Sooner or later I guess this topic was going to get mentioned here.
U.S. gas prices have doubled and more in the past couple of years. It must be hurting millions of people directly (getting to and from work or school for example), and hurting many businesses too, which must deliver things and have things delivered to them and so they must raise prices on everything in turn to make up for it. It seems the U.S. government has totally distorted how it reports inflation because gasoline and food prices alone are skyrocketing. Maybe the drop in house prices is counteracting that some!
The politicians are arguing over causes and remedies, but while they do NOTHING, quietly, millions of people are driving a little less, maybe trading in the old clunker or big SUV for something much more efficient, sales of hybrids have skyrocketed, and the American people are being very sensible about all this.
We’ve all heard it’s ‘greedy oil companies’ that are the cause but that really isn’t the case – they process crude oil and refine it, etc., and pass along the costs they must pay. Now global demand for oil and gasoline has been climbing and is projected to climb a great deal more as prosperity increases in China and India in particular, as they hold almost half the world’s population! U.S. gasoline consumption has not increased significantly in decades. Increasing overall demand puts upward pressure on prices if supply is not increased.