$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

[DavidCoombs]

I have this theory as to why oil prices are so high. Business is about supply and demand right? The oil companies see us queuing at the pumps and think to themselves 'oh thats proving a bit popular lets put the price up a bit' a natural business reaction, just like they would put up prices of a quarter pounder with cheese if a queue formed outside your local burger van. Stay with me on this one. None of us like using the pump that is at the opposite side of the car to our fuel cap right? (even though the nine foot long hose with reach fine around the five foot wide car) This is what is causing the back ups at the forecourts which in turn is making the owners jack up the price. Thats my theory and trust me if we all used the first available pump and not loiter around waiting for the that one on the correct side gas prices will tumble and maybe I'd get home a bit sooner. It is easy to blame oil execs with there 7 figure salaries and yachts moored in Monte Carlo but I think we should look closer to home when we are trying to apportion blame.

[DFL]

GOP = GREEDY OIL PARTY

[JohnnyBasic]

Do you think someone told Bush about this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu4wET_Uiqc

[darthdarcy]

The CFTC has had it's ability to enforce or even investigate the manipulation of these dark markets and traders gutted..and their current director was all a part of this plot against the American economy by Phil Gramm and others..it's the Enorn loophole, and remember John McCain is up to his neck in this as Phil Gramm is his economic adviser..Phil Gramm is doing what bin-Laden only attempted destroying America's economy, and the Bilderberg Group are in favor of all of it...

[thegreatgiginthesky]

I'm so glad to be paying $4.00 for a gallon of gas. At least my money will now have a purpose instead of just wasting away in my bank account.

[yappnmutt]

the bet is israel will attack iran causing a huge disruption in oil supply for an unknown period of time. the most recent spike is directly related to the statement from israel that an attack on iran is inevitable. that's the speculation. like any other trade in any other market the bet is on a present or future disequilibrium.

peak oil only refers to "sweet" easily accessible crude. thare are three trillion barrels of known sour and heavy crude. the technology to mine this oil is rapidly falling into place.

the dollar has lost almost half its value versus the euro in the last ten years.

war in the oil patch has created a risk premium and a 3 million barrel/day shortfall in iraq's oil production since the start of the war.

the reason why bush and prince bandar were holding hands is because they agreed to keep a tight lid on oil production to create an artificial shortgage.

there is plenty of oil. once the USA leaves the middle east and the oilman in the whitehouse packs his bags the price of oil will return to its historical pricing model. just ten years ago oil was trading for less than 10 dollars/barrel. not coincidentally the dollar was stronger in the nineties than it had been since the early eighties.

[Chavez08]

Why do Capitalists hate America so much?

[outnow]

Because its hard to make an industrialized nation into a Banana Republic overnight? Investors see our economy as being stagnant so they want to invest oversees. At the same time, they want to turn America into a third world country and into an empire. Its hard to get screwed from so many different angles but they keep trying - its called globalization. There are no rules out there.

[studlyguy]

It's time for this too happen in America,protest and if need be violent protest since it's the only thing governments understand,that's why in Europe the government is afraid of the people cause they don't put up with no s**t,where in America the Americans with their apathy and who have been manipulated too to try and make the people afraid of the government ,but that ploy is not going to fly , the scare tactics are over ,their is no such thing as peak oil,this is all manipulation from the Bush regime to steal as much as possible before they get out of the country,the unfortunate part is the world economy and lots of suffering because of it,but sociopaths get off on misery cause their void of empathy and compassion.

[Economike]

It'll just might happen now that the SUV jockey's are feelin' it at the pump.

[Wiredwilly]

Leave it to Europeans to DO something.

BOYCOTT EXXON / BP
$ 2.50 Target price / Premium

[KillTheMessenger]

The Europeans have DONE something. They did it 30 years ago.

[Midnightrain]

Is this an unresolvable problem? Why isn't anyone doing anything? Complaining is getting us nowhere.

[Paul]

I take the train to work and just use my truck to get around town. I put about $15 in the tak every other week...

[NeoStar9]

When you are in a city this is doable and I for sure would be doing it if I could. However living and working in rural America this isn't possible at all. No public transportation to speak of. The nearest gas station is at least 5 to 6 miles away while to get to stores or malls it's 20-25 miles in any direction at least in my location. I'm sure there are millions of others in this situation as well.

There are several ways to fix this situation.

