Getting Hosed at the Pump

From Jewish World Review.com - by Greg Crosby - Gas prices are going up. A lot. Already the cost of a gallon of gas has increased by 51.4 cents over the past year. By this summer don't be surprised to see $5.00 a gallon prices at the pumps. That will mean anywhere from $85.00 to $100.00 or more to fill up your tank. But before you start cursing out the big evil oil companies again, let me tell you that it's a lot more complicated than that. Several factors are at work here.  Even though we've had a warmer than normal winter across the country resulting in less demand for heating fuel (which usually means larger supplies of oil in reserve, and should translate to lower prices for us) our gas and oil prices have skyrocketed. As Fox's Lou Dobbs has pointed out, this is because oil companies HAVE NOT stockpiled the oil that we didn't use; they have sold it overseas to developing nations like China and India and jacked up prices to us here at home. But this is only half of the story.  President Obama is complicit in this rip off. He is simply fulfilling one of his campaign promises to turn the U.S. into a more "green energy" friendly country. Investors Business Daily has pointed out that during his presidential campaign, Obama admitted he didn't have a problem with sky-high gasoline prices, he just "would have preferred a gradual adjustment."  The idea is to make traditional energy sources such as gasoline and oil so expensive that it will force the public into using alternative fuels. His energy secretary, Steven Chu, told the Walt Street Journal before joining the administration that "somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe." Read more

Getting Hosed at the Pump