why are gas prices so high?
476569
ask George W. Bush and Dick Cheney or your local congressman or congresswoman
1041619
Yes, but w/good reason.  Gas prices have never been this high w/no relief in sight.  It seems we are limiting our travel b/c we just can't afford to drive in this country.  I know I'm on a gas budget.  Work-home-work-home, maybe a chill spot on the wknd, but that's it.
1026623
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.
302605
Because they can!!!  There are certain thing in our economy that we all have to have and will pay just about anything for.  Think about it....would you pay for overpriced gas or overpriced ice cream, overpriced baby diapers and toilet paper or overpriced magazines and movies.  If you have ever noticed those are the types of things that I think have the biggest price fluctuations because companies know we will just complain but buy anyway.
806984
I believe the Bush administration Is the cause for the increase in gas prices. Do you remember when the Vice President had a secret meeting with the oil big wigs? This meeting was so hush-hush the president went to the supreme court to have the minutes sealed. soon after gas prices went through the roof. The Bush started the war in Iran. We had Gulf coast storms. There were a lot of factors but mainly it is greed by the oil companies. Oil companies will site market conditions as the reason for gas prices increasing. What they wont tell you is that they caused those conditions. ask them why did they close oil refineries down in Calif. and not build new ones?
507433
Oil prices are set by the market.  In other words, if people are willing to spend $72.00 a barrel, then why would oil companies charge less.  The market corrects itself.  If the prices are too high, people will purchase less oil.  If the prices are too low, the miniscule profit margin that the oil companies already face will diminish.  That is why we pay what we pay.  It is what it is WORTH to buyers.  Simple as that.  If you want lower gas prices, take the bus for a while and wait until the market decides that oil is not worth as much anymore.
674830
Gasoline is the bloodline that keeps America moving. Our personal vehicles alone guzzle 65 billion gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel each year, and that number is projected to increase by 2.6 percent each year. \nTracking gas prices can feel like a roller coaster ride. They're down a little one month, up the next, before shooting up more than 30 percent in a year. Plus, they're different depending on where you look. Other countries, and even other states and cities, can have very different gas prices from your local Gas-N-Go. To the average person, it probably seems as though there's little rhyme or reason to how gas prices are determined. In this article, we will look at the forces that impact the price of gas at the pump, and we'll find out where your gas money actually goes. \n\nAmericans have an insatiable thirst for gasoline, and with sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) continually growing in popularity we are only getting thirstier. Just look at the roads and highways and you'll see that a severe gas shortage would practically cripple the country. Americans drive more than 2.5 trillion miles per year in automobiles, light trucks and SUVs, according to a MEMA report. That's equal to 14,000 round trips to the sun. Today, we drive almost twice as much as we did in 1980 (1.5 trillion miles). \n\n\nPhoto courtesy Phillips Petroleum Company\nA gas station in Colorado Springs, CO\n \n\n\nHistorical Gas Prices\n(Adjusted for inflation)\n \nYear Price Per Gallon \n1950 $1.91 \n1955 $1.85 \n1960 $1.79 \n1965 $1.68 \n1970 $1.59 \n1975 $1.80 \n1980 $2.59 \n1985 $1.90 \n1990 $1.51 \n1995 $1.28 \n2001 $1.66 \n2002 $1.31 \n2003 $1.52 \n2004 $1.79 \n2005 $2.28 \n2006 (so far) $2.68 \nSource: U.S. DOE  \nThe United States consumes an average of 20 million barrels of oil per day (bbl/d, according to the Department of Energy. Of that, about 45 percent is used for motor gasoline. The rest is used for distillate fuel oil, jet fuel, residual fuel and other oils. Each barrel of oil contains 42 gallons (159 L), which yields 19 to 20 gallons (75 L) of gasoline. So, in the United States, something like 178 million gallons of gasoline is consumed every day. \n\nTypically, the demand for gas spikes during the summer, when lots of people go on vacation. Holidays like Memorial Day and the Fourth of July create logjams of tourist traffic during the summer. This high demand usually translates into higher gasoline prices, although that's not always the case. For instance, while gas prices soared 31 cents in April and early May of 2001, reaching $1.71 