One Man's Opinion: Gas pains returning

Don't worry folks, I'm not talking personal intestinal issues here.

These kind of gas cramps are corporately induced.

What brought on this case of gas -- a gas powerful enough to double you over and steal the contents of your wallet at the same time? Why greed of course.

I was talking with Bill Campbell on Thursday. As you may recall, back in the day, not too long ago, Mr. Campbell was a morning fixture at many coffee tables around the region as the morning man at KICD-AM 1240. Now of course, Bill has opted for the much more sane position and "bankers hours" as the director of the local Red Cross operating center. Oh the life some people enjoy.

Sorry, I let my mind wander to the joys of the good life for a moment. Back to the point. Campbell was a regular critic of the gas gouging that we went through as prices rose above $2, then $3 and eventually topped $4 briefly.

Bill and I were of the same mindset on the issue, we're getting hosed at the pumps.

We kept hearing it was about production. Then it was about oil barrel prices skyrocketing. And of course there was the war for oil - I'm still waiting for the oil supply from that one. Then some drunk sea captain ran his ship into a rocky shoreline and spilled his oil cargo all over a bunch of innocent sea creatures.

There was always some reason. And we bought it. We grumbled but we bought it. What choice did we really have.

Some folks stopped traveling. Then the automobile industry began to panic because people stopped buying SUVs. Then the travel industry went into vapor lock because nobody was taking trips. Tourism was in the toilets.

On top of it, because of the outrageous transportation related costs, food prices began to go up. It's a big ugly circle, and guess what, it's coming back.

Really, if you look back, that's when all the problems we're dealing with today started. Call it coincidence, but a lot of our current economic issues began about the time energy prices hiked to unreasonable amounts.

But then gas began to drop again. Down to $3.50, then $3, then $2.99 - yes, victory, then $2.50 and what, do my eyes deceive me, gas dropped below $2. It settled locally in around $1.57 for a while and the consumer was happy once again.

Prices dropped to around $40 a barrel and people began to travel again.

Now with summer just around the corner - on the heels of record profit years for the major oil companies - those prices have raised quite dramatically in the past few weeks.

There was a period of time when the jumped from that $1.60 a gallon mark back up to $1.99 then sat there for a while - just waiting to top $2 again. But wait, the cost per barrel only jumped about $20, what's the reason behind the dramatic jump. No drunk sea captains' crashing ships. Still no oil from the war.

So can someone please explain, with the still low barrel prices, why gas has jumped by 60 cents to $2.59 in the past four to five weeks, nearly 10 cents a week.

There is but one reason, corporate greed. And at the expense of the American people who are battling through enough economic issues within the family right now.

But the major oil companies seem not to care as they manipulate the drilling and distributrion plan - instead suggesting they just can't keep up with the demand while at the same time sitting on non-operative drilling sites. Non-operative because they are refusing to use them.

I've heard it all before. Europeans are paying this and that, blah, blah, blah at the pumps. Good for them, I choose to live in America where we can rise up and raise a little heck when we feel we are being taken advantage of, and folks, we are definitely being taken advantage of.

We've got up-tapped resources all over the United States and along the shorelines. Speak up. Tell your local legislators to make fuel costs a priority. If we can get those costs down, maybe we can see a positive impact on all the other items that are impacted by increased transportation dollars.