$4 A Gallon: National Gas Price Average Reaches Record

NEW YORK — Drivers are paying an average of $4 for a gallon of gasoline for the first time. AAA and the Oil Price Information Service say the national average price for a gallon of regular gas rose to $4.005 overnight from $3.988. But consumers in many parts of the country have already been paying well above that price for some time.

Gas is expected to keep climbing, putting greater pressure on consumers and businesses, because the price of oil is soaring in futures markets. Light, sweet crude shot up nearly $11 a barrel Friday and approached $140 for the first time.

Along with higher fuel costs, consumers are also contending with higher prices for food and other goods because of rising transportation costs.

Comments

[JoeBlough]

What you are seeing is all a part of the Republican Business Model. And it's just the start. Republicans are afraid they will lose elections. So they will grab everything right now. Good Luck, America.

[KillTheMessenger]

They will lose the election and oil will be around $180 after that. Good luck waiting for relief. It's peak oil time.

[darthdarcy]

Wrong wrong wrong as usual..

[SCG]

Greenberger's Testimony: " I-Banks (investment banks) Control the Energy Market "

Michael Greenberger, the former head of the CFTC's Division of Trading and Markets, testified yesterday before the Senate Commerce Committee on the topic of Energy Market Manipulation. He stated that the investment banks, namely Goldman Sachs (GS) and Morgan Stanley (MS), control the price of oil and natural gas through the ICE futures market. He cited that Morgan Stanley currently owns 27% of the natural gas futures.

He stated that former Senator Phil Gramm of Texas sneaked the Enron loophole through a large piece of insignificant legislation years ago: the result was that regulations upon the futures industry were abandoned. This loophole eventually allowed the current CDO-subprime crisis, and the current energy market crisis because regulations, which once protected the market from manipulation, are no longer enforcable.

Greenberger suggested that the current attempt of closing the Enron loophole by Senator Levin through the Farm Bill, would not work

[SCG]

^ The rest of the link which didn't post for some reason? sorry

Link to above article:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/80010-greenberger-s-testimony-i-banks-control-the-energy-market?source=news_sitemap

[darthdarcy]

Yeah the truth is getting out there despite our corrupt media..!

Why doesn't Huffington post have Professor Greenbeerger write a post here..

Let's hope he will..

[FreedomCorpse]

yep. Soros said similar things last week.

[KOisGod]

But you all do know -

Barak is a BIG question mark. Exactly WHO is he? Is he a MARXIST ??? !!!! WILL he foist SOCIALISM ON US ?? !!!

Be berry berry careful my fellow American's, my friends. Stick with what you know, those who YOU KNOW will stick it to YOU, so YOU are safe.

Vote for ME! John McCain - better the enemy you can have a conversation with, then the unknown, who might be an enemy, you NEVER know, so vote Republican American's, because

With or without you, we'll profit by your support.

The RNC

[samguy]

lol. i used to see myself as a libertarian/fiscal conservative, but after seeing the friends of W & his party take to the Treasury like the proverbial kids in a candy store, I'm finding viable reasons for socialism. And there, that's what happens. You have a free market, but when there is disaster and exploitation you end up heavily regulated.

Don't bitch to me about socialized medicine when you've given the oil comanies particualry Halliburtion robbing us blind in Iraq, a free hand.

[EndAllWars]

I hear you on the other points of your post, but free markets? Is that what we have in this country? What kind of free market system do we have really? We have subsidies galore, off-shores who pay zero taxes, oil companies that get massive tax breaks as well as subsidies under the provisions of the "energy bill" that darth vader wrote, we have farm subsidies, we have government bailing out poorly run big corps (but not mom and pop shops), we have pork barrel, we have pharmaceutical excemptions, we have tax exempt churches that were given that status on the condition of separation of church and state (but then they interfere in all state affairs as well as pushing the agenda of creationism in schools)...

I wouldn't exactly call that "free markets". In fact I think true free markets would work much better than the hugely unfree market system that we have.

[TxAggie]

A point of clarification- Halliburton is an oil field services company, they provide services and equipment. They are not an oil company- they work for oil companies.

[wsblake]

Good. I hope it goes to ten dollars. Maybe someone, somewhere might actually buy a small car.

[BlueStateMan]

Great idea.

I'm sure the truckers & all of the people who will be thrown out of work share your sentiments.

[darthdarcy]

Man listening to these lying Republicans talk over and over about drilling in Alaska and Anwar is driving me crazy..they are so full of crap..

