A Record We Don't Want: Gas Prices at an All-Time High

Today, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded hit $3.19 nationally — $3.196, precisely, so basically $3.20. This is the highest price of gasoline in the U.S. ever, if you don’t adjust for inflation. That adjusted number was set in 1981 at $3.223. But hey, we’ve got seven days until Memorial Day and it shouldn’t be too hard to top that figure. Let’s just hope this is the early spike some analysts were expecting for the summer and that by the July 4th holiday things will have settled down. We can hope, can’t we?

There have also been a few stories of people traveling less this year on Memorial Day, but some states like Michigan and Illinois are expecting record travel. Are any of you scaling back your travel plans because of the pain at the pump? 

Gasoline Prices at the Pump Set Record at $3.196 a Gallon (USAToday.com)

Comments

[Spanky]

Planned a road trip of the North East this summer. Might have to stay at the Super 8 instead of the Hampton Inn:)

[KJ]

If people would stop driving Hummers and similar large vehicles the price of gas would eventually drop. But law of supply/demand is taking a toll on all of us, including those that think they need boat-size SUV's.

[Dave T.]

too funny Spanky.

As for KJ: I'm not sure that is the #1 factor as we've noted a huge decrease in full size SUV sales over the past year. People are in fact changing their buying behavior. So why is the price still going up? One factor isn't dictating these prices there are others but considering people are driving less this year I can't believe demand is up as much as the prices. Someone needs to study that.

[Amuro Ray]

Welcome to the world of Capitalism! Free economic trade means company can set whatever $ they would like to sell. Unless the ENTIRE US is decreasing the consumption of gasoline dramatically, spordic decrease - either time or geographical - won't do much. Remember, back when gasoline was selling @ $15/barrel there were competitions within OPEC. Now they are working as ONE, and you really can't find competition anywhere on this planet that can affect OPEC production dramatically!

[M3]

Even if we drive less, all of us will always need gas. So the overall demand won't dip much, which will keep prices high. Gas just isn't a commodity you can boycott in protest of high prices. We HAVE to have it to get to work, etc. It would be like refusing to use ANY water or electricity at home to protest your utility bill, good luck sticking to it for long!
I think a big factor in high gas prices right now is a shortage of refinery capacity, or so they say...

[DodgeFan]

What also most people here aren't talking about is the nationalization of gas resources. We as Americans are subsidizing alot of other countries bad policies and economies. The quicker we move to hydrogen or electrical cars the better. I don't care about freak dumb eco people and their gripes about coal. Coal companies are at least preparing across the board to reduce emistions cause unlike car companies they know they can't avoid it. Car companies aren't even close.

[clwrocks]

Even though SUV sales may be down they along with pickup sales are still very good. Also there are still a lot of people driving big SUVs and pickups and will for quite some time. But not only that most of the cars on the road today are not that fuel efficient. We have about the same fuel economy now that we did 25 years ago because the car companies have focused on larger engines that makes cars faster, safety, luxury and entertainment instead of increased mileage or alternative fuels. But then again manufacturers are just giving the American consumer what they want. How about the American public making a little sacrifice by learning how to drive using less fuel, making sure their cars are tuned up and have the proper tire inflation. That could increase mileage by 10% or more.

How about the American public writing and calling their congress person and demanding that alternative fuels be more of a priority which should have been done during the fuel shortage of the late 1970s. The oil companies also need to add refining capacity. They closed a lot of refineries many years ago and have not opened any new ones recently, they have only been upgrading the ones they have now but obviously that is not enough. What about the fact that many states require a special blend of gasoline which requires the refiners to provide that at additional cost. If there were only 2-3 blends instead of 20 or more that would cut the price of gas substantially.

There is also a premium on oil brought about by speculation. If it has not happened it should not be in the cost.

Bottom line is that we as Americans need to quite complaining about the price of gas and help do something to solve the problem.

[lindsey]

It's interesting to see how people respond to the escalating gas prices. I can't believe how expensive gas is getting here in North Carolina. Everybody talks about it, but I know it's worse in other parts of the country. We decided to see if people really are changing their habits here, or having to make other adjustments in their daily lives. We took a survey, and the results are really interesting. 70% of drivers said they've changed their driving habits in the last six months and plan to drive less this summer. 60% said of respondents said their other purchases have been postponed. Responses on economic questions were mixed. We also asked questions about health, smoking, current events, and a fun one about which TV show should be canceled. Guess? You can check out more on www.brogansurvey.blogspot.com.

[J]

If people are really changing their driving habits just because of gas prices, I won't be almost ran over by some full size GM-made SUV 3 times this morning. They are just 2 seconds faster than me to reach that darn red light in the front.