$7 Gas

and many on the left still dont want US to drill, would rather be held hostage, they say it wont help tomorrow, well what will?...start drilling before it is taken by someone else....wake up!

This post is in response to American Man: Why are you blaming Bush for all of this? Why are you blaming Bush for Katrina? I did not see any mass starvation, murder, looting, or uprisings in Iowa from the recent floods. Could it be the people of New Orleans were incompetent in managing their own affairs? Wasn't Katrina a local and state issue and not a Federal issue? Further, why not blame Jimmy Carter for high oil. After all in 1978 he said, and I quote. "The United States will never import more oil than it did this year, 1978" He never got us off oil. He lied. Wake up! Stop blaming Bush for problems he did not create. And no the Iraq was it not why oil is 140. There have been no new major fields discovered in 40 years! Wake up Neanderthal Man!

FIRST, to the poster who bashed Bush...it takes little thinking to just blame someone. That someone YOU blamed might be PART of the problem. However, I didn't see CLINTON do anything about our dependence for eight years, neither did Reagan, Carter or anyone before that. This is a problem we SHOULD have been planning on for some time. IN ADDITION, do these speculators ENJOY ripping apart their country? Is it funny? There is NO reason for gas to be where it is right now...ITS ALL smoke and mirrors. SOMETHING is going to need to be done or the middle class is HISTORY! Increases in health insurance, home insurance, etc ALREADY outpace our raises each year. Coupled with rises in gas and items we buy it is going to break them soon! Of course...maybe that is what the government wants...

You Jack-asses (Demorcats) and leftee Republicats (Bush 1,2 and McCainnites)! You gave China MFN statis. Low cost imports to make inflation low in US. Now it's time to pay . Those who don't learn from history will repeat it again and again! Nuclear Power now, better 20 years late than never!!

The Federal Reserve needs to shock the world and Raise the Federal Funds Rate by a 1/2 % point at their August 2008 Meeting. This will strenghten the US Dollar and Oil prices will plummet. On top of raising interest rates, The Federal Reserve should buy US Dollars to futher strengten the dollar. This will burst to oil bubble.

Instead of speculating the hipe of fule price, why not somea one talks about public tarnsport, renewable energy sources, solar energy. And most importantly why to trade oil & food. There are the basic necessities of human being. Think abt the world where people survive whith income less than a doller $. Why just US. Trading of oil by few peoples making other's life miserable.

why don't we try drilling for a change, instead of forcing the oil companies to drill in very deep water or in areas that geologists say is a very poor place lets let the oil companies swap the land the government is forcing to drill on for land they want. Think of what it would do to the economy if instead of sending billions over seas we kept it here, the job increase would be substantial.

haha. I can seen the Terrorist smiling now. They don't have to target us when the oversea's investors are doing their job. Bush is sitting back and loving this. He probably set this up to send a "slap" across the Democrates who for years wanting to protect our environment from disasters. Do you really want to sit on the Jersey Shore and see an oil drilling platform from a distance. Oh lets not forget, when the little spills happen and we are banned from swiming in the ocean. I am against offshore drilling b/c it will take years to see any benefit!! Oh yeah, 2010 prices will be $7 bucks. Oh lets drill offshore to lower the cost. Yeah right! BIG OIL will make every excuse of "unknown costs" to drill offshore and gas will rise even more or drop a penny or two. Can you see Obama Bin Laden smiling this winter when record deaths across the USA b/c most American's won't be able to heat there homes. I am looking at 5 bucks and rising for home heating oil!!! No one talks about that!

None of you seem to get it. $200 oil is cheap. We have dominated the world for so long and the tide is changing. Since the Brenton Woods Agreement in '71 we have had nothing behind the U.S. dollar other than our military. The times are changing faster than you think. Gas is just the begining. Getting out of debt right now is stupid, you need to be grabbing things of value, ie. Gold, Silver "real Money"

Democrats are totally to blame.

I think $7 easily by 2010. I was in Canada last week and paid $6.65 a gallon(in US gallons). EU is already over $8 a gallon in many places. The Vespa's don't work in cold climate States so forget that idea. Oil companies don't control the price of oil either---it's really the oil producer cartels that do. And the speculators don't help either. China and India growing rapidly--there's where all the surplus oil of a few years ago has gone. It won't get better for the next several years. What have I done? Well, I'm not a whiiiining liberal blamer so I know Bush isn't the problem. Although he and Congress are to blame for the Ethanol fiasco that has raised food prices worldwide. NO....my solution 4 yrs ago was to load up on a bunch of oil, energy, ag, mining stocks. Many are up 500% since then. All are up more than 100%. I have enough money to buy gas for the next 100 years at most any price. I didn't get mad or blame or whiiine. I got even.