per gallon (which now seems inexpensive compared to today's prices), prices actually declined during the 2001 summer. \n\nIn 2004, prices continued to rise past the end of the summer travel season for a variety of reasons, including several hurricanes and an increase in the price of crude oil. And in 2005, Hurricane Katrina (along with a sizeable increase in crude oil prices) pushed prices to $3.07 per gallon on September 5, 2005. Prices settled down somewhat in November and December of 2005. But now the numbers are climbing again, with an average price for regular unleaded gas at $2.90 right now (May 2006). \n\nPrice increases generally occur when the world crude-oil market tightens and lowers inventories. We will discuss who controls the crude-oil market later. Also, growing demand can sometimes outpace refinery capacity. In the spring, refineries perform maintenance, which can place a pinch on the gasoline market. By the end of May, refineries are usually back to full capacity. \n\n How do you overpower the pump?\nRising gas prices are impacting everyone: what are you doing to soften the blow?\nWe want to know!  \n\n\nWhen you pump $20 dollars into your tank, that money is broken up into little pieces that get distributed among several entities. Gas is just like any other consumer product: There's a supply chain and several groups who are responsible for setting the price
506424
Gas prices are going up everywhere for a variety of reasons, not all of which are "greedy oil companies." But I won't go into that.\n\nBecause of the mild winter we've just experienced, there is quite a bit of oil supply right now. I think prices will drop soon.\n\nBest of success.
369352
Answer to Question one:  There is strife in Nigeria and Iraq driving gas prices up.  There is also a potential nuclear war brewing between the US and Iran, the forth largest producer.  For some insane reason, the fact that oil prices are skyrocketing isn't causing the powers that be to think twice about causing another war.  Finally, China and India are growing in economic capacity and need oil to build their economies.  \n\nAnswer 2:  Because the insurgents are attacking the oil infrastructure in Iraq and that's Imperialism.  I guess the US could exact tribute from Iraq, but were they to do that, the country would have a revolution within a few minutes and then they wouldn't sell any oil to the US.
1062509
Look who's running the country...a bunch of oil freaks.  Everytime the price of oil goes up they are cashing in!  They don't want to come up with alternative fuel sources because there is no money in that for them.
363434
Nationally, the average per gallon price for regular gasoline is $2.50.\n\nAre gasoline prices high? That's not the best way to ask that question. It's akin to asking, "Is Williams tall?" The average height of U.S. women is 5'4", and for men, it's 5'10". Being 6'4", I'd be tall relative to the general U.S. population. But put me on a basketball court, next to the average NBA basketball player, and I wouldn't be tall; I'd be short. So when we ask whether a price is high or low, we have to ask relative to what.\n\nIn 1950, a gallon of regular gasoline sold for about 30 cents; today, it's $2.50. Are today's gasoline prices high compared to 1950? Before answering that question, we have to take into account inflation that has occurred since 1950. Using my trusty inflation calculator (www.westegg.com/inflation), what cost 30 cents in 1950 costs $2.33 in 2005. \n\nIn real terms, that means gasoline prices today are only slightly higher, about 8 percent, than they were in 1950. Up until the recent spike, gasoline prices have been considerably lower than 1950 prices.\n\nSome Americans are demanding that the government do something about gasoline prices. Let's think back to 1979 when the government did do something. The Carter administration instituted price controls. What did we see? We saw long gasoline lines, and that's if the gas station hadn't run out of gas. It's estimated that Americans used about 150,000 barrels of oil per day idling their cars while waiting in line. In an effort to deal with long lines, the Carter administration introduced the harebrained scheme of odd and even days, whereby a motorist whose license tag started with an odd number could fill up on odd-numbered days, and those with an even number on even-numbered days.\n\nWith the recent spike in gas prices, the government has chosen not to pursue stupid policies of the past. As a result, we haven't seen shortages. We haven't seen long lines. We haven't seen gasoline station fights and riots. Why? Because price has been allowed to perform its valuable function -- that of equating demand with supply.