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Consumer
must step into lead over prices
by
Chris Webb
nw news editor
The price per gallon
of gas has risen to $3.58 nationwide, according to the
Oil Price Information Service.
Truckers are getting griped at from bosses
and forced into “oil conservation” workshops.
Cab drivers walk home with thinner wallets everyday.
Gas station clerks tire of saying, “Its not my
fault; I don’t set the prices.” And people
are just downright pissed.
Gas prices are expected to reach an average
of $3.60 per gallon during the summer, and with fear
of a recession already looming ahead, this price hike
spells bad news for the economy across the board.
University of Washington economist Keith
Leffler just completed a $161,000 study on the price
of gasoline. The report found that gas prices have nearly
doubled since May 2003, and from June 2000 to June 2001,
retail gas prices varied 11 cents, but between February
and September in 2007, gas prices fluctuated 91 cents.
Many cities had below-average wholesale
prices but above-average retail prices.
When gas prices peak, the first question
on everyone’s mind is “why?” The usual
answer is a gas shortage, but this time that explanation
falls a little short since we have too much gas.
Bill Day, a spokesman for Valero Energy
Corp., told Penni Crabtree of the Union-Tribune, “The
price of gas is not high because there is any shortage
of it. In fact, there is a surplus of gas ... We are
running out of places to put it.”
Unfortunately, this time crude oil prices
are the culprit, now at a daunting $118 a barrel, and
there is little that can be done.
The price of diesel is also soaring, and
the effects are felt by more than just truck drivers.
It’s bad enough that it costs so much to drive
wherever we are going, but rising oil prices are affecting
every industry that uses trucks as its main shipping
channel.
Thus, produce is expensive now; the food
industry is an absolute mess, and even many restaurants
are struggling to make a profit.
Americans need to take this issue into
their own hands. Instead of traveling to work alone,
commute, or better yet, get a bicycle. No one is going
to change anything by complaining. Oil and gas tycoons
have made it very clear that they don’t care.
The only way to bring about change is to hurt the suppliers’ wallets.
If everyone becomes less dependant on gasoline,
if alternative fuel sources are taken advantage of and
alternative methods of transportation utilized, then
the prices will inevitably fall.
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