It would be entirely possible that this country would be well off with high gas prices if the credit cards were put away. Pay them off, cut them up, and live happy. People would be amazed at what they could afford without CC payments and even car payments. They could save money to get the nice TVs and furniture and cars instead of using credit. Do away with credit, and you do away with money problems.

Wow, how blind can some of you be? Since the 1980s, the domestic output of oil has been cut in half, mostly by ecofreaks suing to have any latest swamp declared an endangered area to stop drilling. This is what has put us into this situation. And yes, "Bill", that will be 10 million more people out of work. Who has done this? No, "American Man", not Bush. Everyone says gas was $1.80 when Bush took office. True. However, gas was also $2.00 when the democrats took over congress a year and a half ago. Nobody wants to acknowledge that one, though, do they? Many people, myself included, live in areas where there is NO public transportation (rural Ohio aka "flyover country"), and driving 40 to 60 miles each way to work is common. Don't think for a second that the dems are sitting back laughing, waiting to gain even more power in November because too many people are misplacing their anger. Open up drilling in Oklahoma, the Gulf, and Alaska, and those gas prices will plummet almost immediately!!

OK Let's see here...we wanted to drill in Anwar but no the environmentalists got in the way. We want to drill off shore...heck China and Cuba are doing it in the Gulf...but nope we can't...again the environmentalists. So blame who you want...but the Republicans have been trying to do something for many years now but the extremists keep getting in the way. So exactly how do you want to us to reduce our dependencies?? Could Bush step in and open the reserves...probably but it won't help. Could we get a tax holiday...yep but that doesn't mean the price will go down it just means they can keep the price where it is and increase profits. States, counties have tried tax holidays and it doesn't change anything. Speculators are causing the greatest problem at this point. Everyone loves to complain but the truth is we have done nothing. No new refineries because no one wants them in their back yard. Yet those same people love to complain about our dependency and our gas guzzling SUVs. You can't talk out of both sides of your mouth. You aren't going to get people to stop driving SUVs and pickups...it's just not gonna happen.

Let the prices increase. The free market economy works when you leave it alone. If people can afford $4 gas, then prices will remain there. If they cannot, demand will decrease and prices will drop. If we force the prices down, people will use more and there will be lines at the pump. Simple concept.

Many of you simply want to blame Bush for EVERYTHING! Get over it! Obviously, many of you do not understand the power structure of this country. Laws START in the House of Representitives -- That is the Democrat house with Polosi; THEN it moves to the Senate -- Again, the DEMOCRAT senate; Blame Harry Reid! This congress is the MOST DO NOTHING people to EVER take office. When will THEY get sstarted??? You want relied??? Call your Congressman and Senator; quit blaming Bush; he can propose NO laws from his office. This Congress is quick to hold hearings with the CEOs of Oil companies; when will someone actually understand the REAL cause of all this mess; it ISN'T the Oil companies. Congress has REFUSED to allow them to drill or even to use the capped oil wells that are already in place. We have MORE oil than Saudi Arabia; but NO ONE wants to allow the companies to actually drill for it! The US Energy policy is to blame; we have the ability to work through this; but NOT on this path of dependence from those who wish to be our enemy. There has NOT been a new refinery built on over 30 years. Now they are too expensive and I doubt the oil companies would even want to build a new one at a price around $10 BILLION dollars with the small profit return they are held to. Let's figure out a REAL relief for energy; MORE WIND Turbine generators, more solar panels.

"$4 gasoline has not caused much change in the driving of Americans." This is completely false - Americans have changed their driving habits more drastically this year than they ever have. People are driving less. This is a blessing. Americans can do better than being reliant on noisy, smelly, ugly, polluting automobiles! We've got to figure new ways to work with the earth, to use the infrastructure we have in place for as long as we can until we can work out new methods for dealing with the inevitable crunch in resources caused by decades of our unsustainable (and greedy) consumption habits. You can put food on your OWN table - it grows out of the ground, you know. One thing is for sure: the wealthy are going to stay wealthy - and they're going to keep driving - and the rest of us are going to make it work for ourselves with a lot of effort and hard-nosed change! It's time for a new life to emerge for Americans...there MUST be other options than the suburban/commuter lifestyle because we're running out of ways to afford it. When you live in a nation that consumes more than it produces, your quality of life will eventually decline. You're no longer independent.

