If the economy still sucks...demand is way down...why am I paying $2,50 per gallon???

[mdavies013]

Are banks just lending money for speculators to rise prices on us again?

[Kittycat]

1. Pretty much.

One of my friends just said that gas in her area is expected to hit $3/gal by the weekend.

[here_is_to_hope]

2. 2.74 here so quit yer whinin'...lol!

[RT Atlanta]

3. Value of dollar falling?

One of my friends who pays a lot attention to worldwide currency values claims this is the reason (falling dollar) for the prices going up.

I don't know enough about supply and delivery of gasoline to know whether he is correct or not.

[joeybee12]

6. When gas started going down I heard it was beacuse the dollar was falling...

...short explanation...we consumers are once more being gamed.

[Jester Messiah]

17. Possible.

I guess the way to find out would be to see if the price of gas is stable vis-a-vis other currencies. Gas is a commodity after all.

[Cant trust em]

4. OPEC. nt

[YOY]

5. Because you can.

n.t.

[mdavies013]

7. I have cut back as much as I possibly can and I think that most people have.

I agree that some of the cost has to be caused by the value of the dollar sliding and given a recent post about Geithner being laughed at in China when he said that their investment is safe.

...but still...

I can't see how prices are rising so rapidly. Every economy is sliding back...most at negative growth...and some developing countries are growing at a much slower pace.

How is it possible to charge so much? I wish we had some alternative.

[NC_Nurse]

8. Because China has figured out that oil is more valuable than dollars. They are

buying it up right now according to my dad - who spends all day watching Faux and CNBC (blah!).

[joeybee12]

9. Because the oil companies and OPEC game the system...and because the

media is too stupid to figure it out and only run stories about the long lines and/or rising prices.

[zipplewrath]

10. Supply management

Opec and the refineries have been reducing supply a bit. And yes, dollar fluctuations will affect things as well. The investor class thinks that oil is the current "safe" investment, basically thinking it was under valued and could only go up. So they are buying oil and oil related investments. They are predicting that T-bills will increase interest rates in the next 12 months as well to offset the "stimulus fueled inflation". Look up TBT and the related products.

[prole_for_peace]

11. Because the summer driving season is starting.

The petroleum companies raise prices at this time every year.

[metapunditedgy]

12. Oil execs testified to Congress that "It's all just supply and demand."

Let's hope they're called back to testify this year and explain that in more detail...

[and-justice-for-all]

13. Because Saudi said a couple of months ago it was cutting production.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&refer=home&sid=a8mBz_iU_V2w

[JimWis]

14. I heard the other day that the speculators are back at it again.

Guess we never took care of that problem.

[kjackson227]

15. They can always find some excuse to raise these d*mned gas prices...

They are taking advantage of us, BIGTIME! Will someone please hurry with that dang electric car!?!?

[anigbrowl]

16. People drive more in summer. Business uses diesel more than gas.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

18. Yeah, you've got it about right

[taterguy]

19. Speculators speculate that the price of something will go up

When it comes to oil, they're almost always right.

Because, well, in case you hadn't noticed, it's pretty difficult to live in our society without consuming oil.

Sucks to be us.

[Romulox]

20. Both the production and refining of oil are controlled by cartels. They manipulate supply

to manipulate prices.

[cherish44]

21. Just wait til hurricane season kicks in

I'm predicting $4 by July 1

[lib2DaBone]

22. The value of the dollar is going down....

It takes more money to buy the same amount of oil... not long ago the dollar was up over 80.00