Speculating about Gasoline Prices

I ran across this sign while pumping gas at the Kangaroo at the 52 Bypass.


The featured Web site suggests oil speculation is one of the biggest reasons for the spike in gasoline prices. Even the SC Trucking Association is joining forces with the coalition.

When you Google "Oil deregulation," the first entry took me to this legislation. But, I couldn't find the Act mentioned on the U.S. government's own Web site! So what gives? If you can find the law, please post it in the comments.

Is it speculation or is it greed? Oil company profits also hit all-time highs as regular folks are truly hurting. If the rise in prices was a supply issue, wouldn't the companies be making the same profits? If I increased the price of ice in Florida after a hurricane above the amount of increased costs I endured, I would be prosecuted for price gouging. Even House Republicans are warning the industry of price gouging. With nine bills dealing with oil prices floating around Capitol Hill, maybe one of them will help alleviate the problem.

The Energy Information Administration recorded the following prices for regular unleaded gasoline on the East Coast here

$0.992 – July 27, 1999
$1.464 – July 31, 2000
$1.279 – July 30, 2001
$1.338 – July 29, 2002
$1.485 – July 28, 2003
$1.881 – July 26, 2004
$2.259 – July 25, 2005
$2.965 – July 31, 2006
$2.857 – July 30, 2007
$3.942 – July 28, 2008

These prices suggest a distinct change in 2004-05. What law kicked in at that point? Or was it something else?

The gas station signs raises the question, "Is oil speculation the cause of the "skyrocketing" prices?" The Global Research of Canada says here that speculation could be as much as 60% of the price! A radio program said the figure was probably closer to 15 percent of the price. Either way, more transparency and education on how these markets function is needed. I'm not sure if I want the oil companies explaining it to me however. For some reason, I think they might gloss over some details.

That is what puzzled me as I pumped $38 into a 4-door sedan. Is the SOS campaign run by oil companies? What do they know that we don't? The cashier told me the signs were sent by the main company as the other featured specials are. Nothing unusual to her. But isn't it unusual for a company/corporation to be promoting particular political actions without disclosing who is behind it or funding it? The "Contact Us" directs you to the Coalition to Stop Oil Speculation Now, but that doesn't say who's really paying for this potential propaganda.

I will be contacting the Coalition and hope to report something more than questions in the coming weeks.

Drilling for misinformation

Rumors abound. Everyone is talking about oil. Gas prices. Drilling in Alaska.
Oil companies, foreign governments, regular citizens all put forth their ideas here on the Web. What's true and what's not is hard to distinguish.

On the (Internet) radio, I heard that Alaskan oil was being exported to Japan rather than being refined and used here to keep us "energy independent." A Google search revealed a range of answers to my skeptical mind. Some sites dismissed the entire idea that the oil was sent abroad while others noted that Pres. Clinton, after much prodding from oil companies, allowed oil exports to Asia.

We've all seen the ads that try to sell us the idea that oil companies are friendly, clean, happy people that just want to make our world a shiny, happy place. ... Based on my last trip to the filling station, that can't be entirely true. (A further explanation of a specific example can be found here too.)

How much can we believe our myriad sources of information when many are owned by a handful of corporate conglomerates?

This site Save The Internet says that

The nation's largest telephone and cable companies -- including AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and Time Warner -- want to be Internet gatekeepers, deciding which Web sites go fast or slow and which won't load at all.

Are we going to let this happen? Find your senators here and your representatives here.

The Supreme Court declared in 1945 that "the widest possible dissemination of information from diverse and antagonistic sources is essential to the welfare of the public, that a free press is a condition of a free society."

I agree.
I don't want big corporations censoring America. I want to hear every one's opinion. I want to be able to examine all these opinions, facts and sides of every issue and decide for myself. I want to critically think about issues because nearly all are not as black and white as they appear in 15-min. rotations on CNN, MSNBC or FoxNews.

What about you?
Post your ideas in the comments section.