" $4-a-gallon prices look likely "

[RedEarth]

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Retail gasoline prices haven't kept pace with the historic rally in the crude-oil futures market, but the cost of filling up the gas tank is still on the rise despite the fuel being in plentiful supply domestically.

The average retail price of a gallon of gasoline rose 9 cents in the past two weeks to stand at $3.19 a gallon for self-serve regular, according to the latest Lundberg Survey of 7,000 stations around the nation. Midgrade averaged $3.31 a gallon and premium was $3.42 a gallon, according to fortnightly survey data released over the weekend

On a percentage basis, the increase amounts to a jump of barely 3% in the past 14 days, much less than the 9% jump in crude futures to Monday's record of $107.85 a barrel.

.......

"There's still a structural shortage in some of the blending components that make summer-grade gasoline," Smith said. "You combine that with $100 oil, and it looks likely we could have over $4 gasoline."

http://custom.marketwatch.com/custom/myway-com/news-story.asp?guid={52C031CC-4A9A-4DA4-BEA8-0380F4281058}

[NightWatcher]

1. I remember freaking out over the "idea" of $3 gas

I also remember running to the gas station when a local shortage caused the price to jump to a massive $3.02 a gal last year.
I also remember waiting in line to pay a slight bit less than $3 for gas after Hurrican Ivan down in Gulf Breeze, Fl.

Today gas near me was $3.22 and no one makes a sound with the exception of a few truckers who had to park their rigs at the port because they were losing money.

[tachyon]

2. The little rural station where I usually get gas has old pumps that can't set over 2.99

so they rigged them for $1.80 and put signs on them that say "CAUTION, your price will be TWICE the amount shown on the pump!"

:eyes:

[JoDog]

5. I don't know who

to "make a sound" to. My congressman is a Republican and busy trying to get re-elected. One of my senators is try to get elected president, and the other is spending a lot of his time helping that effort. The current president doesn't know/doesn't care. The Fed is more concerned about making banks and Wall street feel comfortable than trying to stop the inflation that is fueling these rallys. And the investors and traders know only their own greed.

So who do I scream to when what little money I have managed to set aside goes into my gas tank? When I can't afford to keep my job and can't find another?

[JoDog]

3. I don't know what I'm going to do

if this keeps continuing. I have a long commute, and can't find a job closer to where I live. And housing prices closer to where I live are too high for my salary, even taking lower spending on gas into account.

I may be pushed into bankrupcy by all this.

[electron_blue]

12. Just curious - how many miles is your commute?

And any chance of carpooling it with someone?

[JoDog]

31. 60 miles each way

I've tried to find a carpool buddy, but no success so far.

[tabasco]

4. Thanks Bush. Thanks republican voters.

Thanks, those who do not vote.

[MercutioATC]

6. ...makes my 14MPG car look less and less attractive...

23-gallon tank X $4/gallon = $92 fillups...and that lasts me a week if I'm lucky...

[taterguy]

11. When was it ever attractive?

It's gotta be over 30 years old.

Surely you weren't dumb enough to buy a low mileage car even after instability in the Mideast proved the the price of oil is quite volatile.

Were you?

[we can do it]

14. Really? What About SUVs

[taterguy]

17. Generally bought by dumb people

With some very rare exceptions for people that have a compelling reason to own one.

[we can do it]

34. I Agree About Dumb People Buying Them For the Most Part

I meant about the vehicle's age. (I was trying to be nice, too.)

[MercutioATC]

22. It's a 2001. Audi S8

It's a gas hog and the extremely low mileage is mostly due to how I drive it, but it's a blast to drive.

[taterguy]

23. I'll bet the people slaughtered in senseless oil wars enjoy it even more

[MercutioATC]

30. I do plenty of things to preserve the environment...

...from recycling to not using plastic bags to only using natural fertilizers to keeping my heat/air conditioning turned to reasonable levels and using ceiling fans and CF bulbs. Driving is my vice. This is my toy.

[taterguy]

32. Consuming 100 gallons of gas per month hurts the Earth no matter what else you do

It's your life and you're free to do whatever you want.

Just don't pretend that you're not a big part of the problem.

Enjoy the oil wars that you're helping to perpetuate.

[Ilsa]

7. OPEC President: says could get better after Bush is replaced...

Prices could retreat in 2009 with a recovery of the U.S. dollar in foreign exchange markets following the election of a new U.S. president...

snip

The world economy could get some help with the arrival of a new U.S. president, and possibly a new economic policy, "and with this new situation it is very probable that the dollar will start to recover and thus permit a readjustment of the (oil) market," El Moudjahid quoted him as saying.

OPEC members meeting in Vienna last week decided to hold production flat, insisting markets were well supplied and blaming record prices on factors outside the group's control, including speculators and what Khelil called the "mismanagement" of the U.S. economy.

snip

http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/080310/opec_khelil.html

[alfredo]

8. It's $3.25 for reg unleaded here in Lexington. People are rather grim

about the future.

[Javaman]

9. oh really? well no shit. I'm thinking 5 bucks is more than likely. nt

it hits 4 bucks and our economy is in the proverbial shitter.

truckers are already on the skids and selling rigs because of the current prices. 4 bucks will increase this trend, thus driving up shipping costs, thus driving up food costs.

as the dollar does it's death spiral and inflation has the sky as it's limit, you can bet your ass we are going to see 5 buck a gallon gas by oh, I think sept or oct.

Oil should be close to 200 by that point as well.

that's when we hit the flusher, because, since this nation basically is run on gas and oil, we are done.

