Associated Press
Daily changes in the price of gasoline at the pump leave many consumers angry and frustrated. Angry because consumers have little control over this area of their lives and frustrated because they don’t understand why prices at the pump can fluctuate on a daily basis.
A 2006 study by the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights found corporate markups and profiteering were responsible for price spikes, not rising crude costs as the oil industry claims.
Only two years earlier, Graziadio Business Report from Pepperdine University blamed demand and speculation for the increase in the price per barrel of crude oil, but said the price of gasoline increased by a larger percentage. The authors of the report speculated the price of gasoline may be explained by limited refinery capacity and structural problems.
According to a report by the Associated Press earlier this week, light, sweet crude for February delivery dropped $2.51 to 95.40 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was the third consecutive day oil prices had declined. However, at the pump gas prices rose 0.2 cents overnight to a national average of $3.106 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service.
To whom or what can consumers attribute the rising cost of gasoline? There is no one answer, although supply and demand may be two of the biggest contributors to the rising cost at the pump globally. Americans have not significantly decreased the amount they drive, however many consumers are considering the purchase of hybrids and other fuel efficient automobiles when buying a new vehicle.
Time will tell whether this trend continues or goes the same way as the Gremlin during the mid-1970s.
