Pain at the Pump Again!!!

[loulizlee]

I have noticed the price of gasoline steadily rising again in the past few weeks.  The news tonight is full of the predictions of rising gas prices - mainly because of the Middle East situation (including the atrocities in Syria) and the usual rise in prices as the summer vacation season nears.  One newscaster I heard stated the President is almost always blamed - whatever President happens to be in office at the time.  That has been true since the Sixties.  What are your views of the issue of pain at the pump - both then and now?

[catherinedwhite]

It is an unfortunate situation.
I feel we are led to believe we have a dependency on foreign oil.  I don't necessarily think it is true.
It's all about the money.  I believe it got worse when Bush was in office as his family has obvious
ties to the oil business.  But, yes the President does seem to always get the blame.  Of course,  this is
true no matter what the issue may be.

As a country, we need to stop being lazy and develop other sources of fuel.
It may not be economical now, but it will save the country in the long run.

[ptfunds]

I was just thinking today that one of the things I really like about the daily Fusion is that I keep and eye on the gas prices regularly. I noticed today that gas had jumped down to $3.24 a gallon for regular Sunday night. However today it is back up to $3.37.  That's quite a jump in two days. I'm hoping to see it level out again and this time I will be sure to get myself to the gas station quickly for a fill-up!

[abdyer2001]

Its not going to level out. the oil companies enjoy making larger profits .. years ago when they kept increasing the price, they would send out reports as to why they increased. now they dont even bother doing that. but the best part is when you get to hear about the BILLIONS in profits that they are still making..

[hvnlydevil]

It's all greed driven. It was initially raised with Katrina because they were worried something might happen to the refineries. It didn't. gas prices stayed up because consumers paid the price. and we continue to. Last year they blamed our heavy winter for the rise in prices. This year they said it was because winter has been so mild. Always a cop out. Ours is up to $3.77 a gallon on average in this area.

[abdyer2001]

greed , and no need for oil companies to compete for your business, we are a captive customer base

[vickysue]

Yes it is all about greed and the billions the oil companys make. They know that the population will pay it, But the government needs to take a hand in this. We have plenty of fuel right here in the U.S. But they are letting the wrong people tell us we can't drill some little sand lizard or owl will be put out of a hme. That is bull. Its not like thepipelines would take up all of the land. On the other hand look at what has happened with us building right into the animals habitat.  All i can say is the govt. is crooked, greedy and don't want too lose their kickbacks

[Joeyramone]

Judging by the posts on this thread, nobody knows why oil prices remain high and why they aren't coming down anytime soon.  Do your own research on the following subjects:

1.  Oil Traders on Wall Street
2.  Enviornmentalist law suits
3.  Keystone Pipeline
4.  OPEC
5.  Taxation
6.  No new US oil refineries
7.  CAFE standards
8.  EPA regulations

[jenniferhoder]

I have noticed the increase too- what aPAIN!!! Hopefully it will go down soon. 

[abdyer2001]

the reason the fuel price is going up still.. sum it up in one word " GREED ".. or two words "MORE MONEY". (kick backs,special intrests,campaign contributions) what it comes down to is there is not direct regulation of the oil companies, so they charge whatever they want feed everyone some bullshit reason. and we just say okay and pay for it.. 

[Notorious21]

Yeah, not fun to have the price keep going up.  One reason I think it is rising is the fact that car makers are building vehicles that no longer need as much gas to run.  The people able to buy the newer cars like that don't need to buy as much so the people (like me) who don't have those cars, need to make up the difference in what big oil companies are losing.  Just a thought.  May not be true but like I said, just a thought.

[ghunter]

Yes, Yes, they always blame the President, but it the oil companies and their greed.  The Bushes are to blame, they started it and still are.  it always goes up when summer is around the corner.  Our gas prices here are $3.47 a gallon.

[Abrupt]

the reason the fuel price is going up still.. sum it up in one word " GREED ".. or two words "MORE MONEY". (kick backs,special intrests,campaign contributions) what it comes down to is there is not direct regulation of the oil companies, so they charge whatever they want feed everyone some bullshit reason. and we just say okay and pay for it.. 

"Let's do the math. The U.S. consumes we'll say an average of 9.2 million barrels of gasoline per day. That's about 386.5 million gallons of gasoline- everyday. Using numbers from the American Petroleum Institute, who tracks the average taxes paid per gallon, we know the average total combined tax per gallon in the U.S. is 48.8 cents per gallon, of which 18.4 cents goes to the Feds.

Now, doing the math, various branches of government collect 48.8c/gal times 386.5 million gallons per day. That's $188.6 million dollars per day. If we multiply by 365 days, we find that the government collects $68.84 billion dollars per year, just in gasoline tax. That comes down to $17.2 billion per quarter, which was nearly seven billion dollars more than Exxon earned. The government has little work to do but levy and collect the tax. They don't refine the oil, process it, or ship it. They merely tax it. Of course, we have roads to pay for, yes, but the simple fact of the matter is that the U.S. government profits more from gasoline than the largest oil company in the world.

Put things in perspective?"

[Linda67]

I paid $3.39.9 at the truck stop I usually go to a couple of days ago.  That's about 3 cents a gallon more than Costco but I'm about 10 miles from them so that wouldn't pay to fill there.

[LAkathi]

 I paid 3.29 a gal on Monday,today(wednesday) it is 3.37 at the same station.  That's 8 cent increase in less than 48 hours.  Wish I could get a return like that on my money. oh well, as long as people keep using gasoline the price will continue to go up.