and:
Retail gas prices rose to almost $2 a gallon as refineries took units temporarily off-line for seasonal maintenance.
The most important factor in gas prices is, in my opinion:
“You get the sense the market wants to go higher,” he said. “Those who sell at $40, they’re going to get tired of doing that. Eventually they’re going to hop on board and push this thing to $50.”
Demand for gasoline is going down because of job losses and less commuting to work. Furthermore, US Drivers Traveled 20 Billion Fewer Miles in April of 2008 than Last Year! - and that trend is increasing, not decreasing, because of the huge loss of more jobs and the downward spiral of our economy.
I predicted that gas prices would begin increasing after the election in a comment I made either on Op-Ed News or RAW Story - and I was far from being alone on that issue; (Google “gas prices will increase after the election?”) it doesn’t take a genius to know that some of the price drops in gasoline were made by oil companies that were attempting to take high gas prices off the table prior to the election in an effort to usher in another Republican President. If you read between the lines in the MSNBC article, it is the wealthy speculators that will drive-up gas prices, and whether demand drops or not, gas prices are destined to go much higher in the near future. Our “Corporate Masters” will not allow us to enjoy fair prices at the pump for long, especially in consideration of the absurd profits they made when gas prices we at an all-time high.
As to CNN, instead of giving us the full story, they chose to offer small bytes of the news rather than the full story; even on this site, the job losses in January were being reported, and I was quoting directly from CNN. They knew that gas wasn’t rising just because of a small rise in crude oil prices, and if the refineries going off-line is truly “seasonal” as AP reported, they knew that too - just as they have allowed more conservative “talking heads” to comment on the bailout controversy than Liberal/Progressive opinions, which in this author’s opinion, demonstrates that CNN is taking the side of conservative Republicans rather than remaining non-biased. CNN should take notice of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. loss of $6.4 billion in its most recent quarter, and if CNN doesn’t start telling us the whole truth rather than what the “Corapacy” dictates - they may be next!
William Cormier
NOTE: In Georgia, we have watched gas prices rise 25 to 30 cents per gallon in the last five weeks alone, and based on the price of crude and falling demand, it’s obvious that another dynamic is behind the price increases - corporate greed.
UPDATE: Today, February 9, 2009, CNN released another story on rising gas prices. We know the MSM tracks links to their articles, and even though MSNBC has revealed our rising gas prices are far more complicated than CNN originally published in January - their article today is still more “fluff” and does not tell the real story of why these prices are rising. CNN is proving they are no longer a reliable source for the news and instead of reporting all of the facts, they choose to continue on their road of propaganda rather than revealing the whole story:
Gas prices creep back towards $2February 8, 2009: 4:13 PM ET
(CNN) — Gas prices jumped 6 cents over the past two weeks to a national average of $1.92 a gallon, according to a survey published Sunday.
Prices at the pump have been creeping back up after bottoming out at $1.62 seven weeks ago, Lundberg said. That low was down from record-high prices that reached more than $4 per gallon during the summer.
The recent increase is due in part to gasoline demand, Lundberg told CNN. “Thanks to such low prices, demand is now within shouting distance of its year-ago level,” she said. MORE
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