\n\nOur true supply problem is of our own doing. Large quantities of oil lie below the 20 million acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). \n\nThe amount of land proposed for oil drilling is less than 2,000 acres, less than one-half of one percent of ANWR. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates there are about 10 billion barrels of recoverable oil in ANWR. But environmentalists' hold on Congress has prevented us from drilling for it. \n\nThey've also had success in restricting drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and off the shore of California. Another part of our energy problem has to do with refining capacity. Again, because of environmentalists' successful efforts, it's been 30 years since we've built a new oil refinery.\n\nFew people realize that the U.S. is also a major oil-producing country. After Saudi Arabia, producing 10.4 million barrels a day, then Russia with 9.4 million barrels, the U.S. with 8.7 million barrels a day is the third-largest producer of oil. But we could produce more. Why aren't we? \n\nProducers have a variety of techniques to win monopoly power and higher profits that come with that power. What's a way for OPEC to gain more power? \n\nI have a hypothesis, for which I have no evidence, but it ought to be tested. If I were an OPEC big cheese, I'd easily conclude that I could restrict output and charge higher oil prices if somehow U.S. oil drilling were restricted. I'd see U.S. environmental groups as allies, and I would make "charitable" contributions to assist their efforts to reduce U.S. output. Again, I have no evidence, but it's a hypothesis worth examination.
356435
By getting the gas prices to go through the roof? That's an interesting question. \nThey said on the news today that Americans will not even consider buying a more gas-efficient car before the price of gas hits $3.5 per gallon... So I'm not sure that what's happening is really going to help.
1118662
Never!Here in Europe gas is about 5.5 $ per gallon. The problem is not the price of gas. The real issue is having a lifestyle that complies with a sustainable environment. So don't ask yourself about the gas-prices.Ask yourself about how much gas you're use compared to how much gas you should be using
1112241
The immediate cause of the soaring gas prices could be attributed to a variety of factors, principal among them is uncertaintly in the middle east.\n\nBut economically speaking, the age of low gas prices is now over. Gas is a fossil fuel which is limited in quantity. Our lifestyle until now has assumed that there is unlimited gas and we have been wasteful in our use of this energy.\n\nThe theory of peak oil posits that the oil being pumped will peak anywhere between 2003 - 2010. What this means is that oil production will peak or has just peaked recently. Going forward over the next decade and ahead oil production will enter a period of slow decline, putting an upward pressure on gas prices.\n\nHubert, an american geologist first applied this theory and developed a model to predict that american oil production would peak somewhere in the late sixties to early seventies, and he was pretty close. After that the model has been applied to world oil production.\n\nThese models assume that there is anywhere between 1.8 - 2 trillion barrels of recoverable oil reserves in the world. After a point, it will become more and more expensive to pump oil out of the ground beyond a point at which it will be economically infeasible to do so.\n\nPeople might tell you that this is cyclical, or temporary, etc. But th e truth is that the era of cheap oil is over. With the developing nations increasing their appetite for oil as well, the rate of consumption is going to increase at an increasing rate.
438516
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.
68168
Gas prices are set based on supply and demand. If more people are using gas or there is a lower amount of gas being produced then the prices will go up.\n\nThe recent increase in prices is probably due to the growing tension with Iran. If for some reason the oil from Iran is cut off, there will be less production.
371004
Most gas stations, even those with well known names, will typically get their gasoline from the most economical source as long as it meets their specifications. Sometimes it is cheaper to buy from a local refinery and save the cost of hauling from your own refinery.\n\nActually I buy a lot from Exxon because their prices are 1 to 3 cents below the next closest gas station.\n\nThe idea that you can force gas prices down is a pipe dream. You can boycott all you want, there is a very high demand for gasoline and that will only go higher with a resulting further rise in gasoline prices.