Make a big issue of gas prices

Prices are skyrocketing -- up 24 cents a gallon in the past week, 34 cents since July 1 -- around here, and the story is being repeated across the country.

Remember how prices spiked before the war? Remember how we were assured that we'd be swimming in cheap gas after we killed all those pesky Iraqis?

This is a big-bucks pocketbook issue for commuting Middle America -- the very people whose hearts and minds we have to win in 2004.

http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/sited/story/html/140495
The busiest job at North Olympic Peninsula minimarts and convenience stores with gas pumps this week is changing the signs as prices skyrocket toward $2 a gallon.
Industry officials expect the price for regular unleaded gasoline to hit $2 in Jefferson and Clallam counties by midweek.

http://www.vvdailypress.com/cgi-bin/newspro/viewnews.cgi?newsid1061128247,36123,
In the San Bernardino and Riverside areas on Saturday, the average price was $1.83 for a gallon of unleaded gas and $1.99 for premium gas. Both averages jumped 4 cents in just one day, the Automobile Club of Southern California reported.
In the High Desert, gas prices were running a little higher than the San Bernardino norm. The Thrifty gas station at Palmdale Road and Park Avenue was charging $2.05 a gallon for unleaded gas and $2.25 a gallon for premium gas.

http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2003/08/16/news/news03.txt
In the same week that Iraq first began pumping oil since the war, retail gasoline prices on the South Coast jumped more than a quarter a gallon.
The price at the pump only two weeks ago was $1.659 a gallon for regular unleaded at the Astro station in Empire. By Friday afternoon the price was $1.999 a gallon - and prices were similar at other Bay Area stations. Near the end of the week, prices jumped five cents overnight, just when consumer demand is rising.

Oh, and a polite note to our overseas readers: Please don't tell us how lucky we are that we're not paying $5/gallon. Our economy isn't currently set up to function at that level. For instance, the price increases just since July 1 have effectively wiped out my entire annual pay raise for this year. :(

Which is another point to make.

Yours truly,
The Single Gay Guy

These GS-15 geniuses issued a press release Wednesday "warning" us to watch out for higher prices at the gas pumps. They set out the whole rationale for a big spike in prices... giving Big Oil the political cover they needed to ratchet up prices.


http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/08/13/gas.prices.reut/index.html

This story sent everybody scrambling out to their price boards within an hour of its release.

Prices in my town shot up 20cents in a day.