NEW YORK — Gasoline prices have never been higher this time of the year.
At $3.53 a gallon, prices are already up 25 cents since Jan. 1. And experts say they could reach a record $4.25 a gallon by late April.
“You’re going to see a lot more staycations this year,” says Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research. “When the price gets anywhere near $4, you really see people react.”
The surge in gas prices follows an increase in the price of oil.
Oil around the world is priced differently. Brent crude from the North Sea is a proxy for the foreign oil that’s imported by U.S. refineries and turned into gasoline and other fuels. Its price has risen 11 percent so far this year, to around $119 a barrel, because of tensions with Iran, a cold snap in Europe and rising demand from developing nations. West Texas Intermediate, used to price oil produced in the U.S., is up 4 percent to around $103 a barrel. That’s 19 percent higher than a year earlier.
Higher gas prices could hurt consumer spending and curtail the recent improvement in the U.S. economy.
A 25-cent jump in gasoline prices, if sustained over a year, would cost the economy about $35 billion. That’s only 0.2 percent of the total U.S. economy, but economists say it’s a meaningful amount, especially at a time when growth is only so-so.
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FalseHopeNoChange (anonymous) says…
Big deal. This is Bush's fault anyway. Rove is telling Rummy to tell Cheney to tell his Big Corporate oil pals in Saudi Arabia to jack up prices for the election.
Take the T.
UNIKU (anonymous) replies…
This is the Lawrence Police Dept's fault! Clearly!
merrill (anonymous) says…
Shopping/errands methods
One big idea: Less demand for oil around the world = less war
For everyday errands:
1. Start walking to do shopping and pay bills. Bike trailers that convert to strollers would be a smart companion. Or used baby strollers
2. Bike to do shopping and pay bills. Bike trailers would be a smart companion
3. Street ready electric golf carts to do shopping and pay bills. Coolers would be great companions that which are secured with straps. Not allowed on highways( Iowa,6th and 23rd)
4. Small fuel efficient vehicles = the most expensive choice
5. Public Transportation
Notice fuel prices never return to previous lows. Instead keep inching higher and higher.
Informed (anonymous) replies…
merrill = broken record with little grasp of reality
merrill (anonymous) says…
And tune up the vehicles plus keep tires inflated at psi suggested inside the driver side door.
wissmo (anonymous) says…
Slippery slope we are heading down. Many companies small and large use increased fuel costs to push in extra boosts in revenue beyond the true cost.
Translation: Here comes inflation. Better, why is a green pepper costing 2 bucks mommy?
Please before we here all of us need to crowd in a stinky bus, remember farmers, folks living rural, and last but not the least the small independent person who must drive to make a living.
FalseHopeNoChange (anonymous) says…
The key for The Obama is to continue the drilling ban. Old America used to drill 10 million barrels of oil a day on the continent. New America is at 7 million. Banning Keystone and drilling bans in the Gulf are a good start for his Jihad.
Ride the T
uncleandyt (anonymous) replies…
Some strangers give me the impression that they think "American oil" is somehow the property of all Americans. Keystone part one is up and leaking. Drilling is not banned in the Gulf. Ride the Truth
Number_1_Grandma (anonymous) says…
We have excess oil in reserves. It's the greed to sell oil at record prices for record profits that's the problem. Take oil off the commodities market. We should not be exporting any of our oil. Make manufacturers of autos who want to keep corporate welfare ( subsidies ) to sell only natural gas autos here is US like they do in Europe to keep the subsidies. Quit being so depended on Canadian oil, Mexico oil and lastly Saudia Arabia oil lastly. Check the facts people. Google it and find out how the politicians have duped us into believing the lies!!
tange (anonymous) says…
“You’re going to see a lot more staycations this year....”
Whoa, I am totally out of the loop. Has playstation been supplanted?
overplayedhistory (anonymous) replies…
Implanted is more like it. Now it can go wherever you go, except you can not afford to drive there.
commonsenseanyone (anonymous) says…
Tell Barack I'm Baroke!
vertigo (Jesse Crittenden) replies…
You obviously didn't read the article, did you? Unless Obama is responsible for Iran's nuclear ambition, a cold winter in Europe, and the increase in automobiles in China and India then you don't have a clue as to what you are talking about.
Getaroom (anonymous) replies…
Well, no common sense is more like it here. You have told everyone in Lawrence you are broke and I am sure your new best friend "Barack", President Obama to you, will hear about that real soon.
commonsenseanyone (anonymous) replies…
Tell barack I'm Baroke!
