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Gasoline prices are on their way up again. So too is the ire of gasoline purchasers who skipped Econ 101 in school...

At a press event on the payroll tax cut yesterday, President Obama mentioned how extending the proposal would help Americans pay for gas as the price increases. Obama attributed the growing price of oil to a strengthening economy which in turn means demand for oil increases. "And when gas prices are on the rise again because as the economy strengthens, global demand for oil increases. And if we start seeing significant increases in gas prices, losing that $40 could not come at a worse time," Obama said.

President Barack Obama listed rising gas prices as among the many reasons to extend the payroll tax cut Tuesday, flanked by individuals the White House promoted as being affected by $40 per paycheck the average American would lose if the tax cut is not extended at the end of February. The payroll tax funds Social Security. Cutting the tax would reduce funding to Social Security by $119 billion over the next year, on top of the $105 billion reduced from funding in 2011.

It is amazing how much legislators forget while they are in Richmond. While their constituents are home balancing their budget and making do with much less, the Senate of Virginia is supporting efforts to increase taxes. This week, the Virginia State Senate will consider a bill that will increase the gas tax (SB 631). The sponsor of the bill calls this an “inflation adjustment,” but AFP-VA is calling this a tax increase on hard working families of Virginia. Increasing the gas tax will drive up consumer costs; unfairly hurting the less fortunate and the unemployed. Tell your Legislators you oppose...

HOUSTON - A former Houston oil executive predicts drivers could be paying $5 for a gallon of gas by the end of the year, and says politicians in Washington D.C. are to blame. John Hofmeister is the retired president of Shell Oil. He currently runs the non-profit group Citizens for Affordable Energy. "It was actually December, 2010, when I predicted $5 gasoline by the end of 2012," said Hofmeister. "And, I said then, 'I hope I'm wrong.' My concern is I won't be wrong." Some energy price analysts have said Hofmeister's prediction is likely off by at least $1 --...

| President Barack Obama has suffered the second embarrassment over oil imports within the space of a week. Brazil, whose offshore deposits of oil were sought by the Obama administration, has signed contracts with China for the product. According to the Washington Times, Brazilian offshore crude may number about 38 billion barrels. Obama went to Brazil last month to put in a bid for the oil, offering loans and other support to develop the oil in an "environmentally responsible matter," The Hill reported at the time. Republicans criticized that initiative, pointing out Obama has placed roadblocks in the way of...

The price of oil lingered around $100 a barrel this week, helping to keep retail gasoline prices at their highest levels ever for this time of year. Crude has ranged from about $98 per barrel to around $102 per barrel this week. On Friday benchmark oil fell $2.21 to end at $98.33 per barrel in New York. The national average for gasoline was $3.38 per gallon Friday. Pump prices peaked at about $4 a gallon in May as crude oil approached $114 a barrel. Oil and gasoline prices are staying high now because of tension in the Middle East and...

COMMENTARY | President Barack Obama has suffered the second embarrassment over oil imports within the space of a week. Brazil, whose offshore deposits of oil were sought by the Obama administration, has signed contracts with China for the product. According to the Washington Times, Brazilian offshore crude may number about 38 billion barrels. Obama went to Brazil last month to put in a bid for the oil, offering loans and other support to develop the oil in an "environmentally responsible matter," The Hill reported at the time. Republicans criticized that initiative, pointing out Obama has placed roadblocks in the way...

Dems propose 'Reasonable Profits Board' to regulate oil company profits By Pete Kasperowicz - 01/19/12 10:20 AM ET Six House Democrats, led by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), want to set up a "Reasonable Profits Board" to control gas profits. The Democrats, worried about higher gas prices, want to set up a board that would apply a "windfall profit tax" as high as 100 percent on the sale of oil and gas, according to their legislation. The bill provides no specific guidance for how the board would determine what constitutes a reasonable profit. The Gas Price Spike Act, H.R. 3784, would...

The Obama administration is expected to reject the controversial Keystone Pipeline this afternoon, according to Fox News. The State Department is expected to vote against the pipeline this afternoon. Transcanada will however be allowed to reapply with an alternate route going through Nebraska. The administration will be unlikely to approve the pipeline under the timeline for the payroll tax cut extension law which requires a decision by February 21 The project has been extremely controversial for two main reasons. Those in favor of the pipeline point to the 8.5% unemployment rate, and point out that the pipeline could create much-needed...