1. Nationalize the US Oil Industry and do away with the various oil companies like Exxon, Shell, etc in the US.
2. Adopt the Euro since the worth of the dollar is going down and down. Just do either a straight conversion or if possible do a 1 for 1 convert this one time only and be done.
3. Take the massive hit in terms of the deficit and just do a straight trade with everyone that has a working and legal car and give them electric cars or hybrids.
4. Begin construction on nuclear power plants, water plants, solar panels, etc and ignore criticisms and simply say "we are doing this to reduce our dependence on oil so shut up"

[NeoStar9]

Part 2.

5. Put the US military on the border to stop illegals from coming in in order to save money so they don't overload public programs anymore then they are already doing. Recall the military from Iraq while we are at it so that we aren't spending insane amounts of money on transporting supplies, equipment, etc..
6. Start allowing farmland to be used for farming instead of paying people not to farm. This never made sense to me and is extremely stupid that the government pays people NOT to farm.

A combination of any of these would do wonders I think.

[KillTheMessenger]

Unsolvable? Not at all. Buy a hybrid, take the bus, share a ride. Any of the three will solve most of the problem for the average commuter.

As for why anyone isn't "doing anything", that's rather simple. The government can't do anything about oil supply (that constant has been dialed into the geology of the planet tens of millions of years ago), voters don't want the government to do anything about oil demand (by taxing it high) and the oil tooth fairy is on vacation.

And as I elaborated in other posts, gasoline when used judiciously in a hybrid is still cheaper per mile ($4/gallon/47mpg=8.5c/mile) than shoes ($40/200miles=20 cents/mile). The whining about "high" gas prices stems largely from the ignorance about how much energy and value is contained in gasoline.

[Gumby123]

The issue with the Democrats now is they want to cut off any source of carbon. And there are those in the Senate who believe the more expensive you make gasoline, the less driving people do and you force conservation by making driving so expensive people can't afford it.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/06/news/economy/birger_shale.fortune/?postversion=2008060617

[reunionpi]

The details of the personal automobiles of the five oil executives that testified before Congress including full registrations


www.webofdeception.com

[ErnestineBass]

All but one drive own gas-guzzling SUVs, and all but one live in TEXAS.

Who'd a thunk it?

heh heh

[KillTheMessenger]

But, you see, THEY can afford it. The problem is that YOU can't. And that is where I would start: pull that tree out of your eye before you start searching for the speck of dust in your neighbor's.

[teapartydude]

I hate how the media is blaming all this on increased demand and the falling dollar.

The MAIN reason for the increase is the instability in the middle east due to the Iraq War AND the saber ratting with Iran.

Speculators are thinking big time that we will bomb Iran thanks to Bush and McCain beating the war drum again.

Of course, China and Russia will be royally pissed off if we do that. Especially China since they get a ton of oil from the 2nd largest OPEC supplier.

[vippy]

Wrong again. The only reason we have such high oil prices is due to the HEDGE FUNDS and
the FUTURE'S MARKET. Congress was briefed on it and decided to do NOTHING!
Richard Lugar and Tom Delay along with Phil Gramm introduced this ENRON LOOPHOLE
and ergo we have those prices. Once this bottoms out those Hedge Fund People will zero in
on other commodities like food, which we all need.
Write to your congressmen/women and tell them to reverse the Commodities Future's Modernization Act and let us get back to $ 50 a barrel.

[darthdarcy]

You got it..!

Why won't the media let Michael Greenberger speak or cover the Senate Commerce Committee hearing..?

[collprof]

And to think that Bush had no clue gas was approaching $4.00 per gallon when asked about this just last month. Bush is as out of touch with reality as is McCain who simply admits he is not versed in economics.

Another gaffe in addition to not knowing Shiite from Sunni and stating we are at pre-surge troop levels means Bush and McCain will be attacking Indiana or Illinois stating there is a link to Iraq and Iran. As you can plainly see the link is the I as in Idiots.

[Amalek]

The best investment in history was the money the oil companies spent to get Bush elected.

[MJD615]

You are soooooooo right. Bush has taken good care of his big oil cronies...at our expense. He is the absolute worst President ever.

[truthyguy]

The country should not be complaining about gas prices and asking incessantly when prices will go down. What they should be asking is whether this is good for Bush and Cheney and their friends in the oil business. Their profits will result in trickle down to the masses and all will be good for the country's economy and the world. Let the market forces work, with help from the administration.

Ask not what Bush and Cheney can do for you. Ask what you can do for Bush/Cheney.