Cant_have_it_both_ways (anonymous) says…
Fuel was at $1.85 a gallon with Obama took office.
beatrice (anonymous) replies…
Yet the Dow Jones has gone up 60 percent since Obama took office!
http://www.cleveland.com/datacentral/...
Wallythewalrus (anonymous) replies…
I would buy more stocks if I didn't have to drive to work. (sic).
classclown (Class Clown) says…
merrill (anonymous) says…
Shopping/errands methods...
3. Street ready electric golf carts to do shopping and pay bills. Coolers would be great companions that which are secured with straps. Not allowed on highways( Iowa,6th and 23rd)...
February 19, 2012 at 4:36 a.m.
========================================================
"Not allowed on highways( Iowa,6th and 23rd)"
That's where all the stores are.
BornAgainAmerican (anonymous) says…
“Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe,” said Steven Chu — the man Barack Obama would ultimately tap to be energy secretary — in September 2008. He was explaining to The Wall Street Journal that higher energy prices are the centerpiece of the Left’s energy overhaul. Well, I don’t know if they’ve figured out the Euro-boost yet, but we are halfway to Vienna.
http://thenewamerican.com/opinion/sel...
The Obama War on Energy is succeeding. Bans on domestic drilling, failure to approve Keystone, EPA regulations, proposed emission taxes, etc, etc, etc.
Oh wait...let's keep throwing money at cronies who run failed alternative energy companies like Solyndra. That'll satisfy the far left extremists and make our friends happy.
Armstrong (anonymous) says…
Hope and change
gphawk89 (anonymous) replies…
I'll gladly pay $8 a gallon from now until early November if that's what it takes to bring about some more "change".
JackMcKee (anonymous) says…
Am I the only one that sees Merrill's name on a post and just scrolls past it as soon as possible?
Pete_Schweti (anonymous) replies…
No you are not!
merrill (anonymous) says…
""Not allowed on highways( Iowa,6th and 23rd) That's where all the stores are."
Laws allow for crossing those streets and there are many ways to get there. I've done it on my bicycle. This town is easy to get around while avoiding the fast moving roadways.
Jane (anonymous) replies…
What about Mass Street? Isn't it a highway? Seems I remember they closed down the 'adult' store on Mass using the fact that it is a highway, and thus not allowed. I could be wrong, please advise.
cg22165 (anonymous) says…
Looking at the bigger picture, which is more expensive?
a) Driving out to a field in Pennsylvania or Texas and drilling a well.
b) Drilling for oil from a platform floating a couple of miles above where the hole starts.
Why are there offshore platforms?
It has something to do with the fact that easy oil from Pennsylvania and Texas is mostly gone.
At the same time, population in the US has about doubled since Pennsylvania was a major oil-producing state, and, as noted, demand for petroleum from other parts of the world has increased a lot.
There is a finite amount of oil on the earth, and we are using it up faster than it is being made. Easy to access fields are dwindling, it is becoming more expensive to extract, and the demand is going up; no one in their right mind should expect the price to not go up. There is nothing that any individual or political party can do to change those basic facts.
merrill (anonymous) says…
KDOT might want to think commuter train service instead of new highways = better bang for the tax buck.
FalseHopeNoChange (anonymous) replies…
lol
Informed (anonymous) replies…
I think you've been inhaling the fumes from your gas-powered mowers for too long.
tomatogrower (anonymous) says…
Of course the oil prices are going up. The economy is improving. The oil companies can't have that. How else will they get their man in the White House?
srj (anonymous) replies…
The numbers say you are right about the economy, but nobody wants to believe it. The Fed sure don't believe it, because they say inflation is not an issue.
deec (anonymous) says…
Record profits nearly every quarter for a decade or more might have something to do with gas prices, as might speculation in oil markets.
cg22165 (anonymous) replies…
Right, and if you have
a) something in plentiful supply around the world
b) something with limited supply and increasing demand
Which do you think will make you more money?
deec (anonymous) replies…
Or they could be happy with less profits so working people could afford to drive.
jafs (anonymous) replies…
This sort of common sense approach seems to be missed by many people, who seem to think only in extremes.
Of course, to be fair, public companies have financial obligations to their shareholders, and if they stop maximizing profits, they may be violating those.
