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# Commissioner Accept high gas prices at own risk
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/commissioner-accept-high-gas-prices-at-own-risk-editor/
- Published: 2007-10-24T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T03:38:04.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By Bruce Joffe Piedmont, CA*

Standing in the post office line, I overheard a woman confidently tell a friend, “Oh yes, gas prices will be $4 or $5 by Christmas.” How did she know and why was she so blasé? My guess is that she heard this speculation on some talk shows or propaganda-posing-as-news programs. How did this idea get planted? My guess is that the oil companies are using slick public relations techniques to “inoculate” the public from a feeling of outrage as the prices go up, up and up.

Me? I am outraged at the high prices, and even more so at the craven profits these oil companies gouge out of our paychecks. Each quarter marks yet another record-breaking level of profit.

Gasoline is needed for transportation. As such, it should be regulated as a public utility, just as bus service and subways are regulated, to control their prices and profits.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 24, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/102407.pdf?ref=smdp.com)