Neal Boortz, Nealz Nuze
April , 2005
Here we go again.....most newscasts are being led with the reports of "record" gas prices. The government said yesterday that the average price for a gallon of gasoline rose 6 cents in the last week to an average of $2.22 a gallon. They claim this is a record, but it is not. No price record is valid in any sense unless you adjust it for inflation .. and adjusted for inflation, gasoline was over three bucks a gallon in 1981.
A new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll reports that 58% of those polled say the gas prices are causing a financial hardship. Perhaps if people hadn't been tripping all over themselves to buy gas-guzzling cars these past couple years, they wouldn't be feeling the pinch. Maybe if they lived a bit closer to work things might be better. It might not be a bad idea to tell the rug rats to walk every once in a while also. Too bad. So what are we to make of the "problem" of high gas prices?
The fact is that this same exact thing is going to happen every year. Once the weather breaks and we start to approach Memorial Day, demand is going to increase, supply will be tight and the price will go up. This is going to happen every summer from now on. Also, once summer approaches, refineries are required to produce different blends of gasoline especially for different markets. This takes up valuable time and resources at refineries that are already stretched to the maximum. Thank the eco-nuts for this. As if that weren't enough, global demand for oil is surging, particularly from countries like China. More dollars chasing fewer barrels of oil means a higher price every time. That's called simple supply and demand, for those of you indoctrinated in government schools.
So when you pull up to the pump this week and see that you're paying almost $2.50 for a gallon of gas, don't blame George Bush....don't blame the oil companies....and don't blame the gas station. Blame your friendly neighborhood environmental leftist who won't allow any new refineries to be built and opposes oil exploration in this country at every turn.
By the way, some examples of gas prices in other countries should make you feel a bit more fortunate: Great Britain: $5.64 a gallon, Germany $5.29 and Japan $3.84. Time to drill in ANWR and off the Gulf coast of Florida.
Resources: AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report | Gas Price Watch.com
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