On Tuesday, May 15th, a “Gas Out” was scheduled to take place across the United States.  The 24 hour boycott of gasoline was organized through chain emails and online networks like Facebook and MySpace over months.  When the 15th actually rolled around, as least as far as Westwood demonstrated, the Gas Out didn’t quite take hold.  At 5:30 PM, thirsty cars heavily surrounded the Chevron on Le Conte and Gayley. According to UCLA Economist, Dr. Lee Ohanian, even if this refusal to purchase gas on one day (though not use any less of it) had taken place, it really would have affected neither supply nor demand and, therefore, the price should not have been expected to change as a result.  But what is more surprising is that, as Dr. Ohanian explained, with global competition for gas so high, even if U.S. citizens had not used gas for a day, little change could have been expected.

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Chris Benderev