News to Nobody

Gas is expensive. In fact, when adjusted for inflation, it's as expensive as it's ever been.

VIENNA (Reuters) — U.S. retail gasoline prices set another record and matched the inflation-adjusted peak reached in 1981, the government said Monday, as concern about low supplies pushed up pump prices.

The average price for regular unleaded gasoline soared 11.5 cents the past week to a fresh record of $3.22 a gallon, according to the federal Energy Information Administration's nationwide survey of 800 service stations.

The much larger AAA Fuel Gauge survey of up to 85,000 self-serve stations said the national average for regular gasoline stood at $3.196 a gallon Sunday.

The latest EIA pump price equals the all-time high gasoline price in March 1981, when a gallon cost the equivalent of $3.22 in today's dollars. Prices then were pushed up as war broke out between Iran and Iraq.

What's old is new again. Only this time, we're at war with Iraq and Iran instead of the two fighting each other.

Check your tire pressure (manufacturer's recommendations are usually on the inside of one of the door frames but 30psi is a good rule of thumb) Put in a new air filter if yours is old, take the bike rack off, get the crap out of your trunk and get your car tuned up if it's been a while. Or better yet, don't drive. Car-pool, bike to work, ride the bus or, if you can, walk.

Don't forget to make fun of your neighbor with the Chevy Suburban and 'W' sticker.

Gasoline Prices

More Bad News for GOP (Not Sex Related)

Via the New York Times:

Oil prices jumped as much as 2.5 percent today amid speculation that OPEC was considering cutting its production to stem the recent steep decline in oil prices.

The decision is still being discussed by oil ministers from the 11 members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which are considering whether to hold an emergency meeting in coming weeks, an OPEC delegate said today.

Some news organizations, including The Financial Times and Reuters, citing unidentified OPEC delegates, said the organization planned to curb production by one million barrels a day, a reduction of nearly 4 percent from its current level of 27.6 million barrels. Most of the cut would come from by Saudi Arabia, although most other OPEC members would also pare their output.

All that good feeling about the economy (well, what little good feeling there was) just went out the window.

Gas prices going up just as November 7th approaches and home heating season starts is not a GOP dream scenario.

OPEC Gas Prices Republicans 2006 Elections

Fueling Political Debate

Via the AP:

There is no mystery or manipulation behind the recent fall in gasoline prices, analysts say. Try telling that to many U.S. motorists.

Almost half of all Americans believe the November elections have more influence than market forces. For them, the plunge at the pump is about politics, not economics.

Retired farmer Jim Mohr of Lexington, Ill., rattled off a tankful of reasons why pump prices may be falling, including the end of the summer travel season and the fact that no major hurricanes have disrupted Gulf of Mexico output.

"But I think the big important reason is Republicans want to get elected," Mohr, 66, said while filling up for $2.17 a gallon. "They think getting the prices down is going to help get some more incumbents re-elected."

According to a new Gallup poll, 42 percent of respondents agreed with the statement that the Bush administration “deliberately manipulated the price of gasoline so that it would decrease before this fall’s elections.” Fifty-three percent of those surveyed did not believe in this conspiracy theory, while 5 percent said they had no opinion.

And the kicker is that a third of those who thought Bush was playing politics with gas prices were Republicans.

The anti-conspiracy theorist in me says that Bush isn't raising and lowering gas prices the same way he did the Homeland Security's color coded 'Terror Alert Level' in 2004. Then again, it is awfully convenient for this to be happening now.

Perhaps the thing that alarms me most isn't that Bush is rigging gas prices - or even that he thinks lowering gas prices might help him get Republicans elected - it's that it works. With all the problems and questions facing America today, the best way to placate the masses is to give them cheap gas. 21st century bread and circuses, I suppose...

Gas Prices George W. Bush 2006 Election

The CEO President

It was a nice idea, running a country like a business. To bad we got a ###### CEO. Like all CEOs, Bush has been obsessed with profits. Unfortunately all the 'Oil Men' at BushCo. seem to be more concerned about oil company profits than balancing the budget.

On a related note... The Boston Globe reports on (drumroll please) record high gas prices!

US gasoline prices hit a record high near $3.03 a gallon at the end of last week but should begin to fall as the summer driving season ends, according to the Lundberg industry survey.

How happy I'd be if that's all I was paying... Gas here in my neck of the DC metro area is between $3.05 and $3.32 per gallon. Still glad you bought that Chevy Suburban Mr. Giant Flag Decal man?

Schadenfreude? You Betcha!

I've hated SUVs since they started to appear. Maybe it was because I was always stuck behind some idiot lumbering down the back roads of Pennsylvania in a Ford Excursion at 5 mph below the speed limit and the GTI was just itching to go. Maybe it's because I couldn't see around them when I was trying to turn. Maybe it's because the size of a person's SUV is inversely proportional to their ability to park correctly. Exponentially in the case of parallel parking.

