It's sickening to see workers finally making progress on wages and then gas companies decide to gouge us for their profits. We're seeing literal war profiteering, and those in power will likely do nothing since their campaigns are full of oil/gas money. So that means it's up to the people to take action.
To start with, I propose a boycott of gas stations from one of the big 4 in the US (Exxon, Shell, BP, or Chevron). Correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that gas stations are typically franchises and the owner/operator sets the price. But we all see every gas station is essentially the same price, give or take maybe 5 cents. Why? Because they know most of us need the product and have to pay it – and if they all toe the line and keep the price high, they'll all reap the profits together. So it's possible a boycott of particular gas stations (who often only pay their employees minimum wage) will force them to be competitive and change prices. Who knows what impact it will have, but at least we consumers can have a voice.
I would propose boycotting whichever of the top 4 has caused the most harm to our country and environment, but I'm open to ideas and suggestions. Please let me know what you think and hopefully we get a discussion going about this.
(And when you have time, look up the reported profits [not just earnings] for each of the mentioned companies. None of them are struggling – they had insane profits for 2021 as well as the first quarter of 2022 – and I guarantee their 2nd quarter numbers will be just as high.)