Changing gas prices accordingly to citizen travel frequency

“Con, is basing this off of the law of demand which is understandable.” This was not based on the law of demand at all, as law of demand deals with amount demanded, which only considers price and amount demanded as factors. This deals with a total shift of demand for gasoline, which was made clear in Round Two. I am not assuming that price will increase in the winter. I as a matter of fact I understand that this is in violation of the law of demand. But since I am not assuming, I am stating that gas should be regulated in the winter as to where stations would make more profit. In other words, gas should stay relatively high in the winter. My opponent now concedes that gas prices would decrease in the winter, which is contrary to his second round statement “Considering the law of demand (as price increases the demand decreases, the inverse relationship of the demand curve) it is most reasonable for gas prices to not decrease in the winter but to actually stay relatively high.” He now says that he is stating that “gas should be regulated in the winter as to where stations would make more profit… gas (prices) should stay relatively high in the winter.” This was addressed in my Round 2 rebuttal. Simply put, government regulation shifts the supply curve, and to raise the price of gas, it would need to reduce total supply. When supply is decreased, price is increased, but output is decreased. Even though it would be high in price, the gas stations would be selling less, so it is not necessarily true that profits would increase for the gas stations. Con is simply misunderstanding my point of view.” It is true, I have been misunderstanding my opponent’s point of view. However, this was unavoidable, as he did not specifically outline what his point of view was until the Round 3. In Round 1, he claimed that gas prices should be changed according seasonal travels. In Round 2, he made a largely untrue economic argument about gas prices in winter, with no mention of regulation whatsoever. It was not until this round that my opponent actually made his position clear, that “gas should be regulated in the winter as to where stations would make more profit.” Essentially, my opponent’s position, until now, was unclear, and for that reason, a misunderstanding was unavoidable. “So Con is wrong when he states ‘compensation is not an issue.” Raising prices for gas does not solve the compensation issue. It was already made clear above that when gas prices are increased through the supply instead of through demand, which is what regulation does, the gas stations aren’t selling as much gasoline, so they aren’t necessarily making more profit when gas prices are increased through regulation. Also, while my opponent has offered no proof that “the majority of the United States uses this ‘gas-money’ managing system, only a set price of their income is used to pay for their usual gas purchases,” for the sake of argument, I will assume it is true. If consumers go to a gas station only willing to spend a set amount of money, if they have increased gas prices, the gas stations have more money going towards gasoline than they have going towards their convenience store products, which have much larger profit margins. So when more of that set amount of “gas-money” is going towards gasoline, than less is going towards the gas station, as the gas station could be making more if more money went towards the convenience store items (1). So once again, when prices are higher for gas, the gas station is not necessarily making more money. So once again, compensation is not an issue. Summary of the Debate Pro did not state what position he was defending until the final round. On top of that, he has not shown that increasing prices of gas in the winter through government regulation would actually increase the profits for the gas stations, which is what his argument was centralized around. I, as Con, have made my position clear throughout. Government regulation of gas prices to change the prices according to seasonal travels is not necessary, as supply and demand already changes them. Also, I have effectively refuted every point that pro has made. I have shown that artificially increasing gas prices through regulation during the winter does not increase profits for the gas stations. Thank you Sources: http://www.freep.com...