subject: Why is the Price of Gasoline Skyrocketing? [print this page] Why is the Price of Gasoline Skyrocketing?
Have you noticed that in the last month gasoline prices have risen drastically at the pump? It used to be that the number one topic of conversation in this country was often the weather. Not so anymore. We have become outraged, disappointed and horrified at the sudden increase in the price of gasoline.
Even the president has weighed in with his thoughts of dipping into the National Strategic Petroleum Reserve, but since the problem is not a shortage of oil, this does not seem to be a smart way to go about solving the problem. The positive effects would be short-term at the lease, and would do nothing to help rising prices which hurt even the smallest Mom and Pop businesses in the country. These small businesses are still reeling from the effects of the harsh winter we are just now coming out of. Outrageous heating bills, along with the increase in transportation expenses are causing all businesses, large and small to increase prices of their goods and services.
We have all received the various emails which are making the rounds these days to boycot certain large, greedy oil companies, but which is the largest and greediest? It is very hard to tell. We have also received the emails encouraging us to refrain from purchasing gasoline on a certain day of the week. This option does not work because the giant oil companies can afford to have poor sales for a time. You will always have to eventually visit their establishments to buy gasoline.
Another complication to our rising price of gasoline is the unrest in the Middle East. Today many of the oil fields in Nigeria are shut down due to the civil unrest in that country. Nigeria is only one of many countries that have become problematic in this area.
Fueled by political unrest in the world, the market speculators bring another dimension to the problem. This may be the biggest influence on the world wide increase in the price of many commodities, including cotton, corn and oil.
The only way to escape from the rising inflation in the economy is to become more self-sufficient. A few sensible ideas would be to build more refineries and open up more areas in our country to drill for oil. Maximize all of our natural resources, such as oil shale, natural gas and coal. Utilizing these resources would give us time for development of other means of energy in the future.
