Gas prices

[PA Boxcall]

Oil price speculation was the tipping point for a sick economy in 2008, exposing all the market ploys with housing and mortgages going on.

This weakened recovery can not withstand this level of cost, I can see markets returning to 2008-2009 levels in near term if these prices remain.  We need a "thumbs down" icon....

[shad309]

It ranges from 3.38 to 3.49 here today in Central IL. I don't know how you can go 2 blocks & it's .10 difference???

Looks like it's time for me to fix the scooter in the garage!

[muddpuppi]

looks like i may be hitch hiking to the hunting woods

[Custom Caller]

looks like i may be hitch hiking to the hunting woods

Lord help them folks!

[West Augusta]

The Exxon down the road just went to 3.45  3.55 and  3.66. Looks like another record profit year for Exxon.

[turkey stew]

In MI. it ranges from 3.29- 3.45! The oil companies are playing their" What can the economy take game again!" We are going to make record profits every quarter this year and put it to the middle to lower class! The oil speculators love conflict in the Middle East! We should`nt have industrialized China! They now all have to drive cars and compete with us for crude oil! The free trade agreement was a whole pile of  !

[Barefoot]

Why are we not building more organic reclamation refineries? We already have the technology and ONE production refinery built that can convert ANY organic (carbon based) product into light Texas crude that could then be refined into gasoline and anything lighter. That means refining gasoline, kerosene, propane, butane, and ethane from plastic water bottles, household garbage and logger leftovers! But you don't even see the technology talked about on the news!

On top of all that, why won't the Idiot in Chief lift the moratorium on drilling in the gulf? That would produce more oil at home AND put people back to work! There's no reason to still be in this position of foreign oil dependence after our problems in 1978.

[Porter]

It's going up about a dime a day here in MO now...  Diesel isn't going up to bad right now though.  Gas is hovering at 3.14 a gallon now though...

[Gitzit69]

Check out this map
http://www.sfgate.com/maps/gasprices/

[wiltznucs]

Why won't the Idiot in Chief lift the moratorium on drilling in the gulf? That would produce more oil at home AND put people back to work! There's no reason to still be in this position of foreign oil dependence after our problems in 1978.

Because the richest deposits of Gulf oil are not in U.S. waters, the U.S. also lacks the refineries necessary to process enough product to meet our energy demands, and even if we were to invest in U.S. oil it would take decades to ramp up production due to bureaucratic red tape that Obama has absolutely no control over and wont be in office long enough to see through.  Furthermore, following the BP disaster American voters in the region arent big supporters of the oil industry right about now.  FL recently voted to suspend drilling by an overwhelming majority.

The answer is not to drill as a long term solution, but rather to drill only as a stop gap.  The long term answer is to find another cleaner energy source which is home grown.

[Barefoot]

Florida notwithstanding, the people of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas would love nothing more than to be allowed to go back to work, drilling in the gulf. They are starving for jobs and not being allowed to go back to those rig jobs that they were forced out of by one incident on one rig. Besides, it doesn't matter that the richest deposits of Gulf oil are not in American waters. We can drill in international waters, too! The moratorium only affects AMERICAN rigs and American jobs. The Presidents order has not stopped the Chinese or Russians from drilling in the Gulf, only Americans.

Also, do we not mostly buy crude from the middle east and refine it here? Wouldn't domestic competition drive down the price of OPEC oil? When are we going to wise up and realize that unless we drill now and put ourselves in a position to produce more domestic oil that we will forever be in this position of dependence on foreign oil? If we had committed to drilling and building more refineries at the last crisis, we wouldn't be hit as hard today by this one. And if we don't commit today to drill and build more refineries, we will STILL be dependent on foreign oil the NEXT time they decide to cut production and force prices up.

The answer is not to drill as a long term solution, but rather to drill only as a stop gap.  The long term answer is to find another cleaner energy source which is home grown

This brings me back to my original point. If we are so concerned about our environment and, at the same time, dependent on gasoline and other light crude products to power our economy, then why are we not aggressively pursuing the development of organic reclamation of our carbon based waste, converting it to the light crude that we are so dependent on? I know that we won't solve our problems tomorrow, but our efforts today will put us in a better position tomorrow. Instead, we are getting NO leadership that will solve ANY of the problems pointed out here. There are ways to provide incentives to build refineries. There are companies chomping at the bit to drill on domestic soil today. BOTH will provide relief to future crises like this one, but NEITHER is being allowed. Bureaucratic red tape be hanged!  That can be cut with the stroke of a Presidential pen.

[Turkeybuster]

Well said we have the oil right here also the oil in Alaska is being sent to Japan at a rate of 80% or slightly more.
You are right about the stroke of the Presidents pen we just don't have a President. Obama is controlled by big oil and unions and until this changes were stuck and the rut is getting deeper. This country could be self sufficient but we are being sold out. Libya's oil goes to Europe so how is this affecting our gas prices?

Jon