For Immediate Release Contact: Garren Shipley (540) 686-1138 Surprise! Democrats Call for Gas Tax Hike -- Tax Hike won't make gas more expensive, says Dem Leader Saslaw -- --- Reality paints a different picture, though --- It's one of the most regular phenomena in Richmond. You can set your watch by it. Legislators return to Capitol Square, and Democrats begin their drum beat to raise the gas tax. The most recent example? A plan by Del. Vivian Watts, D-Annandale, to stick a 4 percent sales tax on gasoline. But fear not! It's not like raising the gas tax will make...

Key US oil supplier may cut off spigot SundayCHRIS KAHN, AP Energy Writer Saturday, January 14, 2012 NEW YORK (AP) — One of the biggest suppliers of oil to the United States may shut off the spigot this weekend, pushing crude and gasoline prices higher for Americans. Nigeria, which supplies 8 percent of U.S. oil imports, could see production halted if striking workers walk off the job Sunday. Workers are demanding the return of a vital government fuel subsidy that has kept gasoline prices low in that impoverished and restive nation of 160 million people. It’s unclear how much of...

While the green movement naively harbours hopes it will be able to shut down unconventional oil and gas development, in Saudi Arabia they are already contemplating a time when North American fossil fuel will replace their oil. Looking past the din of protesters, state-owned oil giant Saudi Aramco is resigned to the fact that its influence will wane because of the massive unconventional fossil-fuel development underway in North America. As such, Saudi Arabia has no plans to raise its production output to 15 million barrels per day from 12 million, said Khalid Al-Falih, the powerful chief executive of Aramco. “There...

Gas prices are continuing to move upward with a gallon of regular at $3.38, up 8 cents from a week ago, the Energy Department’s U.S. Energy Information Administration said today. The weekly national average increased almost 30 cents from a year ago, and rose for the third consecutive week, adding to predictions that 2012 might be an uncomfortably expensive year for drivers across the country. Last year was a record year for gas prices but 2012 is forecasted to surpass its annual average. The real annual average for a gallon of regular gas last year hit $3.56, up from $2.90...

The political and environmental debates swirling around the proposed $7 billion Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to Texas miss a crucial point, energy analysts say: The Canadian oil is needed to replace fast-dwindling production from two other major suppliers of oil Mexico and Venezuela. The United States remains the largest consumer of oil in the world, requiring more than 8 million barrels a day of fuel imports to feed its appetite, with nearly half of that coming from oil-rich neighbors in Latin America as recently as 2005. But oil production south of the border has fallen off dramatically, and Canadian...

It's been 30 years since gasoline took such a big bite out of the family budget. When the gifts from Grandma are unloaded and holiday travel is over, the typical American household will have spent $4,155 filling up this year, a record. That is 8.4 percent of what the median family takes in, the highest share since 1981. Gas averaged more than $3.50 a gallon this year, another unfortunate record. And next year isn't likely to bring relief. In the past, high gas prices in the United States have gone hand-in-hand with economic good times, making them less damaging to...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The United States is awash in gasoline. So much so, in fact, that the country is exporting a record amount of it. The country exported 430,000 more barrels of gasoline a day than it imported in September, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That is about twice the amount at the start of the year, and experts and industry insiders say the trend is here to stay. The United States began exporting gas in late 2008. For decades prior, starting in 1960, the country used all the gas it produced here plus had to import...

First it was Keystone, now it’s coast-to-coast. Scared to affront his base in an election year, Obama has imposed a five-year drilling ban on a majority of offshore areas. This is particularly disappointing given America’s persistent unemployment. Unfortunately, this comes as no surprise. Obama’s recent decision to punt on Keystone may have effectively killed the project, and the thousands of jobs needed to complete the pipeline. Like Keystone, the Department of Interior’s five year lease plan leaves hundreds of thousands of jobs on the table. The Institute for Energy Research’s Dan Simmons points out a few facts about offshore oil...

A day after Canadian oil company TransCanada agreed to reroute its proposed Keystone oil pipeline around Nebraska' ecologically sensitive Ogallala Aquifer, the State Department refused to budge on a new environmental review of the project that is not slated for completion until 2013 -- after the presidential election. The State Department on Tuesday denied that the delay is designed to appease environmentalists, a core constituency of the Obama administration. "I can only say, as we've said repeatedly on the record, that the White House had no bearing on the decision-making process," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Tuesday. "The State...

TORONTO — Canada's prime minister says he made it clear in a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama that Canada will step up its efforts to sell oil to Asia since the Obama administration delayed a decision on an oil pipeline. Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Canada will continue to push the U.S. to approve the $7-billion Keystone XL project. Last week the U.S. State Department ordered that the pipeline be rerouted and subject to further environmental review, delaying a decision until 2013.

