The summer travel season began with the Memorial Day weekend. Anyone else notice the steadily rising price of gas?
Gas prices have irked me for years. Cheap this season, sky-high the next, yet the same oil is being produced year-round. So this weekend, since I am traveling to NYC via my car, I figured I’d flashback to spring 2008, when gas prices were really out of control. Will see the same heights this year?

On my most recent trips to the gas station I have made it a point to turn away from the pump.  I have no desire to watch the price meter run up …read more

No one I know is laughing about high gas prices, but several people are making light of the pain we all experience at the pump.  Here are a few jokes I have come across:

A woman told her boyfriend, “I want you to take me out, somewhere really expensive for a change.”  The man thought for a minute and dropped her off at a gas station. – Anon, chain e-mail
“Gas prices, aren’t they crazy? It’s so expensive that rats are carpooling in from New Jersey.” -David Letterman
“Republicans in Congress are demanding that President Bush investigate whether oil companies are now gouging consumers on these gas …read more

The people have spoken!  With 69% of the vote, the U.S. government officially gets the gas face!!!! 
The government has encouraged “big oil” in so many ways.  Some interesting tidbits include…

Failing to adequately support alternative energy sources with much needed funding.  According to Joseph Romm, former Director of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, “the budget for all energy efficiency and all renewable energy is something like a billion.” BTW, the budget for the Iraq war is about $2.4 billion per week.
Subsidizing oil company activities by bearing the costs of protecting the flow of oil into the U.S. to the public health costs …read more

Have you ever received one of those “boycott the gas station” e-mails? In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, gas prices shot up and I got my first e-mail with the subject line “FW: Don’t get gas from ExxonMobil.”  Soon after, I received “Don’t buy gasoline on 9/1/05.”

I was irritated by the high gas prices but, unfortunately neither one of these plans would provide a solution.  Let’s debunk the myths.
Boycott#1: Don’t buy gas from ExxonMobil. 
Desired result: ExxonMobil will have excess supply and be forced to lower prices.  Other stations will have to follow.
Why it will not work: Oil companies sell oil to refiners.  …read more

On my most recent trips to the gas station I have made it a point to turn away from the pump.  I have no desire to watch the price meter run up to $55 for a tank of low-grade gas. Turning away from the pump has allowed me to look at what other motorists are doing. Much to my chagrin, they are looking back at me!
We trade smiles through what I like to call “the gas face.” It is a somewhat stressed look of displeasure induced by the pumping of expensive gas. I have seen a lot of gas faces and they are …read more