Why is the price of gas so low? (Cartels)
Because world oil production is regulated through a cartel! When you hear “cartel”, you probably think of drug cartels, but it’s just another word for “oligopoly”: a group of producers who work with each other to manipulate prices for their product. Individually, they realize they only hurt their profits to compete with each other by lowering prices, so they team up against consumers and agree to maintain prices at a certain level. This sort of collusion is illegal for companies to do in the U.S., but that’s the system we’re stuck with for international oil supply.