Why do Republicans hate America and the truth so much..?

Why are they all so anti-American, how could they become so perverted and corrupted..especially those from Texas the most anti American state in America.. ?

Why do Texas Republicans hate America and it's people so much why are they helping our enemies and hurting our allies..?

Why does John McCain hate the American people so much and why is he lying and associated with America's biggest swindlers and traitors..?

[KillTheMessenger]

The words you are looking for are "egotism", "egoism" and "narcissism".

[sdskelton03]

Allright darthdarcy. Exactly what lies are being told about ANWR?

[BlueStateMan]

Besides that it would lower the price of gas at the pump?

[darthdarcy]

That drilling a 6 month supply of oil at best, that won't be on the market for 10 years will lower the oil prices of today..

Also there are millions of acres allowed to be drilled they are not using..48 million acres allow only 13 million acres being drilled..

Drilling permits are up over 370% as it is..over 18,000 new drilling permits have been issued..

It is all due to the Enron Loophole as the former Director of the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission has been saying over and over Professor Michael Greenberger..

[SILVANUS]

Pretty much the message in this nation is "If you weren't born rich or you weren't smart enough or clever enough to get rich, too damn bad." as someone wrote previous to me here.

I predict the unfortunate picture of street riots by August probably. Bush will try to sic Blackwater or Nat'l Guard on such Un-American Americans, call them evildoers, as will Shill O'Reilly. Rat Robertson will blame it all on gays and feminists.

The ususal idiots will hawk their own kids off to attend overpriced football games in their SUVs. Lovely scenario, huh? Why didn't people see this writing on the wall in 2000 and 2004? It was convenient not to see it, that's why.

Oh, Cheney & Bush get richer and richer with every tank of gas, as do their pals. Think on that while you sweat.

[KillTheMessenger]

I am not sweating. I am just having a good time seeing America spin its wheels about the question "Just what went wrong here?".

[SCG]

The former director of Commodities Future Trading Commission Michael Greenberger(1997-99) was a guest on C-Span a few days back . He later testified along with George Soros before the Senate Commerce Committee Jun 3rd.

Video Link to C-Span Greenberger appearance: 28mins Worth watching.

http://38.105.88.161/search/basic.asp?ResultStart=1&ResultCount=10&BasicQueryText=+Michael+Greenberger

[ObamaLover]

Pelosi March 2006:
“Democrats have a commonsense plan to help bring down skyrocketing gas prices by cracking down on price gouging, rolling back the billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies, tax breaks and royalty relief given to big oil and gas companies, and increasing production of alternative fuels.”


Good job Nancy... keep up the good work.

[BlueStateMan]

The republicans scuttled it.

[CaptainVideo]

The primary cause of the increase in Petroleum is market fundamentals. Demand is growing faster than supply. While other factors, such as panic buying do play a role, and while there MAY be some price gouging, these are very secondary and/or temporary factors. None of the things she is proposing, except increasing the production of alternative fuels, will alter the market fundamentals and therefore will not significantly reduce the price of petroleum.

And please not more of the gasohol from corn boondoggle. It takes almost as much petroleum to make gasohol as the gasohol saves. All gasohol from corn does is drive up the price of food.

[darthdarcy]

Why do the Republicans want to destroy America..?

Why do Republicans hate America so much..?

[KOisGod]

Because they love money more

[darthdarcy]

Yup they truly are the Traitor party..there's no denying it and that's how they should be treated and defined hence forth..!

Republicans are selling out America and engaged in economic warfare against it...

Simple as that..

[957]

Judging by the people in the parking lots and gas stations driving suv's pulling boats, trailers loaded with 4-wheelers and jet ski's and campers etc. you would't know their was any problem I think most would drive if its 5.00 a gal. just put it on the card, also look in the parking lots at wal-mart /target etc. and restaruants lots their all full... why?

[BlueStateMan]

Lack of foresight.

Denial.

Retardation.

[ObamaLover]

there is no problem if you can afford it.

smoke 'em if you got 'em!

[cmdrgmh]

I don't know where you live, but here in Florida, restaruants are closing due to lack of customers. Store's are closing and parking lots are NOT full. It has really hit us hard. Incomes in my are are family's making 50,000 or less a year. It's killing us.

[MikeDu]

This isn't supply-and-demand. This is pure speculation. This is the result of leaving the foxes in charge of the henhouse for 8 years. This is a global version of the California energy crisis scam of 2000. People are now starving around the world whilea very VERY select few have become as rich as kings. Just watch. Just in time to affect the presidential election the prices are going to collapse. Its all artificial.