Katara (anonymous) replies…
Many of those shareholders are their workers.
cg22165 (anonymous) replies…
I think I'll try doing without more government price fixing for now, or maybe you think that the majority of people will not seek to maximize their own profit. That's a pleasant fantasy.
Cheap gas is not an inalienable right.
Cappy (anonymous) says…
Since the republicans have nothing else to offer, it would not surprise me if they asked their Big Oil masters to raise prices through speculation to create a talking point for the election year and to slow down economic growth that hurts their numbers.
Liberty_One (anonymous) says…
Sigh. The price of gas isn't going up. The value of your dollars is going down. The government steals our wealth, secretly and unobserved, via inflation--that is, making more dollars and spending them, causing the existing money to lose value.
What's sad is that this is the stated GOAL of Keynesian, that is, mainstream, economics. They are doing this on purpose to "help" us. The idea is to trick everyone into thinking they are just as wealthy while secretly stealing the people's wealth and having the government spend it in the silly idea that spending more money will make the economy better.
tange (anonymous) replies…
Three sentences, relativity
Luckily, we have that constant, c
Sentence four, out the door; FAIL, once more
Liberty_One (anonymous) replies…
Stop bothering me. I've asked you enough times. Next time you get reported.
tange (anonymous) replies…
[Replying to my own comment]
Alex (is it Alex, the moderator?)
Are we not permitted to reply to comments in an idiosyncratic fashion? If a user posts a comment which opens with three relativistic remarks and then follows with a fourth which, in *light* of competing perspectives, FAILs, in my opinion, to meet a standard of validity, am I not permitted to address it because the user considers such a response "bothering?"
I'm guessing many who comment in these forums would find an orienting reply helpful.
Please forward my apology to Liberty_One. Had I realized that such an *outspoken* user has such a thin skin, then I might have donned the kid gloves.
Gandalf (anonymous) replies…
tange, if he tells enough people to leave him alone, he'll never lose an argument. :)
tange (anonymous) replies…
Nothing more abrasive than a poem.
Liberty_One (anonymous) replies…
You're not addressing anything, tange. You're being an annoying troll. Simply calling something a FAIL is being a troll. How about you leave the serious threads to the grown-ups and go play your silliness on the On the Street thread, mmKay? I hear the Bachelor is on tonight, why don't you go talk about that?
overplayedhistory (anonymous) replies…
Grown ups! please! You are temper tantrum prone. You got all bent out of shape when I reminded you that Ron Paul was still, whether you wanted to believe it or not, a social conservative. My wife was reading the exchange and asked me later if I thought liberty_One was a woman. Swear to my agnostic God (That group of telescopes in Peru with 27foot diameter mirrors).
Liberty_One (anonymous) replies…
overplayed, just because I stand up to you doesn't mean it's a temper tantrum. If you say something untrue I will contest it. That's what an adult conversation is like. You want to talk to me like I'm a child, as if I should just accept your statements as truth. Sorry, but I'm a grown-up, whether you like it or not, and I will stand up to you.
Regardless, calling Paul a social conservative is rather naive, unless you think being a social conservative is defined by one issue and one issue alone. On issues like drug prohibition, gay marriage prohibition, the mosque that was built in NYC, "national defense" issues and other such issues where the social conservatives clearly fall on one side, Dr. Paul falls on the other.
Just because you think you are right doesn't mean you are. I know you don't it when I stand up to you, but that's because you don't want a conversation between equals but one where you dominate.
overplayedhistory (anonymous) replies…
Ron Paul is a social conservative, Everyone accepts that except you, you know because if you are pro life you are still a social libertarian in your world.
Liberty_One (anonymous) replies…
Uh-huh. You don't like it when people stand up to you, do you? I point out facts like that Dr. Paul differs with social conservatives on *multiple* issues, and you counter with a simple declaration, as if you are somehow above me and don't need to counter anything I say with facts or reason. You want to talk down to me and not have your declarations challenged in any way.
Sorry, but that's not how this works. If you are unable to provide anything at all to support your views other than mere assertions that they are correct, then you have done nothing at all. Here's two more facts that tower above your mere assertions: Ron Paul is also against banning prostitution and he voted to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell. Check and mate. You are wrong, and, like a two-year-old, throwing a tantrum by simply asserting that you're right instead of, like an adult, using logic and facts to support your views.
