By snoadmin
Gas prices rise and fall at what seems like an arbitrary rate. This past summer we battled more than $4 per gallon at the pump, yet today we are experiencing one of the fastest falls in history.
When prices are high, many of us adjust our daily lives to compensate. We drive less, buy less and have less. But when the reverse happens, do we feel the difference?
This month, the price of gas has been floating around $2.50 per gallon, dropping more than $1 since the summer.
Are we feeling it? It doesn’t seem people can afford much more this month than last month. It’s more like a small relief and that extra money in your pocket will help you not overdraft your account this month. The affordability of gas affects everyone but is absolutely crucial to students and those who have lower incomes. Those who live paycheck to paycheck can’t afford any unexpected price hike.
We can adjust our behavior as much as possible but it still might not be enough. At some point we need to get to class or work. The summer months have put holes in many people’s wallets. Even if you don’t own a car, when gas prices are high you pay more for food, public transportation, plastics and much more.
Some say prices rise and fall due to an election, hurricane, summer months and a country’s economic hardships. Who decides the price?
“Speculators operating on rumor, greed, and fear of wild predictions,” according to nader.org.
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chair of the House Commerce Committee’s investigative subcommittee agrees. He started an investigation on what seems like shady practices of oil companies and their speculators.
The argument presented by nader.org contends the demand of petroleum has not drastically changed and there are no oil shortages. Therefore, the price of oil is not being based on the behaviors of the users or supply and demand, but on the greed of the speculators and oil companies.
Others say the price is set simply because of supply and demand. The price goes up during the summer because more people drive. It seems when we drove less because the price was high, we caused the price to fall. In other words, we consumed less oil so the price decreased because there was less of a demand.
Then, there is the ever-so-famous election theory. In the months before an election, prices fall and, just after, they rise again. If gas prices can be manipulated for elections, then maybe oil prices are set on unsubstantiated supply and demand claims.
The price of crude oil is currently around $65 a barrel because of an “unexpected increase in gasoline inventories,” according to the St. Louis Post Dispatch.
Gas may be cheaper this month but what about next month? We are being held hostage by speculators who may or may not be “drilling” us.
At the start of November, we all got a big boost of hope. Let’s carry this hope to the pump. Currently, prices in Long Beach and Los Angeles are hovering around $2.50 a gallon, according to Google and Mapquest.
This price makes us all a bit happier, so cross your fingers and hope the end of the 2008 presidential election will not bring us down with high gas prices.
Regardless of how the price is set, the fact remains that we will live and die at the pump until we have alternative-fuel options readily available. Oil companies have a monopoly on our transportation. We need options and companies competing with each other so we can get the best price.
We need more than fuel-efficient cars; we need alternative-fuel cars.
Works for whom? Co is an elitist with a conservative angst over the election. Watch what happens to the same speculators when the FTC gets ahold of their conniving asses. Brother ‘Bubba’ awaits em in the federal joint.
Speculators aren’t the problem. We have a free market and it works.