[karkinadze]

lotm - they pretty much are goofballs, or else totally ignorant of the relevant markets, to assume collusion (illegal) between companies, when individual self interest arrives at the same result without breaking any laws or leaving trails of evidence.

Some people want to see conspiracies, because there's an enemy to strike at. Much less appetizing than admitting that it's simple market reality, and the level of pain isn't so hight that consumers will react in adequate numbers to affect supply and demand.

Of course, if the loonies were really clever, they'd want a non-profit coop or public sector refinery to tilt the market in favor of consumers, but that would take brains and some depth of understanding of the subject matter, so activists pretty much can go home at that point.