Grow up.
overplayedhistory (anonymous) replies…
5 long paragraphs in 2 post, I must of said something true you don't like.
tange (anonymous) replies…
Yeah, Delicate_One, I could tell you were a grup the moment you asserted, "The government steals our wealth...." Quite mature. And oh so deep. Worthy of all CAPS, in fact... and hands flailing in the air....
You know, mon Libertaire, no one protests the taking of liberties (i.e., self-expression) in these forums more than thee. You're a liberty-asserting contradiction.
"Am I buggin' you? I don't mean to bug ya."
(from a source...)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9NaIY...
/ Alex! Liberty called me a "troll!"
Liberty_One (anonymous) replies…
tange, really? Asserting our property rights against an invasive government is now immature? I guess the whole revolutionary war was just a juvenile prank.
"You're a liberty-asserting contradiction."
Sigh. Another person who doesn't know what liberty is. Liberty is not the same thing as power. I do not have the power to jump across the ocean. To say that I am not free to jump across the ocean is really to say that I don't have that power.
This is not your website. You do not own it. Thus you do not have any freedom to use it as you wish. Anyone expressing their concerns to the owner of the site about the use of another is not engaged in the limitation of anyone's liberty because you possess none when it comes to other people's property. If you kick an unruly guest out of your house you are not infringing upon their liberty but asserting your property rights. To assert that your liberty is being infringed upon is actually to infringe upon the property rights of the owners of the site. YOU are the one trying to infringe upon liberty by claiming a right to do with someone else's property what you wish.
tange (anonymous) replies…
[sigh]
Another person who understands neither wealth nor liberty, mired in the (Im)material, sticky stuck in ticky tack, flack jack all aflap.
Liberty is neither a thing, like property, nor proscriptive "rights" to it. Uncircumscribed, it rolls onto the open shore in unabated waves, eroding, reroding.
This is not your insight. You cannot own it. Thus, it and the liberty it affords elude you—you who would free yourself with a fence and tether.
To come unhinged at "liberty infringed" by strings proximately strung renders you the unsung self-styled poster child of... pettiness.
tange (anonymous) replies…
hmm... had a word left over... "unstrung"
here, it appears to be yours
Liberty_One (anonymous) replies…
tange, your argument by assertion is a FAIL. You see, just declaring what you believe as if that is an argument by itself means you have no actual substance. This is the method of a petulant child who just yells "Mine!" as if that is the only thing required.
Grow up.
tange (anonymous) replies…
Liberty_One, your argument by assertion is a FAIL. You see, just declaring what you believe as if that is an argument by itself means you have no actual substance. This is the method of a petulant child who just yells "Mine!" as if that is the only thing required.
Grup.
beatrice (anonymous) replies…
If prices on everything were rising at a consistent level with gas, then you might be right. They are not. As a single product, the price of gas is going up. What will you be saying when the price of gas reaches a peak and then comes back down -- that our dollar is more valuable and that the government is behind deflation?
Liberty_One (anonymous) replies…
bea--Inflation doesn't happen at a consistent level, that's what makes it a big problem. If everything went up at the same rate--including wages--then the distribution of wealth wouldn't change at all, would it? It is precisely the UNequal rise in prices that is the true threat of inflation as some benefit and others are harmed. It is truly the most heinous form of wealth redistribution because it takes from the poor and middle class and gives to the wealthy and powerful--mostly unobserved!
"What will you be saying when the price of gas reaches a peak and then comes back down"
Reaches a peak? It has NEVER been this high at this time of year. This is a new peak and it is only getting worse. Good thing I live close enough to work I can walk....
Regardless, of course prices have seasonal ups and downs, it's the long-term trend we are really talking about. If gas goes up to $4.50 a gallon this summer and back to $3.80 next January, that will still be setting a new record high for that month, even though it will have come down from the seasonal summer high price.
"that our dollar is more valuable and that the government is behind deflation? "
Only if the government decreases the money supply, which they have not been doing. You see, it's not just that prices are up, but that they are higher than they otherwise would have been. Prices should be lower than they are--we are in a recession, after all. It's not just that prices are going up, it's that they aren't going down like the should be. During a recession, prices go down until they clear the market. This hasn't been allowed to happen and that's why we have persistently high unemployment.
tange (anonymous) replies…
The schemata within which you cycle have lost their utility, survived only by an impassioned dance. Something simpler, more elegant is required. Time to begin modeling the economy as we do the weather, Katie NOT withstanding.