Many energy industry experts are skeptical of Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann’s campaign promise to get gas back down to $2 a gallon if she’s elected. “One thing that annoys me the most about politicians is that many will say or do just about anything to get elected,” said Robert Rapier of Consumer Energy Report. “My immediate reaction to that was to wonder whether she is really that naive or simply making dishonest campaign promises that she knows she can’t keep. Neither trait is one I want in a president.” Bachmann skeptics say even if it were possible to lower...

GOP presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann on Friday stood by her promise to bring gas prices down to around $2 a gallon if elected. “The price of gasoline the day that Barack Obama took office was $1.79 a gallon. If the price of gasoline was $1.79 a gallon just two and three years ago, certainly we can get it back down to that level again. Why wouldn’t we be able to do that? We’re a ‘can-do’ America,” the Minnesota congresswoman said during an interview on the Washington Times-affiliated “America's Morning News” radio program. The $2 gas promise raised eyebrows around...

At a town hall meeting in Greenville, S.C., today, Michele Bachmann said if she became president gas prices would fall dramatically. “Under President Bachmann you will see gasoline come down below $2 per gallon again. That will happen,” Bachmann said, according to The Hill. Gas is currently averaging $3.58 a gallon, according to AAA.

Last week, President Obama played tough, scolding Congress as he tried to pivot the national political narrative to job creation. The President’s pivot, which he’s tried numerous times before, includes a host of excuses like “headwinds” and “uncertainty” but little in the way of real solutions. A recent uptick in gasoline prices, gone largely unnoticed by the Washington crowd that was focused on raising America’s debt ceiling, will make job creation even more difficult. Since bottoming out toward the end of June, gas prices have been slowly rising. Last week, the average price for a gallon of regular stood at...

Snapshots from President Obama's efforts to improve America's standing in the world, 923 days into his administration: A is for the Arab world, and our standing in it: This year, Zogby International found that 5% of Egyptians had a favorable view of the U.S. In 2008, when George W. Bush was president, it was 9%. B is for the federal budget deficit, which is estimated to come in at around 11% of GDP in 2011, up from about 3% in 2008. C is for China's military budget. For 2012, Beijing plans to increase spending on defense by 12.7%. The Obama...

<p>American drivers are angry at having to pay $4 a gallon for gas, and understandably so.  Their anger is often directed at the oil companies that supply the gas.  It should be directed at Barack Obama instead.</p> <p>From the beginning of his appearance on the national stage, Obama has focused on the goal of driving up energy prices with the idea of "weaning" America off fossil fuels.  He has succeeded in driving up prices, all right, but not in reducing dependence on fossil fuels.  According to "The Outlook for Energy 2011," fossil fuels now supply 80% of global demand.  That percentage will remain unchanged through 2030 despite hundreds of billions in subsidies squandered on wind and solar.</p>

<p>With 9.1% unemployment and gasoline prices in the stratosphere, President Obama must sometimes wish that some big corporation would suddenly show up and offer a shovel-ready, multibillion-dollar project to create 100,000 jobs and reduce U.S. reliance on oil from dictatorships.</p>

The price of physical crude oil will hit $150 a barrel this year in the United States due to unrest in North Africa and the Middle East, despite the emergency oil stock release coordinated by the International Energy Agency (IEA), a U.S. fund manager said. Monty Guild, the chief executive of Guild Investment Management, said the IEA's move did not change oil's fundamentals. "Our opinion continues to be oil prices will reach $150 barrels this year due to the fighting near Saudi Arabia," Guild told Reuters in a telephone interview. He was referring to escalating violence in countries such as...

Some major investment banks are still betting that oil prices will grow next year despite an emergency injection of crude on world markets from the U.S. and other countries. Higher oil prices should eventually push gasoline prices up as well. Benchmark crude climbed as high as $97.48 per barrel Tuesday after Barclays Capital raised its 2012 price forecast for Brent crude, used to price many international types of oil. And Goldman Sachs said the International Energy Agency's decision at the end of June to release 60 million barrels of oil from its reserves won't cool off prices as much as...

Crude raced higher Tuesday as energy bulls pushed Nymex oil back toward the $100-a-barrel mark, prices last seen before world governments said they would release crude from their reserves last month. West Texas Intermediate jumped 2.1 percent to $96.89 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, decidedly above the $94.45 close of June 22, the day before the announcement on the release of 60 million barrels from reserves. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange finished $2.25 higher at $113.63 a barrel, and just below the June 22 high of $114.21. Brent touched $114.44 Tuesday. "I think we could...

