“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.
I keep seeing claims that Trump is doing this, but I have not seen anyone make any actual assertions of an evidence to that effect.
While Trump has jumped on the promotion, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s in on it somehow, it really sounds to me like some MAGA asshat who’s trying to take advantage for publicity.
I’d really like to know who’s paying for it, though, and why. Maybe it’s just an introductory price to convince people they’ll sell it for less, but I don’t see how that’ll get long-term customers.
Either way, the wild claims with nothing to back them up (i.e. OP’s title) really annoy me. There’s so much to be angry at. Fabricating lies is not needed. Or certainly saying things that are not known to be true - even the article doesn’t say Trump is doing this, just the submitted title.
You can always tell when someone doesn’t read the article, sees the headline, and jumps straight into the comments because it’s literally right there in both the article and the short version.
At the beginning of the article referenced:
I mean, did Trump come up with this idea? Very unlikely. I mean we all know how he operates at this point. Someone approaches him with an idea or product, and all Trump does is slap his name on it, ie: Trump Steaks, Trump Mobile, etc. and then he collects the royalties or kickbacks or whatever.
Again, you clearly didn’t read the article
Not my title, the community rules state:
It’s in the actual article, not the TL;DR version for brevity because people don’t read full articles.
What, do you expect him to run it personally or something? It’s directly posted on the whitehouse.gov site. While everyone out here is using him to make money, if it’s on the .gov website it doesn’t really matter who came up with the idea, he stamped it, and had it put up on a government official site. If you want a list of where these actually are, they’re available on the Freedom Fuel website. Feel free to go drive out to them.
Likely both. The fuel has to come from somewhere. An established refinery or distributor has to be involved. You can’t just sell gas from a lemonade pitcher, stations are highly regulated as well.
My guess would be some donor and some oil industry VP of Bafoonery came up with a plan to force prices lower in a couple states with important seats coming up in the midterms. Just for the good vibes. The lower price forces everyone else to drop to at-cost sales. And the legal top cover you get Miller, T-Shiz, and Bessent.
Is it possible Trump or MAGA or someone affiliated is trying to make the entire fuel station system go belly up in Pennsilvania so that they can have the monopoly?
I think it’s more likely to influence midterms. But who knows. Heh
I’m fairly sure the business was traced back to a corporation that Trump dealt with in previous instances.