"Even if gas prices fall, consumers will continue to be gouged at the pump the only thing that we can be sure rises faster that the price of gasoline is the skyrocketing profits of oil companies"
About this Quote
Owens is doing something politicians rarely do cleanly: he relocates anger from an abstract market to a named culprit. The line is built like a trap. It begins with a concession that sounds consumer-friendly, even soothing: gas prices might fall. Then it snaps shut: you will still be “gouged.” That verb is the point. It’s not economics-as-weather; it’s injury, something done to you, deliberately, by someone who benefits.
The subtext is a critique of the comforting story Americans are often sold about fuel prices: that they’re set by impersonal global forces and therefore morally neutral. Owens rejects that. His comparison - the only thing rising faster than gasoline is oil-company profit - is a rhetorical sleight that turns volatility into evidence. If prices go up, companies profit. If prices go down, consumers don’t fully feel it. Either way, “skyrocketing profits” keeps climbing. The implied accusation isn’t just greed; it’s asymmetry and power, a market rigged so the pain is socialized and the gains are privatized.
Context matters: Owens was a progressive New York congressman speaking in an era when “price gouging” and “windfall profits” were potent terms, especially during spikes tied to geopolitics and refinery constraints. The quote is meant to justify scrutiny - hearings, regulation, anti-gouging laws, windfall taxes - while channeling public frustration toward corporate accountability rather than personal sacrifice or vague calls to “drill more.” It’s populism with a target, designed to make policy feel like self-defense.
The subtext is a critique of the comforting story Americans are often sold about fuel prices: that they’re set by impersonal global forces and therefore morally neutral. Owens rejects that. His comparison - the only thing rising faster than gasoline is oil-company profit - is a rhetorical sleight that turns volatility into evidence. If prices go up, companies profit. If prices go down, consumers don’t fully feel it. Either way, “skyrocketing profits” keeps climbing. The implied accusation isn’t just greed; it’s asymmetry and power, a market rigged so the pain is socialized and the gains are privatized.
Context matters: Owens was a progressive New York congressman speaking in an era when “price gouging” and “windfall profits” were potent terms, especially during spikes tied to geopolitics and refinery constraints. The quote is meant to justify scrutiny - hearings, regulation, anti-gouging laws, windfall taxes - while channeling public frustration toward corporate accountability rather than personal sacrifice or vague calls to “drill more.” It’s populism with a target, designed to make policy feel like self-defense.
Quote Details
| Topic | Money |
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