What impact has the current price of gas had on your life?
549087
Well, I stay at home a lot more often now.  WHich is not cool.  I can't afford to drive anywhere for the summer.  BOO!!!!  I'm a college student, so it really takes a big chunk of my budget.  It affects everything I do.  I seriously have to ration my driving so that a tank can last at least a week.  Which is still very expensive.  OUCH!
502628
Not that I am for this--But dear it wouldn't matter and why you ask---well here is an article--this is starting to open up a new can of worms--please understand--Anyone in the world could have all the oil in the world..and it really wouldn't matter at this point...\n\n$3-a-gallon gas: Blame Washington, not Big Oil\nWhat's driving up gas prices? It's not just higher crude costs; it's new regulations.\nNelson D. Schwartz\nMay 3, 2006: 2:20 PM EDT\n\n\n(FORTUNE Magazine) - With gas prices roaring past $3 a gallon and consumer fury rising even faster, Congress and the White House are engaged in a Kabuki-like ritual: pointing fingers at each other over who's to blame, while furiously attacking Big Oil for reaping gargantuan profits - as drivers get hosed at the pump.\n\nIf the politicians really want to figure out who's responsible for the latest round of price increases, though, they'd be better off looking in the mirror. That's because the rise isn't only due to higher crude costs. It's also fallout from some little-noticed provisions in the energy bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush last summer.\n\nBuried in the 551-page energy bill - which was supposed to ease energy shortages, not worsen them - were new regulations governing what additives go into gasoline and how it's refined. Corn-based ethanol is replacing the petroleum-derived additive MTBE, but Congress timed this logistically tricky switchover to occur just as demand for gasoline peaked ahead of the summer driving season - right about now.\n\nThe end result is an extra strain on the refining and distribution system when it can least afford it.\n\n"It's too late now, but Congress has consistently failed to sequence regulatory requirements in a responsible fashion," says Bob Slaughter, president of the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association.\n\nAdds Larry Goldstein of the Petroleum Industry Research Foundation: "The gasoline crisis is made in the U.S.A., not in Iran or Venezuela or Nigeria. At least half the increase in gasoline prices is due to unintended consequences of the energy bill, but no one in Washington wants to admit that."\n\nIndeed, while crude prices have risen 21% since the end of 2005, gasoline is up 37% - a sign of just how stretched the system is. Congress's mistake, says Goldstein, was setting the new law to go into effect 270 days after it was signed - May 5 - rather than waiting until fall, when gas demand is typically on the downswing.\n\nNow the big question is, How high can gas go? Well, perhaps the only good thing that can be said about paying three bucks per gallon is that it seems to be slowing consumption - which should, in turn, reduce prices. Over a four-week period in April, says oil analyst Jamal Qureshi of consulting firm PFC Energy, U.S. gasoline demand dropped by half a percent, to just over nine million barrels a day. That may not sound like much, but it's a reversal from the 1.7% average annual increase in gas consumption the U.S. has experienced over the past decade. If $3 is indeed the tipping point at which consumers change their behavior and alter their driving habits, it's the one silver lining in an otherwise very dark cloud for drivers.\n\nThe wildcard in this scenario, of course, is the increasing risk of a military confrontation with Iran. If that happens, says Qureshi, "all bets are off." Given that crude oil accounts for 55% of the cost of each gallon of gas (refining accounts for 22%, taxes for 19%, and distribution and marketing for 4%), an upward spike in crude oil would push gas up even if the bottlenecks caused by the energy bill ease this summer.\n\nThat's why Red Cavaney, president of the American Petroleum Institute, says the answer in the short term is conservation. Washington is indeed being turned upside down when it's left to Cavaney, Big Oil's chief lobbyist, to talk conservat
576765
The gas prices can be helped if the pricks at exxon and all the other fuel manufacture's would lower the price.  They only reported a 50% increase in profit last year.  Yea I say they could do something about it!!!1
859698
Used to be $2.21 as I remember. I saw yesterday the gas station near my house was $2.33. The low gas prices arguement was used by the GOP as a campaign tool and now they still lost. So, it is rising again.
