The same old joke, still not funny
…It is perhaps time for an amendment to the old joke about the definition of a nanosecond being the time between a traffic light turning green and a Greek motorist honking at the car in front to move. Now, it seems that that a nanosecond is the time between the announcement of record increases in global oil prices and hikes in the price of unleaded petrol at Greek gas stations. Despite the fact that the announcement of the record oil price hikes coincided with Greece’s Pentecost weekend holiday, the country’s petrol stations managed to adapt their retail prices to the rise without delay. Indeed, most gas stations on the national road network bumped their prices up to nearly 1 euro per liter even before taking delivery of the new supplies of gas at the higher price. Moreover, it goes without saying that – after these price rises begin to affect the oil refineries and they increase their wholesale prices to retailers – a new round of price hikes will follow. Greek motorists are entirely justified in their objection to the sudden increase in petrol prices but most probably regard it as pointless to challenge gas station owners about why they are charging more for a product they purchased at a cheaper price. All they can do is shake their heads in disbelief before speeding off to avoid a gridlock at the tollgates…
