text: First, the oil companies are making around 10% margins on gas.  See Exxon's income statement here: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=XOM&annual\n\nSo, if the government decided to chop off some of that last 10%, you might get back some of that.  Most people aren't going to be happy with just a few cents, though.\n\nFrom basic economics, if you impose a price ceiling, supply drops: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_ceiling\n\nFirms try to maximize their profits, so they'll be willing to produce less at a lower price.  If you lower it so that each gallon of gas is giving them negative profit (P < AVC), they'll just stop producing gas completely because it's dumb to keep on losing more and more money unless you're MSFT selling Xboxes trying to get market share.\n\nThey could also just sell it elsewhere and start exporting, where they can get a better price for it.  China and India are starting to demand more oil as their economies grow.  Or even sell the crude oil (without refining it) on the futures market and drive that down a little.\n\nEither way, the most likely scenario of a drastic price ceiling is long gas lines, similar to what happened in the 70s.  It's arguable whether this is more or less desirable than higher gas prices.