Is it also safe to say that ONE of the biggest reasons gas is higher is because China`s etc. economy is growing fast and DEMAND is higher from malti-national Corps. outsource US jobs to China Etc.\nso profits rise from cheap labor so we pay less at big stores for stuff but our gas is higher because of DEMAND.
134568
Let's also not leave out the GREED FACTOR !
188703
Living Expenses is getting higher & higher because of the following reasons:\n\n1. Increase in population (more demand & less supply of everything)\n2. Depletion of natural resources( Soaring Oil & gold Prices)\n3. Lavish Life styles people now have more needs & wants\n\n & now how can U counter them U can try the following...\n\na. Try to control poulation in taiwan thats on the Macro level\nb. Try conservation of natural resources like Petrol Gas water etc.\nc. Try to reduce ur wants & make distinction between What u genuinely need? & what are ur Wants & desires?\nd. And at ur micro level try to enhance ur skills & aptitudes  so that u stand out a "FACE IN THE CROWD " & draw handsome salaries  so that u can take the rising inflation in ur stride.
279433
There has simply been a ban on building new refineries for 25 years, and the capacity to refine crude oil has not kept up with demand for gasoline. The supply of crude oil, and crude oil inventories are ample. But the ability for the refineries to produce gasoline from the crude oil is at a maximum, and this time of year some of them shut down for maintenance (30-60 days), so gasoline supplies are even tighter.\n\nIn a free market, no matter the commodity, when Demand is greater than the Supply, the price goes up.
187269
U.S. has a multi-million dollar trade deficit to China. 1/2 the stuff in your home has, "Made in China" stamped/stickered on the back. They are mass producing everything. Yes, many of the items labeled that way are produced in Taiwan, which is still technically part of China. The reason they are growing so quickly is because of your own noted, "growth at all costs ideology". People in China work for China. People in U.S. work for themselves, their own promotion. Education here has taken a sharp turn for the worse, so next generation of workers may not be as shrewd or competitive.
637484
Well, we'll end up paying more for what we have. It's basic economics of supply and demand. Look at fuel prices. They cut the supply, and we pay more, yet we still pay.
234272
I would just like to start off by saying that Bush has no power over the price of gas.  This last gas spike was calsed by Iran uping the price of there gas.  Becuse they know the U.S. don't want them to have WMD.  So they up our's and give cheaper gas to countrys they want or there side.\n\nWhen the gas price goes up the people who make the gas dont make more monney.
320099
Rising oil prices are a result of supply and demand and lead to a rise in inflation and ensuing unemployment.  The US needs to become less dependent on imported oil.  Alternative fuels and using less will bring the price down.  Everyone in the US needs to help!
160483
Some of the prices are artificially inflated. \n\nHowever, gas prices in the US are still lower than in most countries. Go to Germany or England and pay the equivilant we pay per gallon for a liter. \n\nI do think that many of the companies are taking advantage of teh recoupment of defense oil reserves and the war against terror in order to boost their profits.\n\nOn a final note, though, the war in Iraq was not about oil. If it were, we would be getting oil from Iraq. We are not, yet at least. Much of what excess Iraq is producing is going towards paying their reparations to many countries.
527841
If pols could control gas prices, it would always be cheap.\nIf oil cos could control prices it would always be expensive.\nWhat can we conclude from this?
140682
Optimum is relative.  Current production is probably sort of close to optimal for the OPEC countries in terms of profits.  It's not optimal in terms of social welfare or price.\n\nIt can probably go up to a few hundred dollars a barrel before people finally get the idea that it might be a good idea to start looking at alternative sources of energy.  The problem is that there are millions of cars out there that run on gas, and it's impossible to get them to switch to, say, hydrogen power overnight.  So, the demand is going to increase over time.
169655
Let's take a look at a few facts.  First, the cost of crude oil for each gallon of gas sold in this country has gone up from about 35 cents per gallon in 1999 to $1.59 per gallon in 2006.   So ... crude oil prices go up by 454% over a period of seven years.  How much did gas prices go up during the same period?  Try 162%.  Looks to me like things could be worse.\n\nSo ... did George Bush set those crude oil prices?  Did the oil companies go out there and set the prices that high?  Helllloooo!  Do you think the oil producing countries like Saudi Arabia might have had anything to do with it?  Is it possible that the ever-increasing worldwide demand for crude oil was a factor?  How about the fact that oil exploration slowed several years ago when crude was selling for under $20 a barrel?  Now that the price is so much higher many more companies are getting into the exploration business ... but it takes somewhere around 5 years from discovery of an oil deposit to actual production.  The price of oil didn't start its uphill swing until about 2004.  Do the math.  You also have the fact that oil is a commodity that is traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange.  Traders have much to do about setting prices.  Do you suppose that George Bush is calling these traders in to coach them on just what those prices should be?  That's what the Democrats want you to believe.\n\nIn short, when supplies increase and demand decreases.
