Posted on 03/03/2011 10:58:51 PM PST by Libloather
High pump prices rattle drivers and businesses
By JONATHAN FAHEY and SANDY SHORE
The Associated Press
Monday, February 28, 2011; 9:12 AM
NEW YORK -- High fuel prices are putting the squeeze on drivers' wallets just as they are starting to feel better about the economy. They're also forcing tough choices on small-business owners who are loathe to charge more for fear of losing cost-conscious customers.
Gasoline prices rose 4 percent last week to a national average of $3.29 per gallon. That's the highest level ever for this time of year, when prices are typically low. And with unrest in the Middle East and North Africa lifting the price of oil to the $100-a-barrel range, analysts say pump prices are likely headed higher.
Bryon Gongaware, an owner of The Floral Trunk and Gifts in White Bear Lake, Minn., didn't raise his $7 flower delivery charge when gas prices spiked in 2008, and he doesn't plan to do so this time, either.
"I don't think the economy is solid enough that you can be careless about raising prices," he said, standing among the flower clippings on the floor of the shop he has run for 21 years.
That means the extra costs that come from driving the store's delivery van 70,000 miles a year come from only one place: "right out of the bottom line," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
It’s comforting to think that the global demand for oil is something we can control.
Actually, that was supposed to be 2 5-gallon cans above (for 10 gallons total)
I have no doubt I hold a minority opinion on the matter of today’s gas prices. I don’t believe they’re all that high when adjusted for inflation. When I first started driving nearly 50 years ago I paid something like 50 cents a gallon. I was earning seventy five cents and hour. I worked 2/3 of an hour for 1 gallon of gas.
I think today’s anger is triggered by the swings in price. Gas goes up 5 - 15 cents overnight. Ouch! That’s terrible. Later it drops by a buck and people relax. Prices are back to where they should be. When it again rises we freak again.
I hear a lot of complaining about gas prices from people who don’t mind paying $5 a gallon for bottled water.
VIDEO:
OBAMA SUPPORTS HIGH GAS PRICES
We COULD control more of the supply. But not opening up more of Alaska, and SHUTTING DOWN the Gulf IS on this administration and the liberals (like Patty Murray) before them.
It seems to me global demand is pushing prices. That, plus speculation. And OPEC.
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