Gas Hikes Cost Econmy 20 Billion

While oil companies enjoy record profits, the average driver has already forked over an additional $146.00 per car this year.

"Spending billions more on gasoline constrains consumers' budgets, leaving less money available for other purchases," GAO's Thomas McCool said in written testimony to a House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hearing on the cause of record prices.

Like many other energy experts, McCool said the GAO has found that current high pump costs are the result of a large amount of oil refining capacity being offline, strong gasoline demand and lower fuel inventories.

With record profits, why isn't money being spent to modernize refineries and allow greater capacity. The reason is simple. They are screwing us plain and simple. With less capacity and greater demand comes higher prices and higher profits. It is time to enact a windfall profits tax that would be used to reimburse taxpayers for this horribly corrupt practice.

Gas Prices Continue To March Higher

Hold onto your wallets folks. The oil companies want more.

U.S. retail gasoline prices climbed to another record Monday, while crude oil futures were little changed amid concerns that domestic refiners are not producing enough gasoline to meet peak summer demand

A gallon of regular unleaded costs an average of $3.196 (84 cents a liter), up from $3.178 on Sunday, according to AAA and Oil Price Information Service. Prices are up 33.7 cents a gallon (9 cents a liter) from a month ago and 30.4 cents from a year ago, as demand remains strong, and a spate of planned and unexpected refinery shutdowns have constricted supply.

Why exactly are the refineries closing? Why don't they produce more when they are open? This is a deliberate attempt to further profit margins for the oil companies. When will Americans demand higher mileage standards? I am in Brazil and see thousands of small cars not sold in the United States made by American car companies. Why aren't these cars available. Its time to demand answers to these questions.

High Gas Prices Have Not Curtailed Driving

With gas prices over $3.00 per gallon, most experts expected to see a decline in the amount of driving being done by motorists. That decline has not materialized.

The rising price of gasoline has certainly increased the amount of complaining from drivers paying $3 a gallon or more to fill up their cars, but it so far has done little to curtail how much people are driving.

That's the message from government statistics showing that demand for gasoline is only just starting to level off even as refinery outages and tight supplies have sent pump prices soaring by 43 percent since the end of January.

It is hard to see where motorists can make changes to their habits that would allow them to limit their driving. Driving to work is a necessity for most as the public transportation systems do not have a large enough reach to make them a viable alternative. With more and more people living further away from the employment centers due to the high cost of housing, options become limited. Adjustments to spending are more likely to take place as a result of the high cost of gasoline. I believe we are reaching a perfect storm in our economy. With the housing market crumbling and energy inflation running rampant, the only place to go is down. It is time for a windfall profits tax to be placed on the oil companies who are raping the consumers and laughing all the way to the bank.