By now you've probably seen them, e-mails asking you to not pump gas on the 15-th in an effort to lower gas prices. And while that sounds good, we've learned the plan wouldn't do anything to affect oil companies. The e-mails claim boycotting gasoline next week would put a substantial dent in the pockets of the oil industry. Some e-mails even include calculations-- telling the reader that oil companies would lose billions in profits. But the urban legend reference web site Snopes.com says don't believe everything you read. The major flaw with this idea -- the website says -- is no one is actually buying less gas, they're just changing the day on which they buy it. UA economist Kathy Deck agrees. "If you don't buy gas on one day, that means you probably either filled up in anticipation the day before or you're buying it the day after because you're not changing your underlying behavior and it is only underlying behavioral changes that will affect demand in the long run." Deck says she sees these emails pop up everytime gas prices go up... and if you think you're sticking it to the oil companies, you should know, they're not worried. "There's no incentive for them to say, 'oh, well everything's changed in one day, tomorrow's going to be different.' They know it's not."