Gas prices to blame for Obama administration releasing oil reserves? By: MJ Lee July 2, 2011 05:00 PM EDT President Barack Obama has pressed repeatedly for a long-term energy policy, devoting five weekly radio addresses to the subject in the past three months and blasting other politicians during a March press conference for pursuing short-term political fixes for high gas prices. “Every few years, gas prices go up; politicians pull out the same old political playbook and then nothing changes,” Obama said. “And when prices go back down, we slip back into a trance. And then when prices go up,...

Interesting map, showing what each state charges in taxes for gasoline, per gallon....

Obama Flip Flops on tapping Strategic Oil Reserve - FAIL « on: Today at 10:05:48 AM » Quote Modify Remove -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Obama flip flops on Strategic Petroleum Reserve posted at 2:50 pm on August 4, 2008 by Ed Morrissey http://hotair.com/archives/2008/08/04/obama-flip-flops-on-strategic-petroleum-reserve Via Jim Geraghty, who caught this even while on vacation. In August 2005, Obama agreed with George Bush’s decision to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in order to buffer the economy from the effects of Hurricane Katrina. However, Obama warned that such actions should only take place in times of real emergency (emphases mine): I agree with the...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — Wary of a new surge in gas prices, the Obama administration has decided to release 30 million barrels of oil from the country’s emergency reserve as part of a broader international response to lost oil supplies caused by turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa, particularly Libya.</p>

Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries did not reach a new agreement on oil production quotas at Wednesday's meeting in Vienna. Oil prices rebounded in New York and London after the news. Oil prices had been declining in anticipation that OPEC members might work out a deal to boost production. The OPEC nations pump about 40 percent of the world's oil, and the organization's quotas officially limited members to producing a bit less than 25 million barrels a day. Some OPEC members have said the international energy markets are well-supplied with oil, and blame high prices on "speculation"...

Detroit — General Motors Co. CEO Dan Akerson wants the federal gas tax boosted as much as $1 a gallon to nudge consumers toward more fuel-efficient cars, and he's confident the government will soon shed its remaining 26 percent stake in the once-bankrupt automaker. "I actually think the government will be out this year — within the next 12 months, hopefully within the next six months," Akerson said in a two-hour interview with The Detroit News last week. He is grateful for the government's rescue of GM — "I have nothing but good things to say about them" — but...

A brand new Newsweek/Daily Beast poll finds that Americans are angry. And their anger is directed at just about everything. Americans are angry at Barack Obama, high gas prices, unemployment, congressional Republicans, and even God. And some of that anger is justified. New figures released last week show unemployment is at 9.1 percent. Employers added only 54,000 jobs in May, the fewest jobs in eight months, down from 232,000 in April. This is an abysmal figure. And what does Obama have to say about it? He called the jobless report a "bump in the road". This from an administration that...

Speaking on CBS' "Face the Nation," the Republican said: "This administration' policy clearly has been to drive up the cost of energy so Americans would use less of it. That's environmental policy. That's not energy policy. But that's their policy. They think it will give you less pollution, make these alternative energy sources more competitive." "When Barack Obama became president gasoline was $1.80 a gallon," he added. "And now it's up to $4 a gallon.

I went into town this morning and saw that gas prices were about $3.74 a gallon in central Indiana. I went out after work, about 4 after my first trip, and saw that the prices jumped to $4.17/9 a gallon. The prices rose over 40 cents a gallon! I'm trying to find out why this happened today. I apologize if there is another thread like this but I didn't find it. If there is, Moderator please close this thread and point me in the right direction. Thanks FR!

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — A Chicago-area manufacturing gauge dropped by the largest amount in nearly two-and-half years in May, in a further sign that the rise in oil prices and the Japanese earthquake have affected activity. The Chicago PMI fell to a reading of 56.6% in May, the lowest reading since Nov. 2009, from 67.6% in April. While that reading is still significantly above the 50-line indicating growth, the eleven-point drop is the biggest one-month deceleration since Oct. 2008 and was worst than the 60% reading that economists polled by MarketWatch anticipated.

Are your summer vacation plans affected by high gas prices? Yes. We plan on staying closer to home. Not sure. It's a thought as we do our planning. No. In the grand scheme of things, a good vacation is more important than the price at the pump. Other (post a comment).

Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal said Sunday that he wants oil prices to drop so that the United States and Europe don't accelerate efforts to wean themselves off his country's supply. In an interview broadcast Sunday on "CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS," the grandson of the founding king of modern Saudi Arabia said the oil price should be somewhere between $70 and $80 a barrel, rather than the current level of over $100 a barrel. "We don't want the West to go and find alternatives, because, clearly, the higher the price of oil goes, the more they have incentives to go...

New York Sen. Charles Schumer wants the government to investigate U.S. oil refiners' skyrocketing profits, which he said are to blame for high gas prices. "Something is rotten," said the Democrat, speaking today at a gas station on Manhattan's West Side. He said refiners' profits have more than doubled since last year. Meanwhile, the price of unleaded gas went up by almost 12 percent in just the two weeks ending May 6, topping $4 a gallon in New York. The senator said he believes refiners may be fixing prices by cutting back on stockpiles — by keeping refining capacities to...

As summer driving season begins, squeezing the gas pump means squeezing the family budget . Households spent an average of $369 on gas last month. In April 2009, they spent just $201. Families now spend more filling up than they spend on cars, clothes or recreation. Last year, they spent less on gasoline than each of those things. ... The ramifications are far-reaching for an economy still struggling to gain momentum two years into a recovery. Economists say the gas squeeze makes people feel poorer than they actually are. They're showing it by limiting spending far beyond the gas station....

Obama's 2012 is already in FULL swing... Below is a listing of just some of the upcoming phone banks scheduled for later this month... Organizing For America is already Phone Banking & putting their massive get out the vote/fundraising machine back in full force for 2012. Alabama Call Bank Tuesday, May 31, 2011 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM Arizona Call TeamCalifornia Team Building Phone Bank Wednesday, May 25, 2011 5:30 PM - 7:30 PMConnecticut BRIDGEPORT "I'M IN" PHONE BANKFlorida-Tampa "I'M IN" PHONE BANK Thursday, May 26, 2011 4:00 PM - 8:00 PMFlorida- "I'M IN" PHONE BANK - LAKE WORTH Start:...

As you pump 13 gallons into your Honda CR-V -- American's best-selling SUV with 28 mpg on the highway and 21 in town -- it's nearly impossible to view the $50 you're spending with a positive attitude. With the national average for regular at $3.81, it's easy to label oil executives as pond scum, but try to remain open-minded. Think of the big picture: Though that promised road trip to Disney World has gone up in carbon monoxide, high gas prices may actually have an upside. Not for you and your family personally, maybe, but perhaps for the United States...

Rep. Darrell Issa of California, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, has found another target in the Obama administration’s policy agenda: energy. Late Monday, Issa released a scathing report accusing the White House of being complicit in driving up oil prices to push a move to alternative energy sources. Among other things, the report — “Rising Energy Costs: An Intentional Result of Government Action” — accused the administration of restricting access to domestic energy sources, hindering “fracking” technology and hampering the economic recovery by proposing new taxes on the energy industry. The report also says the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)...

Big Oil. We love, LOVE, to hate Big Oil. As we’re paying more and more at the pump, and as we continue to flounder in this post recession economy, it’s hard to look at the Big Oil companies , their profits and think anything other than greed. But is that fair? Let’s check. Recently, the big oil companies announced their profits for the first quarter of 2011. And they are impressive numbers to be sure: ■Exxon Mobile – $10.7 billion ■Chevron – $6.2 billion ■ConocoPhilips – $3.0 billion THAT is a lot of billions. A LOT! But is it really...

Increasing the federal gas tax should be considered to pay for a new transportation bill, a key Democrat said Tuesday. Rep. Nick Rahall (W.Va.), the ranking Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said President Obama should be more specific about how he plans to fund a long-term transportation spending bill, and that raising the gas tax should be one of the options. "We've not had an increase in the gas tax since 1993," Rahall said Tuesday during a speech at the Transportation Construction Coalition's 10th annual Washington fly-in. "Cars are more efficient," Rahall said. "They get better mileage."...

WASHINGTON - Democrats are crying foul after a GOP senator blocked a pay raise for Interior Secretary Ken Salazar in an effort to pressure him into approving more deepwater oil and gas drilling permits. At issue is a move by oil state Sen. David Vitter, R-La., to not only block the almost $20,000 raise for Salazar last week but then offer to allow the raise to go forward if the Interior Department issues six new deepwater permits a month. Salazar responded with a letter accusing Vitter of employing strong-arm tactics and of trying to coerce him into approving new drilling...