Killer Prices (as submitted to Highestwire)

Submitted by Kyle Helson on Sunday, March 20, 2005 at 07:29:00 AM EST.

So true.... Hi-res version of photo (76 K)

The good old days... remember them? They were the days When you could go to the local Sunoco, Mobil, Marathon or BP and fill up for less than $15. They were the days when $1.25 a gallon was "pricey."

Those days are not these days. These days, I pay $25 to fill the 14-gallon tank of my 1996 Plymouth Breeze.

People across the nation are bracing for the impact of these rising gas prices. On March 18, the cost of crude oil hit a record-busting $56.72 a barrel, compared to just under $37 a barrel about one year ago. This gargantuan jump isn't just being felt in the U.S. Markets from London to Australia to Asia are impact of rising gas costs.

Unfortunately, this price jump doesn't just affect those big businesses like Standard Oil, it affects everything petroleum based.

In part to help stymie sky-rocketing prices, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) met this past St. Patrick's Day and announced that they will increase their production quotas.

According to GasPriceWatch.com, the national average for a gallon of regular gas was $2.13 on March 18. Maybe that's why Honda and Toyota are putting new ephasis on hybrid electric cars. (Honda just came out with the Accord Hybrid in addition to their older Civic Hybrid, Toyota has the Prius, which do come with a moderate tax break.)

To add fuel to a raging fire, the state of Michigan just cut their plans for the hire of an additional 34 gas station inspectors due to budget cuts.

Inspectors monitor all of the state's gas stations for gas gouging. The additional 34 inspectors would have made a grand total of 50 inspectors to monitor all Michigan gas stations. Now, the state has 16 inspectors covering 96,810 square miles and more than 5000 gas stations.

The rising cost of gas is going to ruin an already unstable economy. If the gas prices continue to rise, which they probably will, people will drive shorter distances, thus hurting tourism. Prices of everyday items will climb due to increased shipping costs. People will buy less and less, drive less and less, crushing Bush's hopes of improving the economy. (Not that I'm saying we should be drilling in Alaska.)

As an average high school student from West Bloomfield, these prices are killing me. Yes, I have a car, and I pay for all insurance, gas and repairs. I am on a limited fixed income, working when I can around sports, school, sleeping and eating. The rumor mill is running and the word is that gas could reach an all time high of $3 per gallon of regular over the summer. I don't know about the rest of you, but to me it sounds like its time to dust off the old 10-speed.

On the brighter side, this could be just the thing to solve America's obesity problem.

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Author's Note: The Photo Illustration at top was borrowed off the Democrats Give Conservatives Indigestion blog and is not property of HighestWire. The web site can be found at www.dgci.net/archives/cat_satirehumor.html.

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