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| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| One dead in Detroit Gas War |
| 2007-11-17 |
| Posted by:Anguper Hupomosing9418 |
| #5 I suppose it's only me who is faintly amused by the irony of Arab-Americans killing each other over the price of gasoline. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-11-17 22:48 |
| #4 G: It is a vicious battle, economically speaking, and it does not surprise me at all that the fight could get deadly. I think the problem is that some of these businesses were built up with a substantial amount of debt, typically funds from relatives and friends. So if they fail, it's not just a loss of livelihood, it's a loss of income for years or decades to come, because the debt needs to be repaid. Why not just declare bankruptcy? Because it's one thing to not pay back a faceless multinational bank, and quite another to welsh on friends and relatives. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2007-11-17 15:39 |
| #3 Independent gasoline retailers are being seriously squeezed, often right out of business. The refiners can and do raise prices to reflect the market at the time of delivery of a load to the station, but the marketer is having to pay for that load out of his revenue from selling his PREVIOUS load, and there is almost no profit margin. So in time of rising prices, especially rapid run-ups like we have been seeing lately, the retailer, who may have his entire life invested in his station, could lose everything at any moment. If his competitor gets his delivery a few days earlier, he can afford to undercut a price to grab market share. It is a vicious battle, economically speaking, and it does not surprise me at all that the fight could get deadly. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2007-11-17 13:52 |
| #2 bjk: You can take the goat herder out of the tribe, but you can't take the tribe out of the goat herder. Nah - you get this kind of thing elsewhere, too. It depends on how financially stretched the parties are. An honor killing of a daughter or a wife over being raped would, however, be a Middle Eastern thing. Besides most Arabs who come here were professionals back home. But without the native language skills, they're stuck running small businesses. Their kids generally do really well. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2007-11-17 11:55 |
| #1 You can take the goat herder out of the tribe, but you can't take the tribe out of the goat herder. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2007-11-17 10:18 |