I tend to agree with gas prices will stay right around 4 dollars per gallon. Let's not forget the oil companies or the people that drill for oil will not let this get out of hand to the point where they are going to loose money. I think the US Goverment better take a good hard look at the US Economy and ways to help the US People. I am all for helping other countries BUT if the US Economy goes under then we will not be able to help anyone. All I hear and read about is countries and people quick to place blame on others.. but what I fail to see is someone standing up and saying this is how we can fix it. With all this technology I cannot believe that we cannot drill in Alaska in off the coast in a way that we do not harm the environment. Forgot all the politcal posturing and this insane posturing and fix the problem.. this is not just a US problem.. this is a global problem.

$7 for gas. All right here are the consequences. First off the larger metromarkets such as New York City,Chicago,Houston,Boston metro areas will absorb the costs and shocks. Now non-competetive markets such as Vicksburg ms where competition for retail gas prices is lacking. Even though Kroger is putting in thier gas pumps here the cost shocks here are going to be hard. Not all small businesses will be able to aborb the cost shocks of retail gas prices. A community like Vicksburg ms which has an extreme weak retail sector and is now feeling the pinch of the housing downturn. As a result of 6 or 7 dollar costs of gas the consequences will be more businesses will close and even some may move out of the harbor project. Now the town is acutally paying the price of a selfish business culture that didn't believe in free markets and didn't allow in more competiton. Also the with higer price of gas,the gaming sector here could see a lot more pull back in gamblers coming into this market. It would drive the tax coffieurs lower. With two gaming boats in bankruptcy court could a higher price of gas trigger a third? But the shocks in the varied business sectors are going to be profound. Those that are in denial on the issue or greedy don't see the reality of the consequences to the consumer.

I was looking forward to less people on the road, but apparently everybody else was thinking the same thing....people are complaining, but the markets know when they have sopped up all extra cash laying around. That time has clearly not come yet. Traffic is no lighter. When you are surprised that you don't see too many people out and about, that is the indicator that the limit has been reached.

Congress should cap the price of oil. Push carmakers to make more plug in hybrids and fuel cell cars. Wall street is BLAME for this there is not a reason to cause oil prices to be this high. If the goverment would make all there vehicles fuel cell look at the amount of gas that would not be used. Congress needs get out of bed with the oil companies and stop this. It's there fault that we have become dependent on the middle east. The U.S. needs to become more INDEPENDENT and take care of it's self!! Take the goverment away from business.

It is not the OIL Companies that are causing the rise in prices. The Oil Companies do not own any of the Oil that gets pumped. It's the Countries that are part of the CONGLOMERATE known as OPEC which stands for the ORGANIZATION OF PETROLIUM EXPORTING COUNTRIES is a block of countries that RESTRICT THE SUPPLY of OIL, the OUTPUT. THEY SET THE PRICES ON A DAILY BASIS counter to what you have been told in the NEW MEDIA. It is all about Supply and Demand. Read your BASIC Economics 101. Saudia Arabia, Kuwait, Venezuela, Nigeria,Iran, IRAQ,United Arab Emirates, Libya, Ecuador, Indonesia, Algeria, Angola and Qatar. I am not sure but it would be worth looking into if Russia and Mexico are also members of OPEC. OPEC is based is Vienna and USES OIL as a WEAPON. The Oil Companies only work to FIND Oil and Pump it out of the ground like a sub-contractor. Get your facts straight. OPEC is a CARTEL & the Shieks are VERY VERY WEALTHY. Beyond what you can ever believe.

Contrary to the Democrat Party and Environmentalists line, speculation would begin to drop the moment Congress lifted the ban on offshore drilling, ANWR drilling, oil shale production and nuclear power plants. Speculation would continue to drop as the processes move along towards actual production. There would not be a decades-long wait for the effect of a new energy policy on prices. And, many industry experts claim that new production could, in some cases, be available in as little as 5 years. If we fail to increase domestic supplies, the economic future of this country is in grave jeopardy.

I agree with Bill's comment. Not all of us live in the big cities that can afford to have mass transit. I live in a small town of about 1,000 that is basically at least a 40-mile drive to the larger cities and towns where the stores are to buy what you need. I chose to live away from the bigger cities to be closer to where I work, roughly two miles away, since that is where I'll be commuting to most of the time. However, many of the folks I work with are getting hammered by the higher prices because of gas prices because they don't live in town. Keep in mind that these folks are not driving larger trucks and SUVs every day, but small fuel-efficient cars and are still $60 to $80 to fill these up. Until all of the possible alternatives to oil and gas are truly viable and affordable, our elected officials need to allow drilling in ANWR and offshore. Until the day we as a country can move away from oil, we need to make sure we can supply what oil we need ourselves.

