oil companies = crooks

Now, anybody who knows me knows that I am a firm believer in capitalism. I think if you work hard you deserve a reward. However, can someone explain to me how what the oil companies are doing is anything but criminal? What I mean is this. Gas prices at the pump are dependent are supply. If something happens to the supply, prices go up. That is cool. But how can prices increase essentially before something happens to the supply? The perfect example is this morning when I went to fill up. The gas prices are up considerably. The newscaster says the hurricane will cause supply to diminish since much of the Gulf of Mexico production will be interrupted. But how does that affect the supplies that are already in? The gas you buy at the pump was purchased wholesale at a lower price BEFORE the hurricane, so the only reason the price at the pump will jump today is price gouging and oil companie/gas stations taking adavantage of the soon to come projected shortage. That is wrong. I wish some grandstanding politician would look into that, rather than steroids in baseball.