While the speedy implementation of stricter CAFE requirements for automakers has been all the talk in the news lately, gasoline prices - at least in my neck of the upstate New York woods - are on the rise. Why?
Albany, N.Y. County Controller Michael Connors was quoted in this morning’s Albany, N.Y. Times Union blaming oil companies for the rise in prices at the pump: “The first reason is because (the oil companies) want (the price of fuel) to go up and the second reason is because they can.”
Mac Brownson, president of the New York State Gasoline Retailers Association was quoted in the same story calling the price increase “pure avarice” on the part of oil companies. “Prices are up so much with no supply-and-demand reason for it. The demand is down, people are driving less and buying different vehicles. The supply is up there is lots of gas. It’s not illegal, but it’s immoral in this bad economy,” he said.
The two were speaking out presumably because in my part of the Empire State we already fork over a whopping 61 cents per gallon in taxes on a gallon of fuel and they wanted everyone to know that politicians and the guy at the corner gas station aren’t behind the increase.
Meanwhile, a wire story in the paper notes that crude oil prices hit a six-month high this week as speculators on Wall Street, many of whom received huge government bailouts, are pouring money into oil futures, betting that oil prices will rise as inflation erodes the value of the dollar. “This turns oil futures contracts into a way for investors to hedge against inflation at the expense of American consumers, who have to pay more to fill their tanks as oil and gasoline prices rise,” the story explains.
Fuel is already ridiculously cheap here compared to Europe and some island nations, but because our society is so dependent on it and we spend so much federal money subsidizing oil production anyway, should its cost to consumers be more closely regulated? Your thoughts?
Image courtesy of The Old Car Manual Project.
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