GAS PRICES are high because the Bush administration is in bed with the oil companies or because oil company executives have conspired to fix prices, or both. So the left-wing story line goes. The real story, as confirmed yesterday by yet another Federal Trade Commission study, is that supply is down while demand is up. Score another victory for the people who paid attention in economics class.

"(T)he FTC found no instances of illegal market manipulation that led to higher prices during the relevant time periods," the commission announced yesterday. Based on an overly broad definition provided by Congress, in which local market trends were not taken into account, the FTC did find 15 examples of what could have been called "price gouging." But 14 of those 15 higher-than-average price spikes were accounted for by local market conditions. Only one retailer was found to have an inexplicably large price spike.

So, once again, the conspiracy nuts are refuted by basic economics. Supply down + demand up = price increase. Simple as that.