We all complain about em, But can ANYTHING really be done?
Seattle Post article : complete read : http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/337435_gasprices31.html
Be honest about gas gouging
By ROBERT WEINER AND JOHN LARMETT
GUEST COLUMNISTS
Gasoline prices are poised to explode again. Oil companies are setting up the framework for higher prices because of fears of a Turkish invasion of Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq and administration saber rattling about Iran. Crude oil, at $29.59 a barrel when President Bush took office in January 2001, is now pushing toward $100. Washington state's current gasoline cost of $3.09 per gallon, double Seattle's 2001 price of $1.52, is now second only to California in the 48 contiguous states.
Jay Leno joked on "The Tonight Show" Oct. 17, "The Nobel Prize for economics was awarded to three people -- the CEOs of Exxon, Texaco, and Shell for figuring out how to quadruple the price of oil over a seven-year period without an actual shortage."
He's right; there is no actual shortage. And even if something happened, Kurdish oil production is less than one-fourth of 1 percent of the world's oil, and all of Iraq generates under 3 percent. Iran's share of world production is falling, 5 percent last year compared with 8 percent in 1974. The oil industry uses the unrealized potential of small disruptions to implement huge price fluctuations. They are using the fear factor and war profiteering to repeat and increase what they had last year, the highest profits for any industry in U.S. history.
Further, home heating oil bills are up a third from a year ago, and double six years ago -- a $1,700 annual household increase, seven times inflation. Home heating bills are the silent economic killer to families -- the spotlight has been on car gas prices.
Seattle Post article : complete read : http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/337435_gasprices31.html
Be honest about gas gouging
By ROBERT WEINER AND JOHN LARMETT
GUEST COLUMNISTS
Gasoline prices are poised to explode again. Oil companies are setting up the framework for higher prices because of fears of a Turkish invasion of Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq and administration saber rattling about Iran. Crude oil, at $29.59 a barrel when President Bush took office in January 2001, is now pushing toward $100. Washington state's current gasoline cost of $3.09 per gallon, double Seattle's 2001 price of $1.52, is now second only to California in the 48 contiguous states.
Jay Leno joked on "The Tonight Show" Oct. 17, "The Nobel Prize for economics was awarded to three people -- the CEOs of Exxon, Texaco, and Shell for figuring out how to quadruple the price of oil over a seven-year period without an actual shortage."
He's right; there is no actual shortage. And even if something happened, Kurdish oil production is less than one-fourth of 1 percent of the world's oil, and all of Iraq generates under 3 percent. Iran's share of world production is falling, 5 percent last year compared with 8 percent in 1974. The oil industry uses the unrealized potential of small disruptions to implement huge price fluctuations. They are using the fear factor and war profiteering to repeat and increase what they had last year, the highest profits for any industry in U.S. history.
Further, home heating oil bills are up a third from a year ago, and double six years ago -- a $1,700 annual household increase, seven times inflation. Home heating bills are the silent economic killer to families -- the spotlight has been on car gas prices.
