I've heard the oil industry had made an incredible profit on last years sales.  I suppose its ok for them to continue getting rich by soaking the general public?  Can the government or should the government do something to stop the rising of gas prices???
215861
I think that most Americans have stopped buying "unnecessary" fuel, but they are making more than enough money back off of just the necessary fuel (fuel that is needed for daily life, not all of us can walk to work/carpool)... if you have to have it, you have to have it... cuting consumption further isn't an option for most...\n\nSo what happens when capitiolism fails... seems like we are reaching that point with oil... increasing costs could have a crippling effect on our economy through inflation (especially if costs continue to go up)... is it worth it?\n\nThe reserves should have been released a while back... that's just silly, but that's also a Bush...
585112
we gotta do what we gotta do (on the OPEC ?)  i think gas prices suck, but compared to other products say ten years ago I would say even though a little high we should have expected these prices due to inflation anyway.   And yes I think it is possible.
624673
Regulating prices will do one thing- run oil refiners out of the US. Guess what that will do, raise prices further.\n\nWhen people conserve demand goes down lowering the price. Remember Adam Smith? He didn't drive an SUV either....
397274
Market forces my behind. The price of crude is still dropping while the price of gas is creeping up again. Are people really trying to say the price of gas dropped seventy five cents after labor day because the summer driving season ended? Get real. The oil industry is globally manipulated and further down the chain manipulated by everyone who can manipulate it. Every oil company dumps their gas into a common pipeline and then pulls it out somewhere else along that pipeline. Exxon-Mobil, Citgo, Chevron...it's all the same gasoline. They each add some ingredients to try to distinguish themselves from one another with whatever they claim their gas does to enhance your engines performance. Think there's no manipulation? What happened to the oil shortage from thirty five years ago?
166109
This is just another plan by government to make people more dependent on government.  Why don't they eliminate the $0.50 tax on gas if they were really looking out for the price of gas?\n\nThe goal of this plan is so Senator A and Representative B can say that they were behind a plan to give you $100 even while voting down tax and spending cuts.\n\nAnd people who want a Windfall profits tax don't understand supply and demand.  It is the job of company's to make money and create jobs.  Shell makes 8 cents a gallon the government makes 50 who is the criminal!
167342
Of course not. \n\nUnlike the case of the 1970's embargo, there is no shortage. Oil and gas are abundant. The oil producers and their cronies realized that a demand for the product exists at a higher price, and have proceeded to manipulate the market to jack up the price. Of course, the government is looking the other way. In the past, everytime they tried to do that, a small portion of the Strategic Oil Reserve was released and oil prices soon dropped. \n\nWhy is that not being done now?\n\nCan anyone guess the answer? \n\n(A cue: remember Farenheit 911?)
441559
I can answer him. I blame Bush partly for the high gas prices because for the most part he is giving his friends in the oil industry big tax breaks every year. As a republican his belief is if you give more tax breaks to the rich more jobs will be created and prices of things will be kept down. But has it? No. I don't think he cares that the gas prices are high. It just means more money for his friends. Exxon makes 79000 dollars a minute. That is outrageous. Though it is not exactly Bush's job to fix the outlandish prices and profits, it would be nice if it really was a concern. What has Bush done to help this crisis?
217513
I think that the government could do something but they are so out of touch with reality that they won't. When Clinton was faced with the same thing he released the stategic reserves and that brought the price of gas down right now. Bush could do the same thing but he won't because he is probably profitiing by it some way.
165249
They'll just keep putting the prices up because they know that companies and individuals have no option but to pay.  It's what's heppened here in the UK where gas is now more than $7.50 a gallon and demand is still rising.\n\nThere won't be fuel rationing unless there's an actual shortage of fuel and that doesn't seem likely.\n\nI can only speak for the UK when I say that there has been fuel rationing - during the war and during the oil crisis of the early 1970's.
282726
My economic knowledge tells me that I hope it goes up up up. My company pays for my gas, and as a resident of Alberta, Canada I stand to share in the wealth that the province brings in from oil revenue royalties. My family got a check for $1600 this last time, but with the current (and rising) oil prices the next one could be much higher. \n\nMaybe people will stop buying stupid SUVs too. I just bought a Honda Civic and it gets great milage. \n\nIf the USA continues to try and clense the world of anti-western democracy govenments (Iran, N. Korea etc.) this trend will continue. If faith in the US dollar doesn't improve, people will continue to invest in commodities like Gold, Silver, and Oil, thus driving the prices up.
