“When losses happen, somebody’s got to pay for it.”

Called Freedom Fuel Network, the enterprise encompasses dozens of gas stations throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey, USA Today reported, although it isn’t exactly clear which locations are open for business. Plastered in American flag decals and “Freedom Fuel” branding, the gas stations seem to be selling unleaded gasoline for the fixed-price of $3.47 per gallon, about 32 cents cheaper than the current average price in the US.

According to GasBuddy, nearby prices range from $3.85 to as much as $4.49 — no doubt reflecting the slower drip of oil from the president’s costly war on Iran, which burst back into active fighting this week.

As head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy Patrick De Haan told the Philadelphia Inquirer, the current price of crude oil means there’s no way Freedom Fuel’s $3.47 price point can turn a profit.

“Stations selling at this price, it’s not sustainable,” De Haan explained. “Generally, when losses happen, somebody’s got to pay for it.”

De Haan raises an obvious question: who is paying for it? If the stations are losing money on every gallon, somebody has to make up the difference somewhere — whether out of Trump’s pocket, that of a friendly donor, or the taxpayer’s. And if it’s a private company taking the hit, how long until they stop subsidizing Pennsylvania drivers?

Already, the stunt seems to be distorting local markets. As of Wednesday, a nearby Sam’s Club in Dresher dropped its price to match the $3.47 figure — surely good news for anybody buying gas in South Eastern Pennsylvania, but as always, the devil is in the details.

  • JollyG
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    7 hours ago

    Come join the anticommunist Republican party. They’ve got:

    1. Price controls
    2. Closed markets
    3. State-owned industry

    Edit adding a 4th

    1. The living-or-dead status of party members as closely guarded state secrets
    • danc4498
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      9 hours ago

      All my libertarian friends hate it, but somehow keep voting for it.

      • Tiger666@lemmy.ca
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        6 hours ago

        Libertarianism is not a real ideology. Its just three raccoons in a trench coat. Anarcho-capitalism is a contradiction in terms.

      • Thebeardedsinglemalt
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        7 hours ago

        Libertarians are just conservatives + weed - religion. They claim to not be cons but still vote 100% in that direction

        • TrickDacy
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          Libertarians are just insanely stupid people who wish to appear intelligent. Because they think those views make them seem intelligent, lol

          • rumba@lemmy.zip
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            6 hours ago

            A number of the ones in my acquaintance circles are just being propagandized.

            The first 10 or so talking points speak well to prepper adjacent and it kinda feels like it wouldn’t be that hard for things to fall over. Then they start the fiscal republican tract, so their businesses can make as much money as possible.

            By the time they get down to the nuts and bolts of what a true free economy would look like, they check out with we’d figure that out real quick instead of figuring out that it’s just another pyramid scheme putting their own people in absolute power stealing every last cent of money that goes to keeping up roads and anything having to do with food provisioning and safety.

            • TrickDacy
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              Yeah my assessment is too simplistic. First, the person is looking to find a way to codify their self-serving desires (ie. the business owner like you mention). Then they decide it needs to sound smarter than it is. BOOM: libertarianism is the perfect fit. Or at least that’s always been my impression. When they try to explain their views, they seem really focused on how much sense they make and how logically consistent they are being. Inconvenient facts are never acknowledged though, of course.

        • grue
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          If they want less authoritarianism, yes!

          Or better yet, somebody who calls themselves “socialist” or “progressive,” because at least they tend to be decent on civil rights, if not necessarily stuff like economic policy. It’s ridiculous, but Bernie Sanders is one of the most actually-libertarian people in Congress.

          If some of the “progressives” could give up on some of their overly-bureaucratic ideas with excessive means-testing (like welfare instead of UBI, “affordable” [i.e. “subsidized”] housing instead of zoning reform to reduce costs, etc.) they’d be perfect actual-libertarian candidates.

        • danc4498
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          8 hours ago

          I’m hoping they keep their asses at home…

          • Joelk111
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            I suppose they must not live in a state with a modern voting system. Staying at home shouldn’t proclude anyone from voting, but here we are.

        • CharlesDarwin
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          8 hours ago

          I mean, what choice do they even have? They have to vote R.

          • grue
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            No they don’t. Lots of (D)s, and even the occasional (I) like Bernie Sanders, are less authoritarian than pretty much every single (R) is these days.

      • AmyAye@nord.pub
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        7 hours ago

        Yes, because supporting the GOP means they get to use slurs again. Thats what really matters.

    • Grimy
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      9 hours ago

      It’s owned by Trump not the state. Closer to authoritarian dictatorship than communism.

      • CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works
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        Where’s the fuel coming from though? I wouldn’t be surprised to find that it’s from Venezuela and he’s literally stealing it via the US government to sell himself.

    • credo
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      Silly person, that’s not what communist means. It means “anything/anyone we don’t like.”

      It’s more of an amorphous ideal than a concrete set of “rules”.

      • DagwoodIII@piefed.social
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        Any time you step out of the classroom political labels become meaningless.

        “Capitalist” America built a giant interstate highway network that seized millions of acres of private land.

        “Communist” China has a few score billionaires.

        And don’t get me started on the National Socialist Party and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.