Let's keep it that way.

The reason that Capitalism works is because it fixes itself. The government doesn't need to step in and fix our problems. Once they start regulating sales, then we are going to start heading towards socialism and away from the values we were built on originally.

kingdavid said...

It's really sad when a business owner gets threatened for helping out needy people in his community. This guy, Raj Bhandari,(probably a solid, hard working Norwegian) who saved up and started this business, is being told he can't have a heart. No good.

Mercy Now said...

Do we live in a communist country? Apparently so by this govt imposed act. Our city, Orlando, recently passed a law making it illegal to feed the homeless in the downtown area. So a guy was arrested when he stopped and tried to give food to some homeless people.