Weekly News Update and Economic Commentary About Gas Prices At The Pump: Why Are Prices So High?

TSA Stocks In The News Today:

• Computer Services, Inc
• TESSCO Technologies Incorporated
• Badger Meter Inc.

Raleigh, N. C. The Technology Stock Advisor, a weekly online newsletter for technology stock investors, published by Thomas Vass, an investment advisor located in Raleigh, N. C., released its weekly top 3 technology stock selections today.

All of the stocks mentioned in the TSA Newsletter were selected based upon a 2007 stock selection and portfolio management patent issued to Vass. The method of the patent explains what stocks to buy, the target buy price, the target sell price and the best asset allocation for an investor’s risk profile.

CSI REPORTS RECORD RESULTS FOR SECOND QUARTER FISCAL 2012

Marks 29th Consecutive Quarter of Revenue Growth

PADUCAH, Ky. (October 14, 2011) - Computer Services, Inc. (CSI) (OTCQX: CSVI) today reported record

revenues and record net income for the second quarter and six months ended August 31, 2011. Second quarter revenues rose 3.8% to $43.5 million in fiscal 2012 compared with $41.9 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2011. Net income rose 3.4% to $6.4 million, and net income per diluted share increased 4.9% to $0.43 compared with the prior year’s second quarter.

TESSCO Announces Quarterly EPS of $0.44; $0.15 Quarterly Dividend Date Set

Quarterly operating margin 3.9% on revenue of $148.8 million

Quarterly EPS: $0.44, EBITDA* per share $0.87

Six-month EPS: $1.01, EBITDA* per share $1.96

Quarterly operating cash flow of $12.8 million

Badger Meter Misses Estimates

Zacks Equity Research

Badger Meter Inc.’s (NYSE: BMI - News) third quarter EPS slumped 23% to 46 cents reflecting continued weakness in its municipal water business. The EPS also fell short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 55 cents.Total revenue also dropped 8% on a year-over-year basis to $69.7 million in the quarter, hurt by the continued slowdown in spending and new projects by a number of customers in the municipal water market. However, lower sales to the municipal water market were slightly offset by higher sales of specialty products.

Why Are Gas Prices So High? Blame Sticky Down

Oil prices have dropped from around $118 per barrel to about $78 per barrel, about 33% in five months.

Gas prices at the pump, if they had followed this decline would have dropped from around $3.80 to around $2.50 per gallon.

Used only with express written permission

When prices in the real market do not follow economic theory, mainstream economists come up with explanations that fit with their theory, because the last thing in the world they want is to have non-economists question the veracity of their theory.

Their explanation for the incongruity of gas prices not dropping as much as oil prices is called “sticky down.” (true story).

Sticky down means, to the economist, that while gas prices rise fast, in response to oil supply and demand, gas prices do not come down as fast, ergo, sticky down.

A better and more accurate explanation is that there is nothing remotely free or competitive about the oil market or gas prices. Prices at the pump remain high because of market pricing power.

In this case, both Governor Rick Perry, of Texas, who calls for more oil production, and the socialists at Occupy Wall Street, are singing out of the same hymnal. Both would probably agree that there is something very unfair and uncompetitive about the way gas prices are set by OPEC and the large oil companies.

The main difference is the policy solution to the unfair and anti-competitive market. Perry suggests more production and more competition, while the OWS socialists want more government control.

In either case, the mainstream economists have abandoned their academic responsibility to their fellow citizens by sticking to their silly explanation of “sticky down,” which becomes just a shill for continued market power pricing.

Investment Disclosure: The past performance of an investment is no guarantee of future performance. All investments bear risk of loss of principal invested. There are no guarantees related to investing.

About Thomas Vass: Vass is fee-based investment portfolio manager located in Raleigh, N. C., and the author of Predicting Technology: Identifying Future Market Opportunities and Disruptive Technologies, (2007) which explains his theory of technology evolution and its effect on the economy. His research articles about technology were recently cited by The Social Science Research Network (SSRN) a global publishing platform for social scientists, as being in the top 3% of the most widely read in the world.