Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc along the Gulf coast. 95% of the oil platforms are shut down, meaning that the price of oil is going up.
But why exactly did the price of the oil in the tanks under all of the local stations suddenly rise between 10 to 20 cents per liter? Because the oil companies can.
And of course the Canadian government, making an extra couple of cents in tax as a result of the new higher prices, has no intention of doing a thing.
So while Americans may be concerned about $3 a gallon gasoline, Canadians are paying $5 per gallon. Coupled with the higher Canadian dollar and lower productivity, I expect the economy to start to come crashing down pretty quickly. But at least the government will have a nice surplus to throw around.