Gas Prices Going Up and Up

Have you noticed gas prices have creeped back up to $2.50 a gallon and higher? I am not smart enough to know whether it's because of higher crude oil prices, free enterprise/competition, or whether the gas companies have gotten smarter about gouging us.

If it is gouging, they have definitely gotten smarter about it. Last summer prices skyrocketed after Katrina and Rita hit the New Orleans to Houston area of the Gulf Coast. A lot of refineries are in that area and supposedly damaged due to the hurricanes. We were told higher prices were because of the hurricanes and higher crude oil prices, but for some reason the prices seemed to go down when Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist began looking into gouging complaints. I noticed it and I'm sure others did too. (Hey Charlie! You're running for governor in November. Do you have any answers for the gas situation this year?)

Gas is something we have to have in our commuter society. Many of us live miles away from our workplaces and not many of us have jobs where we can telecommunte. There is no bus or public transportation from my home to where I work, so I have to have a vehicle to get to work and that means gas to run the car. Not much different from your situation, I'm sure.

Last summer and fall, gas prices were going up a nickle and more a gallon every week. If you have a twenty gallon gas tank and the price goes up a nickle, that's $1.00 more every time you fill up. One dollar. It's probably not going to hurt the budget too much. But you notice it doesn't stop at a nickle. It goes up another nickle the time you fill up, that's another $1.00, and it's now up to an additional $2.00. Still not too bad on the budget. But it still didn't stop. Did you notice that the price might change from the time you passed a gas station on your way to work and on your way home? Consumers started screaming about gouging when the gas prices changed on a daily and sometimes twice daily basis.

I've noticed over the last few months gas has been going up a few cents every week or so. Most people don't notice a penny or two over a week or more and if they do, they might gripe but they don't start complaining about it. It's only a penny or two. It's only worth a grumble and a groan.

Like I said, I don't know why gas prices are going up again, but they are. And we're being awfully quiet about it. Wait till this summer. If you didn't pay $3.00 a gallon last year, I'll bet you do this summer.

Me? I'm gonna buy some gas stock.