308704
The gas companies are actually only making around 10% profit on their gas.  This might be slightly above market equilibrium but not much.  Much of the cost goes into taxes and refining.  The bulk is from the increase in the price of crude oil.  The nominal profits are increasing because the oil companies are keeping a fixed profit margin.\n\n10% of 10 is smaller than 10% of 100.  Both have the same margins.\n\nThere's an article here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5365439\n\nPrice ceiling general info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_ceiling\n\nYes, it would create a shortage.  We did exactly this in the 70s.  I guess it's up to the individual as to whether it's preferable to have gas lines and slightly cheaper prices or the current situation.  There's no right answer.\n\nIf the ceiling is low, they'll just cut supply or start exporting it.
597278
It is a real concern, but whenever someone makes a prediction about when a country of the world will reach peak oil output, they do so with what then is considered a researve.  As the cost of a barrel of oil increases, sources for oil that were once not considered a researve then become on because at that cost it is economically viable to recover it.  With the recent spike in oil prices, North America can now clasify the tar sands in Canada and the oil shales in Colorado oil researves, and that being the case, it is estimated that in the US alone, we now have more economically recoverable oil then Saudi Arabia, the worlds largest exporter.  As the price continues to increase, other marginal sources will become economically viable.  Sooner or later, we will reach a point where there simply isn't enough oil available for any price, but that is still a ways off yet.  I believe that before we reach that point, oil will be more expensive then alternate fuel sources.  Through simple economics, I believe that people will begin using these alternate fuels simply because they are less expensive.  I believe that the high cost of oil will spawn invention and inovation into the energy sector, and I believe that has already begun.  We are working on increasing production of biodiesels and ethenol, and there is increased research into fuel cells and electric autos.  I think the future lies in hydrogen burning technology personally.  We already have engines that burn Hydrogen, but we're still working on the fuel tank dilema.  So, for a long answer, I believe that there is and will be time. I'm looking foward to being put out of buisiness.
136695
Gas taxes provide the majority of the road upkeep in the country, which is underfunded as it is. How exactly would that help? Also, $.30 per gallon is not going to affect gas prices all that much. They will continue to go up, no matter what.
284399
The bastards are messing with us!  They are simply raising the prices to fatten up their wallets.  Their profits have raised by 30% and they keep changing the reasons for prices going up.  We never get a straight answer.  First its "a pipe broke and needs to be repaired so oil has gone up", then its "everyones using too much gas in their suvs", then its "we're negotiating to lower prices", um, excuse me but doesnt Bush OWN a refinery?
308392
Oil prices are high because the demand is high.  \n\nImagine you had a pill that cured every health problem--obsesity, AIDS, cancer, and everything in between.  What would you sell it for?  You could sell it for $1 a pill--because everyone would want one.  Or, you could sell it for $1 million a pill--because everyone would want one.  Some people would sell it for $1.  Some people would sell it for $1 million.  People would fall everywhere in between.  \n\nWell, the oil companies don't have a magic pill, but they do have something that most of their customers cannot imagine living without.  They've realized that they can make a profit at $1.50 a gallon, but they can make a much better profit at $3.50 a gallon.  Why wouldn't they raise their price?\n\nAlthough I think the high prices suck, in the long term it is a good thing, because it will increase efforts to develop new kinds of energy and cars that are more efficient.\n\nBrazil has a fuel that is similar to ethanol that is made out of sugar instead of corn.  (Sugar is their main export.)  Since they developed this fuel, Brazil required cars to run on the stuff, and they are completely independent of foreign oil.  The U.S. should do the same thing with ethanol.  We could be done with foreign oil in ten years.
447197
I suggest reading 'armed madhouse' by greg palast. In this book he makes the arguement (with footnotes) that the reason we went into Iraq is for the oil. But not to take the oil. No ... we want to keep the oil in Iraq. You see economic supply and demand would dictate that if the second largest oil producing nation was bogged down by an occupation then prices would soar. Hmmmm and how have the oil companies been fairing since the invasion???? Who's side do you think this honest patriot is on?? http://blogs.it/0100206/stories/2004/03/15/houseOfBushHouseOfSaud.html
196548
It is ridiculous,  and I am scared about it.  The gas prices drive up the prices of all other products because, the products have to be driven to the stores in trucks run with gasoline.  So, not only do we end up paying more for gas, but for everything else as well.\nNow, I suppose for the upper and probably mid-level middle class this isn't that huge of a deal, but if you are mostly paycheck to paycheck, like my family, this can really hurt.\nOf course the rich get richer....that's just the way it goes.\nAnd what bugs me is that there isn't even a good reason for this gas spike...it is just speculation in the market driving up the price....\nWhere is our president when we need him?  He is NOT here for the majority of citizens in this country.  He has an agenda that goes against helping his own country, and that is pathetic.