Let's refocus so this doesn't become a diatribe about my hatred of people who drive gigantic trucks to pick up milk at the corner store.

The forecasted slow decline in gas prices as summer driving season should actually be a benefit for the GOP. High gas prices aren't popular with voters. The spike in the price at the pump is probably the only thing preventing Republicans from manufacturing some sort of stand-off with Iran as an October Surprise. Hopefully Democrats will be smart enough to use the outrageous subsidies Republicans have been serving to Oil Execs on silver platters despite record high profits as a campaign issue...

George W. Bush Republicans Gas Prices

Life's a Gas

If you own stock in Exxon.

The Houston Chronicle reports that the average price of gas in the United States has passed $3.00 per gallon.

CAMARILLO, Calif. — Nationwide gas prices hit an all-time high in the last two weeks, rising nearly 2 cents to just over $3 per gallon, according to a survey released Sunday.

The national average for self-serve regular stood at $3.0150 a gallon Friday, up 1.98 cents in the last two weeks, according to the Lundberg Survey of 7,000 gas stations across the country.

The price exceed the previous high of $3.0117 set in September last year, analyst Trilby Lundberg said.

Living in the DC Metro area, Gas Buddy puts the average price in my area at $3.175.

Thank god for my 32 mpg Honda.

Gas Prices

GOP in Trouble? Blame Clinton!

The Senate Majority Leader, Bill Frist, had this to say about the high gas prices on the Today Show:

"“It'’s a matter supply and demand. Right now we would have increase supply if [drilling in the wildlife refuge] had not been vetoed by President Clinton."” [video]

Ignoring some of those pesky facts (ANWR has only enough oil for 12 months of U.S. Consumption and peak production would only be 1-2% U.S. Total) let's examine thargumentent.

The actions of the last President, over half a decade ago, is the cause of price jumps - not George W. Bush's threats of sanctions (or war) against one of the world's top three oil producers. A veto by Bill Clinton is the onlyreason drilling hasn't started in ANWR, not the fact that there wasn't enough votes in a Republican controlled Congressto send a similar bill to Republican President George W. Bush anytime in the ensuing five years.

Gas Prices Bill Frist Bill Clinton ANWR

It's all for the Cameras

From the AP:

House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Ill., center, gets out of a Hydrogen Alternative Fueled automobile, left, as he prepares to board his SUV, which uses gasoline, after holding a new conference at a local gas station in Washington, Thursday, April 27, 2006 to discuss the recent rise in gas prices. Hastert and other members of Congress drove off in the Hydrogen-Fueled cars only to switch to their official cars to drive back the few block back to the U.S. Capitol. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Classy, Dennis. I mean, really, was it so offensive to just sit in a Hybrid until you actually got where you were going? Does it irritate your Republican skin or something?
Dennis Hastert Hybrid Cars Hypocrisy Gas Prices

Living in America is a Gas

My recent trip back to PA to see my parents (where I filled my tank for a cheap $2.89 per gallon) and my upcoming trip to Fredrick tomorrow have severely cut into my gasoline budget. As such, money that would have been used for something enjoyable is now being poured into my gas tank. I blame Bush. Of course I have every reason to do so...

On May 07, 2001 this was part of the White House Briefing:

Q Is one of the problems with this, and the entire energy field, American lifestyles? Does the President believe that, given the amount of energy Americans consume per capita, how much it exceeds any other citizen in any other country in the world, does the President believe we need to correct our lifestyles to address the energy problem?

MR. FLEISCHER: That's a big no. The President believes that it's an American way of life, and that it should be the goal of policy makers to protect the American way of life.

Thanks, asshat. You could have been working on this problem for the last 5 years. Except that you didn't even think it was a problem! Of course neither did Ford or GM. Now they're losing money because they banked on SUVs.

I'm not the President of the United States or the CEO of a huge auto company, but even I know that with a fixed amount of oil in the world and India and China emerging as super-economies, oil prices are going to go up. Miss Beaver's 12th grade econ class covered that one. But Bush's education, apparently, didn't. Only people who earn their way into Yale get into that class.

I digress...

I have been to Europe. I've lived there. In Rome, where I lived, petrol is over $5.00 a gallon. Life didn't stop, people adapted their lifestyles. They drove scooters or rode buses. Trains were available. Windows opened instead of central air.

As much as it will gall Right-Wingers, America will adopt that model of life. There's no other choice.

UPDATE - 4:36pm: From Hotline:

per WH pooler Julie Mason of the Houston Chronicle: "En route [to the Marriott Wardman Park], the motorcade passed the Exxon station next to the Watergate, where gas prices were $3.29, $3.39 and $3.49 a gallon. Just saying."

I guess Presidents don't worry about having to stop for gas. Or stoplights for that matter.

Gas Prices George W. Bush Europe Conservation