- Everybody is asking that question these days. The average nationwide price for all grades this week is $3.96/gallon; Californians are paying on average $4.26, the highest in the nation.
- Why does it cost so much, especially considering that the price was below $2.00/gallon just within the last couple of years?
- Nearly seventy percent of the price of a gallon of retail gasoline is the price of the crude oil it is refined from. Two graphs from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) make that point. The first shows the price of a gallon of gasoline (left axis) plotted against the price of a gallon of crude oil (right axis). The two move in virtual lock-step; if you know the crude oil price per gallon, add $1.00 and you’ll know the price of gasoline within a few cents. (At $105 per 42-gallon barrel, the per-gallon price of crude is $2.50; add a buck, and you get a gasoline price around $3.50.)
- OK, so where does the $1.00 go that’s not paying for the raw product?
- Nationwide, the average of state and federal taxes embedded into the price of a gallon of gasoline is 43 cents. We usually think of taxes the other way around, as with sales taxes. If you look at it that way, the effective “sales tax” on gasoline is 13.6%.
Here's a video explaining some of Barack Obama's failed policies, and how his actions simply don't line up with his words:
As even some in Congress are now admitting out loud, Barack Obama is deliberately trying to drive up the cost of gas for American citizens. They're doing a good job of it, too, because the average American is now paying 12% of their monthly income to put gas in their cars, which is double the rate during the Bush years:
And, according to them, it's your fault! Classy.
Anyway, it does appear that they're doing everything possible to slow down and stop U.S. oil production...and then they turn around and give billions of taxpayer dollars to environmental activists who don't think that Obama and the liberals in Congress are doing enough! Obama is also sending billions of dollars to Brazil to help them develop the oil reserves they recently found in their waters. Is anyone else seeing a serious disconnect here?
Most Americans understand that to enact super-strict environmental regulations means economic hardship will come as a result. The American voting public is in favor of drilling in ANWR and in developing nuclear power, but Obama is considering nothing of the sort. Just the opposite, in fact, as they really don't care at all about global warming in terms of voting in the next election. Smart people...politicians should take note.
Ironically, the White House is demanding that federal agencies no longer use full-sized SUVs or sedans...unless the extra size is 'essential' to their mission. Any guesses on whether or not Obama himself will forgo the armored beast that gets him from point A to point B? Never mind that it was specifically SUV sales that saved Chrysler, which also happens to be owned by the federal government now.
Perhaps the biggest problem with this policy is that it is demonstrably costing American jobs...and the Obama administration doesn't seem to give a damn. Inexplicably, they seem happy about it. They want it to go higher. Yes, higher. Never forget that!
But hey, who wouldn't want to use the low-flush toilets that San Francisco is going to be using, all in the name of Mother Earth?
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