//rant=ON//

They have

gone through the roof. And the oil companies claim they can't help it. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, usually

regarding such things as a waste of time except for the laugh many give me. However, consider this.

Gas prices

have risen 85% in the past 5 years.

Gas Prises have risen 43% since January.

The oil companies blame it on

shortages. But there is still plenty of gas. When was the last time you had to wait to buy gas because somebody was

out of gas to sell? Consumption has not gone down but there are no shortages. OPEC is still producing the same

amount or more of petroleum as five years ago and not charging enough more to cause fuel prices to be so high.



At the same time, the oil companies are showing record setting profits. I know as I am a stock holder in a couple

of them. The truth is that it is not costing the oil companies much if any more to produce a gallon of gas as

opposed to the begining of the year. But they are charging a lot more claiming that maintenance issues have cut

supply. If there are maintenance issues isn;'t that the fault of management? And shouldn't the company eat that

cost resulting from self inflicted maintenance issues instead of using it to boost profits?

Please, don't

believe what I am saying here. Check into it yourselves. Then, if it is true, contact your elected representatives

and let them know you are unhappy about it.
//rant=OFF//