The wake of Hurricane Katrina has not just exposed the federal government's limitations and incompetence; it has raised serious questions about the role of the federal government itself.

I will leave it to others to explore whether we want a government that provides tax cuts to the wealthy or invests in levees to keep citizens safe. Others may ask whether it makes sense to elect people to office who don't think that government can do anything right. (Of course, if you don't believe FEMA can make a difference, it doesn't matter whether you appoint your unqualified buddies to run it.)

For me the hurricane raises another question: Should we allow industries such as the oil companies to benefit financially from national catastrophes and the fear and panic that ensue?

No doubt some oil industry apologists will suggest the companies haven't profited from the catastrophe. They would be wrong. Oil companies are recording record profits in the aftermath of the storm. Consider:

• One area supplier raised the price of gasoline six times in two days, totaling 61 cents or more than 30 percent, when the gas was already at the station or at a storage tank waiting to be delivered. The gas sitting in the tanks didn't cost more; the oil companies simply raised the price.
• The majority of oil in America comes from overseas. We import 55 percent. Of the remainder, only 20 percent comes from the Gulf Coast. Less than 5 percent of our national oil supply has been disrupted. The strategic oil reserves are replacing what is no longer being produced in the Gulf Coast. Our oil supply is the same now as it was before the hurricane.
• The gas at your local gas station doesn't come from an oil well on a daily basis. It comes from a distributor, who gets it from a supplier, who gets it from a tankard or pipeline, which gets it from a refinery, which makes it out of crude oil, which comes from the oil well. According to a spokesman for the New Jersey Petroleum Institute, it takes 45 to 60 days for the oil from a well to reach your gas station's tanks. A disruption in the supply today should not be seen at the pump for at least 30 days. The only reason the price of gas waiting in storage tanks to be delivered would change is because the oil companies can change it.
• Oil refiners used the hurricane as cover to inflate profit margins drastically. According to Prudential Equity Group, refining margins — the amount of money refineries make on the gasoline they produce — doubled in the days following Hurricane Katrina, to more than $28 a barrel.
• Oil prices have fallen to pre-hurricane levels and gasoline futures have dropped, but the retail price remains near historic highs. Oil prices went up overnight and so did the price of gas at the pump. When oil prices fell the next night, the prices at the pump stayed put. If immediate price fluctuations on the commodities exchange really change prices at the pump, prices should come down as fast as they go up. They don't.

The question isn't, are the oil companies profiteering? It is: Should a handful of multibillion dollar companies be allowed to use the pain and suffering of a national catastrophe to increase their profits?

At times of national emergencies, wouldn't it be better to have prices for necessities set by the collective wisdom of a deliberate body instead of by irrational fear and panic of "the market"? Shouldn't all of us try to help, not profiteer from the suffering? Shouldn't our morals of helping, not exploiting, be reflected in our laws?

It is my hope that the pain and suffering we are watching will, at the very least, lead to an honest discussion about the role of the federal government in public safety and whether we want to set prices for necessities during national emergencies.

Because if we don't begin that conversation, if we keep voting for people who don't believe the government can do any good, we shouldn't be surprised when the government doesn't even try to help.

Lance Haver is Director of Consumer Affairs for the City of Philadelphia. If you would like to respond to this Slant, or have one of your own (750 words), e-mail duane@citypaper.net.