Tuesday, March 21, 2006

U.S. retail gas prices see biggest increase since Katrina

WASHINGTON (AFX) -- U.S. retail gasoline prices jumped by 14 cents to an average of $2.55 a gallon last week, the Energy Department said Monday. It's the highest average price since late October. It's the biggest one-week increse since the first week of September, after Hurricane Katrina knocked out the energy infrastructure in the Gulf Coast.

Regular gas prices rose 13.8 cents to $2.50, while premium gas cost an average $2.70, up 14.5 cents. Prices rose in every region of the nation, with the biggest increases in the Gulf Coast and the Lower Atlantic states. The Rockies had the cheapest gas at $2.44 a gallon. The most expensive gas was in California at $2.68.

8 comments:

  1. Yep, I think you may be on to something there!

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  2. Well I think it has more to do with greed than Bush. Supposedly this last increase was due to an "expected increase in oil consumption". My husband and I both said 'huh'? Given that the oil companies are under governmental scrutiny with every major increase, seems more oil executives than anyone else to blame.

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  3. It isn't totally Bush's fault (though after this morning's national press conference, I'm a little concerned about how he operates under pressure), but he's help make this blatant commercial greed possible, along with Congress.

    Free enterprise dictates that you charge what the maket can handle, but the economic recovery is pretty fragile at best. The poorest Americans are struggling to get by, and hitting them for an extra $10 at the pump each fill-up is painful. Lord knows I feel it.

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  4. Oh we feel it too....but I refuse to play the blame game towards Bush. Too easy of a target(as most presidents are), when there are others more responsible and greedy that should be held accountable.
    Agreeing to disagree here.

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  5. I respect your opinion on this and agree to diagreee.

    It's too easy to kick a man when he's down and Bush has definately seen better public relations days. I'm not going to ignore the oil company executives and distributors that are having a field day with our livlihood. But I can't let Bush off the hook.

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  6. At some point, gas demand has to become elastic...this can't go on forever! I wonder if consumption has decreased in the lower income brackets yet, because eventually it should. If we Americans weren't so obsessed with conspicuous consumption, we could beat the system of supply and demand. Unfortunately, little ole me and my gas-saving habits are not going to impact the economy on it's own...dammit!!

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  7. Most people just don't get that these resources are finite. We almost seemed to understand the importance of conservation about 20 years ago, then gas prices dropped for about 10 years and people stopped caring about fuel efficiency. Frustrating.

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