If we as cont down this path, of no no not in my back yard, it will kill bambi, WHO CARES, we let the these sand rats till us how much we are going to pay for oil. HMMM i do think that we where the ones drilled for that oil in the early 50s abd now we have to pay this high prices. And yes BUSH is a dum ass, we make money with these oil be high, so why should we care he does not have to fill up hes car we do. And to this env people shut up about the AS oil, we need it or do want to go back to the 1800 when we had to take a horse to the story, oh want it makes waste to much green house gases. WAKE UP PEOPLE we did this and we are going to pay this prices. AND guess what, if oil kepts going there will ot be any airlines to fly your happy but any where, and no green house gases just planes going weeds uparound them Welcome to the 21st century, sad

Reality is catching up to the U.S. China, India, and other booming economies are bidding up the price of oil like crazy as they buy every drop available. We have not yet really changed our habits; we continue to drive large SUVs, snowmobiles, motorboats, buy toys from China that take lots of oil to ship to our stores, etc. Our oil usage has barely budged so far. A little truth (perhaps inconvenient to some) about oil companies: U.S. oil companies already spend 25% of the funds invested in alternate-energy research; and their after-tax profit margin, at roughly 8%, is far less than banks', many retailers', or, say, trial lawyer firms (though Congress isn't talking about windfall profit taxes for those businesses...) Our government gets in the way of cheaper energy most of the time. Case in point: in 2006 ultra-low-sulfur diesel was mandated for U.S. sales (a good move environmentally). However, go do your own research about how many oil companies and refineries were granted permits to convert over to producing the stuff: hint, we are currently shipping much of it in country instead of making it here. So ironically, our government demands something, refuses to let it be produced here, makes our dollars go elsewhere, exacerbates scarcity, and causes tankers to burn more dirty diesel to bring us clean diesel from elsewhere. Also, diesel is taxed higher than gasoline here. All part of why diesel (and gas) are so expensive, though of course in Europe they pay twice as much.

Perhaps investing in a vespa or other scooter might be a worth while investment, if you can find one that is. This will be a brave & more expensive new world.

$4 gasoline has not caused much change in the driving of Americans. The threshold of pain from high fuel costs is very high..although Americans love to complain, they love and need the mobility. In addition, the US is no longer the "demand driver" for oil. We will be the first to start cutting back, but so long as other countries subsidize their energy costs for citizens demand will be slow to wain. We may well see $175 oil and $6 gasoline this year.

I think rising gas prices is something that we need. For years experts have been saying we need to be less dependent on oil. The amount of Americans using public transportation is up and that is a good thing. If gas prices continue to rise than i think we will also see a change in the public transportation system. More buses would be run and probabley more frequently and that would make public trasportation less of a hassle than it is today. The way we are living today and the way i grew up is changing. We as Americans need to change our habits and way of living to save the planet! With gas prices rising the price of food and other essential goods is on the rise. I strongly believe that gas for the general publice should just do what its going to do, but for companies delivering mail, food, and consumer products should be given a break when it comes to gas. If gas prices are too high thats fine with me. I can manage to live my life without a car, but if it gets to the point where I can't put food on the table, well then I think America is in trouble.

Bush hid for hours on 9/11 while the mayor of NYC took action. Bush hid for days while Katrina destroyed New Orleans. Bush hides when things go wrong. Bush is in hiding now when he could act by limiting/stopping oil speculators. Some say it won't work; well lets find out with a bold move but Bush listens to the greedy who could care less what happens to the USA as long as they can fill their pockets. Bush is in hiding now when we need a leader.

With all the talk about off shore drilling etc. Why don't the feds bring back the 55 MPH speed limit, and inact it immediately?

We will see $200 a barrel long before 2010....Everyone had best get OUT of debt....It ain't gonna get better for AWHILE.....

NO !! Oil Cos. no what the LIMIT IS !! It will stay around $4 - Bank on it !!!!

I am still waiting to hear why these increases are so immediate. How does a resource go along for years with general increases then spike 100% in a year or so? Speculators? Sure, but not all of it. Greed? Absolutely. When will someone make the call that necessities cannot be traded for ridiculous profit? Is gasoline a necessity? For many yes. I live in a town of about 100,000 with no mass transit...sure we have a bus or two, but nowhere near enough to get 100,000 people back and forth to work. And I'm sure other towns are in the same boat. Contrary to popular opinion, everyone doesn't live in NY, LA, or SF and mass transit isn't even an option. When those 10 million cars are parked for the final time, is that 10 million more people out of work? Finally, when will voters DEMAND that Congress actually work and do something to save our County...