[beekeeper]

ENRON school of ripping consumers off

[kay]

I don't think so, because it's just the first domino. If fuel costs double, everything else costs more, and the rest of the economy will tank. More.

They can't turn it around that fast. It's too big.

The downside outweighs the upside. Cheaper gas but vastly worse economy? Why would they do that?

[CaptainVideo]

Liberal economist, and Hillary supporter, Paul Krugman has explained why it is not due to speculation. If speculation were driving this, there would have to large hoards of petroleum being held off the market. There is no evidence of such hoards existing.

[BlueStateMan]

Then why did Bush top-off the reserves?

Even during the embargo of the 70's, it was at 2/3.

[graffen48]

We were actually starting to do something about our problems, and looking to the future, then, horror of horrors, the 80's came along. Disco, and the "What have you done for me lately" mindset. ( god, I hate that song!!). Get all you can, while you can. Remember the yuppies??

[hypnotoad72]

The 60s were about sex, drugs, rock and roll, and the insane belief that those three nouns would solve everything.

Now, the 80s weren't perfect, but the 70s was hardly a utopia.

The 70s were about VD clinics, the newfound popularity of divorce, stagflation, and so on... I dare say the 70s paved the way for the 80s.

[BlueStateMan]

You watch too much TV.

[rmetz74]

It's not apopular thing to say, but this is how much oil SHOULD cost - at minimum.

Americans have long been living in fantasyland, thanks to government subsidies and oil industry deals. For decades, people in the rest of the world have been paying up to twice what we're paying now - and that's why we're so far behind when it comes to sustainable industry and alternative energy sources.

Prices like this are the only way Americans will kick their addiction to Hummers and giant, selfish, pointless SUV's. Bringing prices down again will just delay the inevitable. I say let 'em go up, and we'll suffer some short-term pain in the interest of long term survival.

[pinkyboo]

They do pay more for petrol in England - they also get free healthcare and the minimum wage STARTS at 18.00 per hour- we had that here I'd have no problem with high gas prices

[rmetz74]

Well it's not all going to happen at once. And since gas prices are going to be high whether you have a problem with it or not, the question is, what are we going to do to in the face of that reality?

(And while you're right about healthcare and minimum wage in the UK, if you've been there, you know that the cost of living is dramatically higher than it is here. That minimum wage doesn't go very far.)

[PensiveObserver]

The US Congress has invested BILLIONS in hydrogen, fuel cells, solar, wind, carbon sequestration. Just throwing money at a problem doesn't mean you'll solve is. How about this as a proposition: There is no more efficient/economical a fuel for transportation uses than petroleum when you do a complete wells-to-wheels analysis. Therefore, conservation is the most important step we can take.

[BlueStateMan]

Congress hasn't invested a fraction of that amount in those technologies...

I agree that conservation is smart as a stop-gap.

[BabsfromKS]

don't forget farm subsidies!

[swooge]

Congress hasn't invested even ONE billion dollars in those technologies. That's why they are still in their infancies. Congress is, as we speak, debating whether or not to extend the tax credits for solar and wind power companies. Why does this need to be debated? Because BigOil has spread it's huge profits around.

[passthesewords]

Read Obama's Strategic Energy Plan. He proposes a $150 billion investment over ten years, in new technologies, fuel alternatives, wind, solar and helping Detroit, (yes we need to bail them out/assist them), and recreate our auto industry. Maybe several new milllion jobs. If Toyota can get 50 mpg, so can the U.S. car companies. We need new leaders, JFK got us to the moon in less than a decade.
The new mantra is DEATH, TAXES and HIGH GAS prices. Lastly, we spend $150 billions in Iraq every year. Go figure. OPEC controls 69% of the world's oil reserves and we control .08%. Do the math, they charge $600 a barrel.

[CaptainVideo]

One technology that is ready is gas-electic hybrid cars. One thing the government could do immediatly is increase the tax credits for buying them. And there should be even bigger tax credits for plug-in hybrids to speed their development.

[passthesewords]

Alan Greenspan, "The Iraqi War Is Largely About Oil". Chevron, Exxon, BP, Texaco have made over $1,000,000,000,000 (a trillion dollars) in profits, since we started the War in Iraq seven years ago. We have spent $1 trillion dollars on the WAR. The oil companies want drill everywhere, but unless the sell their oil at $20 a barrel why, should we allow them to drill in our national parks?

http://www.passthesewords.com/