674830
Gasoline is the bloodline that keeps America moving. Our personal vehicles alone guzzle 65 billion gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel each year, and that number is projected to increase by 2.6 percent each year. \nTracking gas prices can feel like a roller coaster ride. They're down a little one month, up the next, before shooting up more than 30 percent in a year. Plus, they're different depending on where you look. Other countries, and even other states and cities, can have very different gas prices from your local Gas-N-Go. To the average person, it probably seems as though there's little rhyme or reason to how gas prices are determined. In this article, we will look at the forces that impact the price of gas at the pump, and we'll find out where your gas money actually goes. \n\nAmericans have an insatiable thirst for gasoline, and with sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) continually growing in popularity we are only getting thirstier. Just look at the roads and highways and you'll see that a severe gas shortage would practically cripple the country. Americans drive more than 2.5 trillion miles per year in automobiles, light trucks and SUVs, according to a MEMA report. That's equal to 14,000 round trips to the sun. Today, we drive almost twice as much as we did in 1980 (1.5 trillion miles). \n\n\nPhoto courtesy Phillips Petroleum Company\nA gas station in Colorado Springs, CO\n \n\n\nHistorical Gas Prices\n(Adjusted for inflation)\n \nYear Price Per Gallon \n1950 $1.91 \n1955 $1.85 \n1960 $1.79 \n1965 $1.68 \n1970 $1.59 \n1975 $1.80 \n1980 $2.59 \n1985 $1.90 \n1990 $1.51 \n1995 $1.28 \n2001 $1.66 \n2002 $1.31 \n2003 $1.52 \n2004 $1.79 \n2005 $2.28 \n2006 (so far) $2.68 \nSource: U.S. DOE  \nThe United States consumes an average of 20 million barrels of oil per day (bbl/d, according to the Department of Energy. Of that, about 45 percent is used for motor gasoline. The rest is used for distillate fuel oil, jet fuel, residual fuel and other oils. Each barrel of oil contains 42 gallons (159 L), which yields 19 to 20 gallons (75 L) of gasoline. So, in the United States, something like 178 million gallons of gasoline is consumed every day. \n\nTypically, the demand for gas spikes during the summer, when lots of people go on vacation. Holidays like Memorial Day and the Fourth of July create logjams of tourist traffic during the summer. This high demand usually translates into higher gasoline prices, although that's not always the case. For instance, while gas prices soared 31 cents in April and early May of 2001, reaching $1.71 per gallon (which now seems inexpensive compared to today's prices), prices actually declined during the 2001 summer. \n\nIn 2004, prices continued to rise past the end of the summer travel season for a variety of reasons, including several hurricanes and an increase in the price of crude oil. And in 2005, Hurricane Katrina (along with a sizeable increase in crude oil prices) pushed prices to $3.07 per gallon on September 5, 2005. Prices settled down somewhat in November and December of 2005. But now the numbers are climbing again, with an average price for regular unleaded gas at $2.90 right now (May 2006). \n\nPrice increases generally occur when the world crude-oil market tightens and lowers inventories. We will discuss who controls the crude-oil market later. Also, growing demand can sometimes outpace refinery capacity. In the spring, refineries perform maintenance, which can place a pinch on the gasoline market. By the end of May, refineries are usually back to full capacity. \n\n How do you overpower the pump?\nRising gas prices are impacting everyone: what are you doing to soften the blow?\nWe want to know!  \n\n\nWhen you pump $20 dollars into your tank, that money is broken up into little pieces that get distributed among several entities. Gas is just like any other consumer product: There's a supply chain and several groups who are responsible for setting the price
678289
Gas will go up for this holiday weekend, more people travel more profits got nothing to do with supply and demand. Oil traded over $72 a barrel today. So get you gas before it goes up tommorow for the weekend.
1149237
Government does not raise the price of gas.  A thing called supply and demand controls the gas prices and the price of everything else in our society.
774056
Market forces my behind. The price of crude is still dropping while the price of gas is creeping up again. Are people really trying to say the price of gas dropped seventy five cents after labor day because the summer driving season ended? Get real. The oil industry is globally manipulated and further down the chain manipulated by everyone who can manipulate it. Every oil company dumps their gas into a common pipeline and then pulls it out somewhere else along that pipeline. Exxon-Mobil, Citgo, Chevron...it's all the same gasoline. They each add some ingredients to try to distinguish themselves from one another with whatever they claim their gas does to enhance your engines performance. Think there's no manipulation? What happened to the oil shortage from thirty five years ago?
299512
Same ol' shit different day, gas prices are more important then people dieing for no reason.
