Gas prices, again? Summer travel season can't be excuse for price skyrocket

It gets so tiresome writing about the mysterious forces that seem to send gas prices up and up at the oddest times.

Now, with the summer travel season upon us, we are seeing local stations sending prices up by 10 cents -- sometimes daily.

Who can really explain this one?

If more people are watching where they travel and few are planning trips this summer by anything except car, why in the world is there a need to jack prices up?

Wouldn't that analysis mean that there is plenty of gasoline around and that it should be more reasonably priced?

Oil companies wonder why consumers cannot seem to understand market pressures. They say they cannot control the prices and they are simply responding to the ebb and flow of the natural supply and demand model.

But when you see gas prices rise right when there should not really be a reason, it makes you wonder.

Is someone out there trying to take advantage of the situation?

There are many theories on what to do about Americans and their incredible thirst for gasoline -- from encouraging high-mileage cars to exploring the country's resources of shale and domestic oil production possibilities.

But no matter which avenue this nation chooses to explore, until someone, somewhere, can explain the mystery of gas pricing, Americans will still wonder if they are really victims of the market or just greed.

Published in Editorials on June 5, 2009 11:01 AM