So, how do you all like the gas prices lately? Some parts of the country are starting to (or have broken) the $3.00 a gallon barrier. I do not know about you, but the price for gas has certainly made me think twice about doing any traveling now. Hell it is costing me $50.00 to fill up my tank, and I do not have that large of a tank.

Now there are report of violence at the pumps, people shooting or stabbing station owners over the price of a full tank. It is predicted that this type of violence is only going to continue, and all over the price of a tank of gas.

But why is this happening. We can point to the fact that crude oil has reached a record high, but is that really all there is to it? And here is all that oil from Iraq that we went to war for? Is there really a shortage of crude or is OPEC just being greedy. If OPEC is being greedy, then there is something we have to do to “encourage” them to lower prices. But I do not think there is a real shortage. After all, no one has been turned away from the pump because they (the filling stations) were out of gas, or that oil tanks have not been filled. Are there tankers out there just sittingaround? I doubt it. So what’s up?

First, the price of gas has been held artificially low for the US over the years, and if you look at what other people pay in other countries, we are still low per gallon. I think that thisartificial cost fixing has been quietly lifted. This could explain a lot and will level off when we reach the global average price. Beside, when thepetroleum companies are still making record profit (by these commodities) I think they could indeed lay off the price hitches.

Second, and maybe more important, I think we are being prepared. I think we are being prepared for alternative fuels and alternative technologies. I think that (and again quietly) the government has encouraged the price hitches and is now in the act of forcing new technologies on the unwitting public. Not that I am against alternate fuels or technology. I have long wanted my hydrogen fuel cell car so I can wear it out, then take the engine and stick it in my garage and run my household energy requirements off it.

So, I think that the government (them) are behind this. We still have oil, we have not gone into the reserves, the gas is still flowing, we have potential for a lot more from Iraq, car are getting bettermileage than ever, news articles are starting to hint more often at “alternative fuels”, major companies are very close to mass production of alternative fuel cars, and technologies are proceeding at unprecedented pace. So, get the public “wanting” alternative fuels, give OPEC a last hurrah to make them happy, introduce the new cars slowly and make the alternative fuels REALLY cheap, and in ten years, we will make the transition to new fuels sooner rather than later.

Conspiracy? Maybe, but at least it is a “White” conspiracy, it means well. I just wish “they” would do it to us cheaper per gallon.