Thursday, March 3, 2011

Gas Prices...Who Controls Them Anyways?

After seeing a tweet from a friend that works for Murphy USA that gas prices were supposedly going to raise 17 cents over night, I immediately loaded my son up in the car & headed to load up on gas, even though my tank wasn't even empty.  I usually don't pay much attention to gas prices, because I really wouldn't even like to know!  I just swipe my card & go on my merry way!   Just recently have I started to look at the actual price again...& $3.24 seems a bit ridiculous, & then $3.41 is even more ridiculous!

{photo courtesy of Only In Citrus County}

The recent spike in gas prices has actually started to make me wonder who actually controls our gas prices any ways?  I've always known that conflict & crisis in the Middle East usually has something to do with it, but what does it really have to do with the prices of gas over here in America?

Gas isn't something that we can just up & stop buying when it starts to get to expensive.  Gas is how we go about our daily lives.  Without gas we can't get to work, without going to work we can't get paid, without getting paid we can't pay our bills...& so forth.  So..gas is VERY important to most of the American society!

According to Financialnut.com, it's all about "supply & demand".  Some might think the US Government is responsible for deciding on our gas prices, but it's not.  Your next guess might be that companies such as BP, Chevron, Shell & Murphy USA are the ones that make the decisions.   It's not them either (Financialnut.com par. 2)!  To think about it simply, when supply & demand stay the same the prices stay the same.  When supply decreases but demand stays the same or increases, then prices are obviously going to go up (Financialnut.com par. 3).  This is actually the case, in why gas prices are so high right now.

So once again, there go more companies controlling how much of our money is going to be spent on gas!
Posted by at

2 comments:

  1. EmilyyAnnMarch 17, 2011 at 12:55 PM

    Dear Kati @ "along for the ryde...",

    This subject is one that is close to everyone and I think it's good that you addressed it. I really enjoyed it and learned from it.

    I, too, had always wondered who actually controlled gas prices so when you said that when supply decreased and demand stays the same or increases that the price went up that made so much more sense to me. Definitely something good to know, so thank you for that.

    I totally agree with you on the importance of gas in American society. I couldn't imagine if one day the gas companies went on strike, and even as people, we organize "a day without gas" strikes all the time. But that's just it, no one can go more than a day without someone in the country having to get gas.

    I really enjoyed this post, it was extremely enlightening and I definitely agreed with it. I look forward to reading more of what you have to say.

    Cardinal

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mark HopkinsApril 18, 2011 at 9:54 AM

    Dear Kati,
    Gas prices are an important part of our daily lives. The rising cost of gas has a tremendous effect on the amount of money in our pockets. Like you said in your blog the gas prices right now are getting outrageous. It is hard to believe that the price of gas has increased so much over the past several years. The recession is not going to help anything out either. Another thing you mentioned was the concept of supply and demand. This has a major impact on the price of gas. The gas companies also markup the price of gas so they can make money off of it too. Thank you for writing Kati. The U.S. economy and the Middle East conflict greatly impact the price of gas. Gas is a necessary item for most Americans and if the price of gas rises too much it could be detrimental to the U.S. economy and its people.
    Junco

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)