/ I love ya, Katie; I do
Gandalf (anonymous) says…
Oddly enough the rise in gas prices co-incides with Obamas rise back to 50% in popularity polls. Surely bushco's oil buddies wouldn't want Obama to take popularity hit because of rising fuel price could they?
I did notice that diesel is still at 2.99 today. Guess it's a selective rise.
beatrice (anonymous) says…
If anyone thinks that gasoline will forever be cheap should have their head examined. It is a finite resource that is growing in demand. Certainly, if John McCain was in office today does not mean we would be enjoying inexpensive gasoline. Gas prices rose and fell under Bush, under Clinton, under Bush, under Reagan, under Clinton ...
Or, too bad Michelle Bachmann is already out of the race for President. She promised $2 a gallon gas!
snap_pop_no_crackle (anonymous) says…
Looks like merrill's trotting out all his golden oldies, no matter how impractical they are.
tange (anonymous) says…
Looks like math's trotting out all his golden oldies, no matter how irrelevant they are.
tange (anonymous) says…
Looks like math's trotting out all his golden oldies, no matter how irrelevant they are.
tange (anonymous) replies…
Twins. Finally.
yourworstnightmare (anonymous) says…
Don't like high gas prices? Don't buy gas. Walk.
Informed (anonymous) says…
I'm paying roughly $5 a gallon for gas. Our oil comes from Venezuela so can I blame Chavez?
thuja (anonymous) says…
Super Dinosaur!
beatrice (anonymous) says…
I've noticed that the group that whines the loudest about how government shouldn't be in the position of taking care of us are now the first to whine that the government should be taking care of us by making sure we have access to cheap gasoline.
ibroke (anonymous) says…
i would rather have Carter in office he was a much better president!
FalseHopeNoChange (anonymous) says…
"New America" needs The Obama. They desperately need him. Well, at least half of New America needs him. The half with skin in the game, (federal taxpayers)... not so much.
The Obama and his accomplice, the most beautiful first lady to date. Have pretty much spent all of our "stash" and then some. He and her have even spent the "stash" of the growing number of children wanting "sex change" .
What a guy and gal.
Mixolydian (anonymous) says…
There are just too many variables involved to lay this mess at Obama's feet, but no matter which political party you fall under, you have to look warily at an administration that has deemed high energy prices to be a laudable goal in the interest of promoting conservation.
The high price of gas is bad enough, but what it does to the price of everything else is what's really damaging. Forget the price of a gallon of gas and look at the price of a gallon of milk over the past 2 years. The price of all food. The price of absolutely anything that's transported. Our dollar has been weakened by our out of control debt and bond rating reduction and that's just piling on to this inflation.
Inflation and a much higher unemployment rate than is actually being reported is kiling us. The stagnation of the late 70's is preferable to these conditions.
ibroke (anonymous) says…
There are just too many variables involved to lay this mess at Obama's feet------ well then it must be bush's fault because it is never obama's fault
tomatogrower (anonymous) says…
It is Obama's fault. His policies are digging us out of the mess that Bush left, and it's not what the conservatives wanted. The oil companies want him out as president, so they hike up prices to make the economy worse. In the meantime they make even more money. A win-win situation for them.
Of course, since Iran is going to cut off Europe, then prices are naturally going up. That is if capitalism really works in the oil business, which it doesn't.
jayhawklawrence (anonymous) says…
You can't drill your way out of this. We have to start transitioning away from a fossil fuel based economy.
Bush couldn't do and Obama can't do it either.
Big Oil has a strangle hold on the US Congress.
Expect a lot of propaganda about how paying $5 a gallon is a good thing.
snap_pop_no_crackle (anonymous) says…
Everybody buy a Volt! We can keep warm by standing near them when they explode into flames.
Wallythewalrus (anonymous) replies…
Thanks for the laugh, it was getting too serious up in here.
snap_pop_no_crackle (anonymous) says…
This story is a year old, but still relevant. http://blog.heritage.org/2011/01/07/g...
classclown (Class Clown) says…
Jane (anonymous) replies…
What about Mass Street? Isn't it a highway? Seems I remember they closed down the 'adult' store on Mass using the fact that it is a highway, and thus not allowed. I could be wrong, please advise.
February 19, 2012 at 10:39 p.m.
========================================
I believe the opposite is true. If memory serves, in an effort to get rid of that store, the city made an ordinance that those types of stores must be limited to highways and then told them they had to go after that business had already been established at that location.
Mass street is not a highway therefore, no naughty businesses.