Why Are Gas Prices So High?

Who else here is outraged about gas prices this summer?

Who else is genuinely pissed off that gas prices are climbing every day for no good reason save the profits of the oil companies? Not only has the 3.50-4.00 dollar gallon of gas (future price) destroyed my own personal travel plans for the summer, but it will stagger many Industries as a side-effect. I don't know about you, but I'm selling my car and buying a bicycle to get to work over the summer. I refuse to pay these outrageous and unjust prices while people are dying in the oil-rich middle east. Who's going to do their part? sell your car? boycott exxon-mobil? buy a hybrid? mass protest? let's hear it

Public Comments

1. Here's 2 good cars to get Toyota Prius, and a Honda Civic Hybird. Before you know it everyone will own one or drive motorcycles. this is unreal.
2. I love the gas prices! I take the bus so I dont have any use for gas! (lol just joking)
3. I don't drive yet, but I am going crazy about these prices! 2.99 a gallon. Giving up your car for a bike is a huge sacrifice, but at least you'll be thinner too.
4. Me to there goes our summer plans,wanted to take a much needed vacation.
5. I quit getting gas at Exxon-Mobil. I am stuck in the car I am in because I am upside down, but I do drive less. I only buy Regular - no premium. It is ridiculous that no one seems to be able to stop this insanity. We have gas reserves in the US - use them!
6. lets start a cilcil war about gas!
7. My husband has purchased a bicycle a month ago. He is taking the train and biking from the train station to his work. He is saving on gas, as well as eliminating some of the stress of diving during commute hours. He has the added benefit of getting exercise as well. Of course, he'll use the car when the weather is bad.
8. I'm not buying Exxon/Mobil, neither is my family, my co-workers and a lot of my friends. I really wish there was another way to get this Exxon/Mobil boycott idea going, so many people see the e-mail everyday and probably don't pay much attention because they think it's just another e-mail chain letter BS. I want to see bumper stickers, signs, commercials, I want this on the news, I'm big about this and I know that there are others. I got the e-mail from a friend at UK, I got it again from a friend at NKU, then I got the e-mail at my work from some company up in PA! I know the word is spreading but how serious are people actually taking it!?! I also just bought a new toyota carolla, I bring my lunch to work, and I try to make my trips out the stores as efficient as possible.
9. Everyone.
10. I think the gas prices r outrageous also....I am not buyin a car till price drop...my b/f...since he drives...he drives a 2001 Pontiac Grand AM...said get regular gas and use name brand octane booster from Family Dollar its cheapier there......it heightens the octane of the gas to give u a little more milage per gallon.
11. Just a little perspective from across the pond. The cheapest regular gas in my area - check out the first link - is 94.9p per litre (in the UK). There are 3.785 litres in the US gallon. This amounts to £3.59 per gallon. At today's exchange rate - check it out via the second link - that equates to $6.42...per gallon. Now, you may find that figures like this mean you get staggeringly little sympathy from non-US residents about the devastating fact that gas in the States has gone up 50c per gallon. However, I really do sympathise with you. To anyone who's never been to the States, never realised that its communities are often linked ONLY by roads, with no reliable public transport system, it might be incomprehensible that this price hike would make so much difference. But of course it does, because many of the communities in the States are based on space, roads, cars and the gas that powers them. The infrastructure was largely developed with the private motorist in mind, rather than the bus-rider, the train-rider, or God forbid the walker. Now that infrastructure and that way of life is being seriously bitten by the gas price hike, and it will be very interesting to see whether the traditional way of life continues in the future, paying the oil baron's price, or whether significant price rises will force behavioural changes, and as you suggest, result in more hybrids, more cyclists and mass oil price protests. Personally, I wouldn't recommend the mass protest route - it'll just give your government and ours another excuse to invade oil-rich nations to keep prices artificially low.
12. I am, but it's still Spring. I think it'll go down, in the fall. I'm keeping my car. I don't want to sell it now, and go through the hassle of looking for, buying and registering another car, in the fall or winter. I rarely go to Exxon, anyway. Safeway is often a little cheaper in price than Exxon or ther others. And there's not cost to use your atm card to pay for gas, at Safeway. If you have a safeway card, you save 3 cents. I'd take the bus, but I don't like waiting. But I'm going to walk to the bank and Trader Joe's.
13. Yes I am outraged! This is a tool of the war in the middle east! I have stopped driving or buying gas on Sunday in protest. I want to send the Pres. a message.
14. I share your pain. What pisses me off the most is that these oil companies are getting fat off of America, essentially practicing a form of neo-feudalism, keeping us dependent on their product with monopolistic business practices. They know we need the gas, and they make us pay out the ass for it, and there is nothing we can do about it. There is no other industry that defies the law of supply and demand like the energy business. They try to make us believe that massive shortages are on the way, but the shortage never comes. I don't see long lines at the gas station, or people fighting over the last few gallons of gas. I see plenty of gasoline available. Yet the price keeps rising, and the oil companies are reaping record profits, and their executives are the world's richest and most powerful businessmen. The CEO of Exxon alone makes $147,000 A DAY. A DAY! (I swear to God I am not making that number up). That, right there, is all that needs to be said about the legal extortion that the oil companies commit against the American public every single minute of every single hour of every single day. Yes, we need boycotts. More importantly, though, this country needs to make public transportation more attractive. The only cities where people use the bus or subway is where you absolutely have to, not because they want to. I live in Houston, where urban sprawl is out of control. But everyone wants to use their cars. Why? One, we love our autos. Two, the public transport system here SUCKS! We have one experimental rail line, which is pretty efficient, but there is a ton of opposition to more. Why? Because people are worried about their property values. I guess we should hold back progress so that the Johnson family's house doesn't depreciate in value. The government needs to step in. We are headed for a crisis in this country, and few people are noticing. They will when they can't afford the basic necessities because a) they spend most of their disposable income on gas and energy, or b) they get laid off from their job because of rising transportation and operating costs.
15. I just posted a question about this gas problem this morning myself.. I live in a large area with an inadequate public transportation system and very hot, humid temperatures, making it very difficult to get to work and take care of my other needs. What really genuinely hurts is that we, the hardworking citizens who are trying so hard just to maintain our lives are now suffering through no fault of our own. It is such a helpless feeling to watch the quality of our lives being diminished and restricted everyday because we can no longer afford to drive to the places we need to in order to take care of the basic needs for our families - all because of the greed of people who don't have to worry about gas, food and the other essentials of life. We have no hope of salary increases, cost of living increases as long as the companies we work for are suffering as well, trying to keep their businesses going. I think it's deplorable, inexcusable and makes it very difficult to now trust those who could help us. We are not being told the truth and as long as they can get away with it, it will never get better for us. I honestly never thought I'd see the day when we would have to make a choice between gas to get to work and food to feed our families and for many, having to sell personal effects just to keep gas in the car and get by. This is not right. It's the greatest hyprocrisy I've seen in my lifetime and for the first time in my life, I have lost faith, trust and hope, not for a better life now, but just to maintain without fear of losing everything just to survive.