218274
Your wage will never reflect the increase, or future increases of the cost of fuel (or any of the other worldly commodities that oil creates).\n\nI have been following the subject of "Peak oil" for about 4 years now and the worlds' dependance on oil. All aspects of our economies (globally speaking) is completely dependant on the stuff and the world is about to learn that, not only can the world not produce it any faster than we presently are, the production rates of global oil producers is about to start its' irreversable permanent decline.\n\nSupply will always go down (aproximately 2-3 percent a year) and demand will continue to go up.  It is predicted that by 2015 that global oil production will decrease 20% and demand will go up 80%.  Think you pay alot for gas now?\nTry $5-$10 a gallon in the NEAR future.\n\nGoogle "peak oil" and spend the next few weeks of your life reading about how we are all pretty screwed.  \n\nLike others have mentioned though, it won't just be gas that goes up.  \n\nEvery piece of plastic produced is made of a by-product of oil.  Every nitrogen based fertalizer that farmers use is a by-product of oil.  In fact you can't find one product for sale in any mall across North America that doesn't owe its' existance, either directly or indirectly, to oil.  \n\nIt is said that if we were to convert the energy that we all benifit from from oil, into human muscle power, we would have approximately 300 slaves working for us night and day, without a break, and having never to feed them.\n\nWell, the slaves are about become unionized and we're all going to have to pay a premium rate for their wages, while our own wages will probably decrease with a recession.\n\nGoogle "peak oil"!!!!\n\nBy the way, hydrogen fuel isn't going to solve this problem.  It doesn't produce fertalizers or plastics.\n\nlisten to this file http://www.globalpublicmedia.com/lectures/156
230729
Not that I am for this--But dear it wouldn't matter and why you ask---well here is an article--this is starting to open up a new can of worms--please understand--Anyone in the world could have all the oil in the world..and it really wouldn't matter at this point...\n\n$3-a-gallon gas: Blame Washington, not Big Oil\nWhat's driving up gas prices? It's not just higher crude costs; it's new regulations.\nNelson D. Schwartz\nMay 3, 2006: 2:20 PM EDT\n\n\n(FORTUNE Magazine) - With gas prices roaring past $3 a gallon and consumer fury rising even faster, Congress and the White House are engaged in a Kabuki-like ritual: pointing fingers at each other over who's to blame, while furiously attacking Big Oil for reaping gargantuan profits - as drivers get hosed at the pump.\n\nIf the politicians really want to figure out who's responsible for the latest round of price increases, though, they'd be better off looking in the mirror. That's because the rise isn't only due to higher crude costs. It's also fallout from some little-noticed provisions in the energy bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush last summer.\n\nBuried in the 551-page energy bill - which was supposed to ease energy shortages, not worsen them - were new regulations governing what additives go into gasoline and how it's refined. Corn-based ethanol is replacing the petroleum-derived additive MTBE, but Congress timed this logistically tricky switchover to occur just as demand for gasoline peaked ahead of the summer driving season - right about now.\n\nThe end result is an extra strain on the refining and distribution system when it can least afford it.\n\n"It's too late now, but Congress has consistently failed to sequence regulatory requirements in a responsible fashion," says Bob Slaughter, president of the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association.\n\nAdds Larry Goldstein of the Petroleum Industry Research Foundation: "The gasoline crisis is made in the U.S.A., not in Iran or Venezuela or Nigeria. At least half the increase in gasoline prices is due to unintended consequences of the energy bill, but no one in Washington wants to admit that."\n\nIndeed, while crude prices have risen 21% since the end of 2005, gasoline is up 37% - a sign of just how stretched the system is. Congress's mistake, says Goldstein, was setting the new law to go into effect 270 days after it was signed - May 5 - rather than waiting until fall, when gas demand is typically on the downswing.\n\nNow the big question is, How high can gas go? Well, perhaps the only good thing that can be said about paying three bucks per gallon is that it seems to be slowing consumption - which should, in turn, reduce prices. Over a four-week period in April, says oil analyst Jamal Qureshi of consulting firm PFC Energy, U.S. gasoline demand dropped by half a percent, to just over nine million barrels a day. That may not sound like much, but it's a reversal from the 1.7% average annual increase in gas consumption the U.S. has experienced over the past decade. If $3 is indeed the tipping point at which consumers change their behavior and alter their driving habits, it's the one silver lining in an otherwise very dark cloud for drivers.\n\nThe wildcard in this scenario, of course, is the increasing risk of a military confrontation with Iran. If that happens, says Qureshi, "all bets are off." Given that crude oil accounts for 55% of the cost of each gallon of gas (refining accounts for 22%, taxes for 19%, and distribution and marketing for 4%), an upward spike in crude oil would push gas up even if the bottlenecks caused by the energy bill ease this summer.\n\nThat's why Red Cavaney, president of the American Petroleum Institute, says the answer in the short term is conservation. Washington is indeed being turned upside down when it's left to Cavaney, Big Oil's chief lobbyist, to talk conservat
653742
It is all about supply and demand. The demand is there and the supply gets cut back so the price increases.
157891
China and India have drove the crude oil demand up.\nDemocraps and Environmental wackos have stymied oil exploration & refining.\nKatrina still has some of the gulf refineries not fully operational.\nEnviromental wackos have demanded numerous types of gasoline blends that add costs to the process.\nOPEC has not increased crude oil supply.\nThe federal and state gov'ts are getting 50 cents to 1 dollar tax on every gallon of gasoline.  \n\nAnd that's my 2 cents.
169398
Good question....\nWhen supply is down, demand and price go up \nWhen supply goes up probably because demand goes down so does the price.....I think its something like that but...try reading a book called Business Essentials
579562
Inflation.  Today's high gas prices are caused not by shortages, as the world is awash with oil.  The current pricing is driven by distribution.  Any disruption of the distribution process creates shortages, which lead to scarcity and high prices.  Current oil prices are driven by speculation in the oil commodities market.  At some point, fuel alternatives will be developed, and prices will abate.  When that happens, speculators holding high priced oil futures contracts will lose money.  The propensity is to keep prices high to avoid loss.  When, and if oil production in offshore Gulf of Mexico come back on line, oil prices will drop, probably sharply.\nThe price of petroleum affects every aspect in the production of economic goods and services, worldwide.