Weeeeee!!! hope you have a garden and know how to jar! Get those rain barrels now before the price of oil makes them too expensive. (they are made of out plastic, remember?)

Get used to being cold and reading by beewax candles (regular candles are made from parafin, oil again)

The list goes on and on...try for a day, and write down everything you do in your life that is effected by oil. I bet you fill a book.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

10. $3.499 here in California last week for regular near my home

I'm afraid to find out what it's going for this week. And last week diesel was $4.10. I'm glad I didn't buy that used diesel VW Rabbit I was going to buy a few years ago, thinking that diesel would remain fairly cheap compared to other fuels.

[girl gone mad]

24. Diesel cars get better mileage.

Up to 30% better, plus the engines can last twice as long without needing to be rebuilt.

Don't discount diesel out of hand just because of the current price differential. It could reverse again in the near future once the costs of the EPA mandated low sulfur change get worked out.

[tom_paine]

13. Not during the months leading up to November.

Look during the standard Bushie Price Drops we have seen in every "election" since 2002.

The Oil Bushies will be stealing hand over fist now to artificially subsidize the "mysterious steep drop" that will be coming sometime this summer.

And you know what? It will work. Living in Imperial Amerika these last seven years has taught me two things:

1) Crime pays (if you are a Bushie)

2) The Bad Guys usually win.

[Stuart G]

15. I agree, not during the Bush Drop, and.....

they try to get Mc Insain elected...

but next year............maybe 8 dollars a gallon....especially if Obama wins..

[ShaWee]

16. Thank god I use the metro.

I'm so glad that my school is reachable by metro. 4$ a gallon is undoubtedly coming.

[anitar1]

18. At first glance, I thought you meant milk? Or is it

also 4 bucks a gallon already ?

[Mike03]

19. This is interesting. The debate in the business journalism and literature for years has been

"At what point does the price of gas really begin to hurt?" The figure I remember was $3.50 a gallon, but $4 and $5 a gallon gas was predicted within this decade by a number of petroleum experts.

Most of us would say it already hurts. I'm lucky in that I don't have a long commute or a need to drive long distances, but if I did, I know it would be getting very painful about now. When I lived in Los Angeles it was not unusual for me to drive forty, fifty or more miles a day.

[high density]

20. Of course, it's time to change to the "summer blend"

So that means the prices must go up.

[superkia]

27. Their summer blend is a bunch of shit! I could run my car on the...

summer blend two years ago with no problems, winter I couldnt becasue the engine would ping or whatever you call it. I noticed last spring when we had a price spike, the media said it was because the gas had switched to the summer blend, so I went to my usual regular instead of premeium. The engine still pinged? and I had to continue running premium to avoid it. They always tell us its because we are running out of oil, we drive more or summer blend? Its all nonsense and we eat it up.

Its pretty simple, bush took over in 2000, march of 2000, Self-serve regular, unleaded gasoline averaged $1.54 per gallon nationwide. 13 months prior, gas prices were the lowest ever, after accounting for inflation. The national average price of a gallon of regular gasoline hit a low of 92 cents. Crude oil in 2000 was $27.39, $33.39 adjusted for inflation.


We are being robbed and run into poverty by an elite agenda, everyone should buckle up because the numbers just go up.

[high density]

29. The gas they are selling us is total crap

My rather new car makes all sorts of weird noises burning it, and it's made for 87 octane. I'm going to try 89 octane but its ridiculous because I shouldn't have to burn that.

[maine_raptor]

33. "Bad" gasoline is real, folks.

I not only use gas for the car and truck, but with what I have to take care of, a tractor and snowblower, too.

Last summer I noticed a problem with my tractor's engine which I traced back to a problem with the carburetor setting. I made the adjustment, got the machine back running right, but at the time I thought it was funny that it needed an adjustment so soon (only a few hours on the meter) after it's yearly tune-up.

Then, early this winter, I had a problem with my snowblower (and just when I needed it the most -first snowstorm). I had taken it out of storage and gotten it ready, including adding a new tankful of gas and running it a bit, about about a month earlier, and it ran fine then. After fiddling with it a bit, I found the carb housing on that puppy was filled with water. About 6 ounces or so.

To make a long story short, after getting it back running and cleaning off my driveway, I took it down to the dealer to have him check it for what I thought was some sort of leak. I was then informed that this "problem" was common among snowblower owners across all makes and brands due to recent changes in the formulation of gasoline.

Now I now this guy (the dealer), is one of the most honest, straightforward businessperson I know, so I'm damn sure his explanation is true. And since then, over the past few months, I've gotten similar stories from loggers and other woods workers about problems with small engines and gas.

Anybody else, working with small engines, seeing this?

[Orsino]

21. They're inevitable.

We're addicted to a finite resource that's running low. It'll be ten dollars a gallon someday, too.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

25. I remember paying $.99 /gallon for gasoline 5 years ago.

4 times the price in a little over 5 years is insane!

[Diclotican]

26. RedEarth

RedEarth

Get used to high petrol prices... Here I live (not in US) we are paying comparing to 6 dollar a Liter. (Not a gallon that is 3,9 Liter). Yes we complain a lot.. But we have to do it anyway... And we are one of the country who are producing the thing... And even then we pay allot for the pleasure of driving... My car is the most expensive thing I own today... With insurance, and petrol it cost my a Little treasure.. I can use a lot of cab for the prize of my car ownership... But the freedom then....

Good I don't drive a hog of a car, but a slim little japanese car...

Diclotican

Sorry my bad English, not my native language

[Township75]

28. As long as their are Hummers on the road, I say good

This is the only way to force this gas hungry country to conserve.