Surprise! Gas prices are up.

Memorial Weekend brings the usual passel of articles and reports about high gas prices and consumer spending. The Chronicle is no different. Having spent $45.00 at the pump yesterday the high prices mentioned are no real shocker, although I admit to having an epiphany when I realized the dollar amount had doubled in a couple of years. This was followed by a moment of thankfulness that I no longer have to make the roundtrip 80-mile trek to work three times a week.

As a travel writer with a book still available and a signing on the horizon, I’m happy to read that Americans are saying the high prices won’t keep them off the highway; but a closer look at my own recent habits makes me question the veracity of the headline. I have elderly parents and act as their caregiver. It’s a 110 mile roundtrip. To conserve gas, I’m spending more nights and combining visits. I plot my routes and schedule my errands so the stops are incorporated along the way. I considered a hybrid car until I learned of the battery replacement cost and decided to wait until the cars had more mass market distribution under their hoods before I made the plunge.

What I really wish is that I could get my simple brain around the reasons for the high prices. Refinery costs, power outages, and higher demand seem to be the familiar refrain. Eventually this will be followed by a report of some oil company posting higher-than-ever profits. I don’t know enough about the industry to judge whether the reasons given for the high prices are flip, easy to give answers and the articles the result of lazy journalism or whether they are a true reflection of what is going on. Today’s article struck me as one more throw-away with predictable content. And don’t get me started on those blasted summer electricity bills….

Posted by Vikk Simmons @ 05/26/07 12:51 PM | Print |

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