Rant #250: Gassed Prices

Have you noticed how, seemingly all of a sudden, gas is going up, up, and away again?

Just a year ago, I think we were paying about $2.00 a gallon. Now it has passed $3.00 a gallon, with no end in sight.

Oh, I know, the oil companies have an excuse for everything. They claim that even though the current quantities are plentiful, it takes more to manufacture "summer" gas than "winter gas," and thus, during the summer, the price goes up.

This is balderdash, of course. The price goes up because more people drive than they do during the winter. More people take longer trips, and thus, this is the period that the oil companies can make a real killing.

And they do. Their profits are up, but our salaries aren't. More people are out of work today, and those that do find a job are taking incredible pay cuts, some as much as 50 percent, from what they were making in their previous job.

Yes, the oil companies keep on raising prices.

What's worse, there is absolutely nothing that anybody can do about it.

Sure, you can ride a bicycle, but no, I can't personally get around on one. Maybe to trips to the supermarket, but that's it.

Simply put, we need automobile transportation, and, thus, we need gas.

And you know, that oil spill that we are reading about will also, eventually, be used as an excuse to jack the prices up.

You just know it.