Gas prices continue to surge upward

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8533441/

U.S. drivers saw gasoline prices soar an average 7.7 cents a gallon over the last week, while truckers paid the most for diesel fuel since November, the government said on Monday.

The national price for regular unleaded gasoline jumped to $2.33 a gallon, up 33 cents from a year ago and the highest level in a month based on the federal Energy Information Administration’s survey of service stations.

The price increases in many cities were much higher, skyrocketing more than 19 cents a gallon in just one week in Chicago and more than 16 cents in Cleveland.

The average diesel fuel price paid by truckers increased 7.4 cents to $2.55 a gallon, up 38 cents from a year earlier and the most expensive since Nov. 14, the EIA said.

[SammyBlue]

1. thank you gop for george bush

welcome to the fucking poorhouse while exxon gets richer

[SpiralHawk]

2. "Mission Accomplished" - George AWOL Bush & Oil Cronies

Has there ever been a more successful culture of corruption?

N.B. Guiness World Record Books

[Jamison]

3. When hurricane season comes again...

get ready to bend over and grab your ankles at the pump$.

[regnaD kciN]

4. Not JUST hurricane season...

Historically, gas prices start going up around the time of spring vacations (late March) and continue climbing through the summer. The fact that we got a surge like this several weeks ahead of that point suggests that, by August, we're going to be in a world of hurt ($2.50-$3.00/gallon), even if hurricane season turns out to be unexpectedly mild this year.

[allisonthegreat]

16. Just what I ordered...god golly ...back to p & j again (eom)

[Aviation Pro]

21. even if hurricane season turns out to be unexpectedly mild this year

It won't. Currently, the National Hurricane Center is forecasting a minimum of 11 named hurricanes in what will be a very active season.

[kurth]

5. "Concerns about potential disruptions"

Don't they ever get tired of using this lame excuse?

Well, they could have said "Oil companies raise prices to prepare for 2006 hurricane season".

[buddysmellgood]

6. High gas prices are the best bet for saving the planet. I say, bring it on

$5 will usher in alternative energy. Granted, it would have been nice to switch gradually, but Dubya threw that out the window. Technology exists today, that will allow the vast majority of Americans to do all the driving they do on the vast majority of days on just one electric charge. What's more, new batteries can be charged to 80-90 percent capacity in under 5 minutes.
I LOVE high gas prices.

[Skink]

7. got my 7 gallons for the week early.

[Texifornia]

8. I agree with your premise

Ultimately it will take high prices for gasoline to get people to make sensible changes like hybrid cars.

Plug-in hybrids though, however useful, do nothing to reduce hydrocarbon use more than a conventional hybrid. In fact, it may use more hydrocarbons. This, of course, would not be true if the charge was obtained from wind or solar generated electricity. However, if like most places in America, hydrocarbons are combusted to generate electricity, then the inhenent energy inefficiencies would make it "less green" to plug in.

[buddysmellgood]

12. The benefit to a plug in would be that pollution would be produced at

more centralized and controllable points rather than in every vehicle. It would allow us to eliminate reliance on foreign oil. If we look just a bit to the future, advances in solar technology could very soon make it possible to generate a great deal more electricity, sequestering co2 from coal gasification could make coal much cleaner. Our electric transmission lines are in dire need of upgrade anyway. We should focus on rebuilding that infrastructure with superconducting backbones. That would provide a combined electric transmission/hydrogen infrastructure for storing an tranporting energy.

[Voltaire99]

9. I join you.

It will be amusing to see the SUVs rusting in giant stacks.

Unfortunately, the higher the gas prices, the more monstrous will be the cries of the spoiled and entitled. There's no guarantee we'll transition smoothly to better technologies. It's rather likely we'll see more war in an increasingly desperate bid to grab the remaining oil.

[buddysmellgood]

13. It's hard to fathom who is going to fight those wars given our current

situation, but you are probably right.

[area51]

22. "$5 will usher in alternative energy."

Maybe.

But $5/gal. gas will put the poor of this country in a world of hurt. Not only @ the gas pump, but that price will also mean the price of everything that gets transported, like food, school supplies for their kids & clothes, etc., will go up too.

