What Gives Me Gas

Did you really think I was posting about that? Maybe some other time....

Some of you that knew about my other short lived and rarely posted on blog may remember a post about gas prices. As we sit here on 11/7 and gas prices are back over $3.00, I find my patience on fumes once again.

Reasons our gas prices go up...

1. Forecasts of tropical storms (not actual storms...just the mere threat)
2. A small refinery in Kansas was flooded.
3. A pipeline in Yemen was hit by a bomb
4. Nigeria might have a civil war.
5. Bombings in Afghanistan.
6. Lyle rented a motorhome for a 5,000 mile trip.
7. A car in Arkansas was found to have missed a tune-up and is getting less miles per gallon than it should.
8. Britney Spears was in the news again.
9. Someone thinks US supplies of oil are getting low.
10. Oil producers are not satisfied with quarterly profits that a perpetually records and higher than than last quarter.

By all of the nonsense that might happen which DOES cause an increase per barrell of oil, we should assume that the US gets oil from every source in the world. If Yemen has an issue, buy it from Mexico. If Mexico has a storm, buy it from Nigeria. If Nigeria has a civil war, get more from Alaska. How is it that any one issue causes gas to jump 30 cents per gallon?

Now, the talk is out there of $4.00 per gallon. We won't stop until we hit it. We cannot! We must hit it and then someone will step in, make some royal change (a.k.a. Bush) and it will fall to $3.00 and somehow we'll be satisfied. Nevermind that at $3.00, the oil companies are making more than most countries GNP.

Now, someone will come back and say, "In Europe, it has been $5.00 per Liter forever. The US has just been getting off easy."

To them I say, "Too bad for the Europeans for putting up with it. Too bad they are not the US. Too bad they are not fighting a war over oil and deserve better prices."

The bigger pet peeve I have is how oil futures for January 2008 being traded today can cause an INSTANT jump at the pumps. The oil bought in January 2008 won't be at my station until February or March 2008 and they are just FUTURES.

I think it is time for the oil companies to be required to invest some of their obscene profits into better refining techniques. They should be part of the solution as opposed to the biggest part of the problem.