Herd mentality and panic buying took over Athens today, as everyone in town tried to fill every gas tank they had at the same time. Gas prices were up ten cents overnight, but by five pm they were up another ninety — those stations that still had gas were happy to sell it at $3.39 a gallon. As I was driving home, the local radio news station was doing a special broadcast on the panic, and a county spokesman actually had to get on the air and implore the public to stop calling 911 to ask where the cheap gas was. (!!!)
Apparently it happened in Atlanta too, where the governor waived environmental restrictions and enacted price gouging laws One well-publicized station was selling gas at well over $5 a gallon at the end of the day.
Meanwhile, it’s Dawn of the Dead over in NOLA. All that’s standing before the complete breakdown of civilization are some well-prepared (and well-armed) nerds at an internet data center.