This nazi administration really likes to stick it to the poor, w/no universal healthcare & very little in social services. $5/gas + higher prices in everything else could push some of the poor over the edge.

[Voltaire99]

26. This is a real concern.

You're right. Katrina, after all, is their model of the social contract. And is it not a natural expression of the social darwinism at the heart of the Republican project?

So yeah, I think soaring gas prices are unlikely to be borne in a spirit of mutuality and common struggle, and least of all seen as a reason to help those whom they will crush. Cue the Fox graphic: "Is Unaffordable Gas A Good Thing?"

[Danmel]

10. Up 12 cents a gallon in four days here

On Friday, I filled my tank at $2.35 for regular and yesterday (Monday) it was $2.47. (Thankfully I still have three quarters of a tank.) What gives?

[Radio_Guy]

11. By the end of hurricane season

Gas will be back at $3.00 for the cheapest stuff. Gotta keep those oil barons happy ya know.

[NickB79]

18. We'll be lucky if gas is only $3/gallon

It's already almost $2.50 here in MN, and the hurricane season is projected to be just as bad as last year. Dozens of oil-drilling rigs were blown off their foundations last summer and have yet to begin pumping again. Dozens more were sunk entirely, and will take years to replace. Refineries are still working below maximum along the Gulf Coast. We will be hit again before we can get back to even, where we were before Katrina.

I'm guessing gas will peak at $3.50 this summer, maybe $4 in some areas. By this time next year we'll be talking about how cheap gas is when it drops to "only" $2.75/gallon.

[0007]

14. How long before it will be six dollars a gallon?

[sarcasmo]

15. $2.55 here in Michigan and as a cab driver it's KILLING me.

[cantstandbush]

17. Most of the brain-dead don't even notice. They go merrily along

rejoicing over killing "rag-heads" and enriching the super rich. They are the walking brain-dead. They take their cues from Coulter, Limbaugh, Hannity and such ilk. They are the true enemies of democracy and freedom. And they don't give a damn about the high price of gasoline. They will continue to ride their bikes while others ride in their Lexises, yachts, and planes. They smile to themselves as renegade cops clobber and shoot suspects, they giggle about the homeless being mawed or killed by thugs, they laugh at gay-bashing and race baiting. They are sexist, sex-starved, perverted, stupid and evil. And we must live among them... and sometimes we are "them."

What's a little rise in gasoline prices to them?

[Roland99]

19. Gas here is up 25% ($0.50) in less than two weeks.

[pinniped]

20. I think they're aiming to top last year's record profits.

.

[rustydad]

23. Please folks, stop whining

We are at peak oil right now or past it. The demand for oil has outstripped supply and short of all an out WW3 or a huge world wide depression it will stay that way. Sure oil company profits are way up. They make a percentage on sales and a profit on what they pump out of their own wells. Should they be forced to sell below the world price? Of course not. That would just encourage waste as in more hummers or trips unneeded to the mall. If we had heeded Carters warning and done a Kennedy type Opollo Moon Program to develop both new forms of liquid energy AND supper efficiency transport we might have bought our selfs a few more decades before the **** hit the fan. We didn't. We are screwed. If you don't understand that or don't want to it is understandable. The consequences are just horrifying. Bob, riding a bike and using 1/2 gallon of gas a week.

[Javaman]

24. the oil companies realized the big hike wouldn't do over a long period of

time, because people got pissed and started looking for other options. so they dropped it back down and are now doing the slow boil on us.

Wife: look honey, gas is now 30 bucks a gallon...

hubby: wow, how about that? Funny I really didn't' notice it until you just said something. By the way, have you got the mortgage money for the gas?

[dweller]

25. $2.23/gal here this morning as i passed by a local station

and started to stop and put in $20 worth heading out of town, but thought i remembered a station that was usually a few cents less and kept going. That station was $2.33, so kept going, next one $2.39. This is over a 10-15 mile span leading to the state capitol where i had seen $2.09 a week ago and was heading there to visit family, run a business related errand, etc. The station last week at $2.09 was now $2.24 and i felt lucky that i went ahead and pumped $20 in. Finished my business, and came home, and the station that was $2.23 this morning?

$2.43 this evening.

what gives?

dp

[Javaman]

27. someone match this against a graph of oil prices...n/t