Friday, February 18, 2011

Gas Prices--Old News Comes Around Again

When I wrote about Gas Prices three years ago (Jan 21, 2008), we were in crisis. From then, prices went up more, until just after the elections; then they suddenly tumbled (that's a conspiracy theory of its own).

Well, "they're ba-ack!" Meanwhile, the Economy is no better; we're still in recession, there are still more would-be workers than jobs, and many governments are in trouble (as I write this, Wisconsin, Ohio, and the Federal government are in the news, clashes between attempts to cut the budget and those who (pardon my editorializing) want what they want even if it collapses the house of cards.

And while all this is going on, gas prices have gone up by at least 25% in the last few weeks.

I know most of us need to buy gasoline, but with so many people hurting, how is demand staying up? It defies the laws of economics.

I'll make only one prediction: Something is going to have to change. (It's beyond me what will actually happen or who will get blamed for it.)