Feeling the pinch

I have some bad news for you...

No one ever likes to hear that line. It is, however, true of gasoline prices. In case you have not been watching, prices are inching their way upwards. According to an article today in the Arizona Republic that is attributed to the Associated Press, we are looking at prices that will soon be over the $3 mark. And they might stay there.

What has happened to cause this? Well, we are doing too good a job at not driving as much. Oil companies are also not running at their capacity on purpose.

There is no Katrina, No war, The earthquake in Chili did not affect the prices. The idea of supply and demand in reverse is actually doing it. Supply and demand says that if we do not use as much, then prices come down to encourage us to spend. But in this case, our conservation is going to cost us money because the oil companies are not profiting as much as they would like.

Does this mean they are losing money? Hardly. Exxon Mobil recorded profits last year. And, according to US News on March 8, they paid almost 116 billion in taxes. They did not take money from the government, they gave it money. BUT even after that, the company still made 45 billion dollars.

What we need to do is take a full day off. In Mesa, AZ over the weekend, the fire department let a fire engine company sit unused to save money. Governments and companies are furloughing people to save money. We need to quit using gas as a country for one day a month. For one day a month, NO ONE goes to a gas station to buy gas. Go there to get gum, or a soda, maybe some lottery tickets... but NO GAS! Let the stations lie idle and their tanks unused. We need to create such a surplus that the companies will be begging us to take gas off their hands.

I have one question also... Why is it that the price of gas in the ground is raised when it has already been paid for? It is not the stations that do it, they are told when and how much, so there is no reason to beat on them. But if we do not buy gas as country, then the oil companies as a whole will have a surplus.

Beware the Ides of March!