150009
If I understand your assignment correctly, our economy has been changed by terrorism due to 9-11 because of the shock to economies based on tourism (remember, people were afraid to travel); job losses, particularly in the service industry; and housing.  Because of the war against terrorism and the interference with oil production, costs have been driven up.  The higher oil price impacts everything because of freight costs: food trucked from warehouse to local grocer, manufacturing, housing materials.\n\nAlso, the higher price means we all pay more at the pump.  For those with low discretionary income ($ left after paying rent or mortgage and utilities, car payments or car lease payments) (aka fixed expenses), the higher gas price in effect drives down their wages because it is costing more to drive to work.  This extra expense means less money for other things, such as necessities as food, and less to spend on new clothes, CDs, and other manufactured goods, the sale of which brings up the US economy.
1159449
The concern is inflation and rising prices.  Most of it can be pegged to gas prices.  The high price of gas works its way into the prices of all things.  One way to help slow inflation is to raise the interest rates.\n\nGrowth is good, of course, but inflation can lead to uncontrolled growth, which is not necessarily good.
595004
can you lower the gas prices then please?!?!?! lol
64539
Gas/Oil everytime anything happens anywhere prices go up.\n\n\nGuy 1 "sir a mouse farted in Juarez"\nGuy 2 "raise the price of fuel now!!!"
306644
The gas prices are absolutley ridiculous.  This is captalism at its worst.  I am not saying I am communist, heck no, but our government needs to change its policy ASAP and make laws that restrict huge, unfair profits for corporations that are making money selling an essential consumer product.  Laws must be made, people NEED gasoline, it isn't an option to most, and it isn't right to have us pay outrageous gas prices, while someone else gets incredibely wealthy.  Unfortunatley, money equals power in this country, and if we don't do something about this we are all going to continue to get screwed over.  Good question!!
480251
Your wage will never reflect the increase, or future increases of the cost of fuel (or any of the other worldly commodities that oil creates).\n\nI have been following the subject of "Peak oil" for about 4 years now and the worlds' dependance on oil. All aspects of our economies (globally speaking) is completely dependant on the stuff and the world is about to learn that, not only can the world not produce it any faster than we presently are, the production rates of global oil producers is about to start its' irreversable permanent decline.\n\nSupply will always go down (aproximately 2-3 percent a year) and demand will continue to go up.  It is predicted that by 2015 that global oil production will decrease 20% and demand will go up 80%.  Think you pay alot for gas now?\nTry $5-$10 a gallon in the NEAR future.\n\nGoogle "peak oil" and spend the next few weeks of your life reading about how we are all pretty screwed.  \n\nLike others have mentioned though, it won't just be gas that goes up.  \n\nEvery piece of plastic produced is made of a by-product of oil.  Every nitrogen based fertalizer that farmers use is a by-product of oil.  In fact you can't find one product for sale in any mall across North America that doesn't owe its' existance, either directly or indirectly, to oil.  \n\nIt is said that if we were to convert the energy that we all benifit from from oil, into human muscle power, we would have approximately 300 slaves working for us night and day, without a break, and having never to feed them.\n\nWell, the slaves are about become unionized and we're all going to have to pay a premium rate for their wages, while our own wages will probably decrease with a recession.\n\nGoogle "peak oil"!!!!\n\nBy the way, hydrogen fuel isn't going to solve this problem.  It doesn't produce fertalizers or plastics.\n\nlisten to this file http://www.globalpublicmedia.com/lectures/156
427014
In May of 1973, before the first oil crisis, the average price of regular gas was 38.5 cents per gallon. In June of 1974 it had risen to 55.1 cents per gallon. I don't know the inflation ratio since then so I don't know what that means in adjusted dollars, but it didn't seem to take the bite then that it takes now.
296789
First, you need to define 'goes bust'.  Even if the price went really high (say $10.00 per gallon), it would only be transient because: 1) people will adapt their behavior to reduce consumption (we saw this already at $3.00/gal.), 2) many alternative forms of energy will become price competitive, and 3) a lot more oil and gasoline will eventually be found and produced because it will be very profitable to do so.\n\nHistory repeats itself.  We had major fuel/energy crises in the 70's.  In 1979 I paid $1.069 per gallon; after inflation, that is over $3.00 per gal. now. And, my very economical economy car ( a very small 1976 Toyota pickup) got 'awesome' gas mileage of 18 mpg highway!  "Experts" then said there was only enough oil left in the world to last until the mid-90's (ten years ago!).  In the 70's most cars got about 10-12 mpg, now many get TRIPLE that!  Technology will triumph again.\n\nBest wishes!