Why Are Gas Prices So High in the US?

How does the money break down?

If you go to the corner store and purchase 15 gallons of gas, on average that store is only making .75 yeah that is only .05 per gallon of gas sold. At least that is what they are posting. People also think that there is 50 gallons of crude oil in each barrel and it is so far from true. There is only 42 gallons per barrel. So today New York reported that oil was 125.00 per barrel, if you break that down per gallon it is 2.98 per gallon as a crude price and the government is getting an average of 1.5 cents per gallon and the refineries are getting 2.5 cents per gallon as I said before .75 goes to the store or .05 cents per gallon. Now that is not right, that is totally gouging. I do understand that crude oil is a commodity, but why is it that the stock market is creating these prices for us. When they bid high on the crude it makes our prices at the pump go up.

How has this been an impact on families?

Families are impacted greatly with these rising fuel prices, because they are normally on a fixed income and only have so much they can spend on certain activities or even eating out. Families are not traveling as much, so the large corporations that strive on lots of travelers are not seeing the number in their doors or gates. If you have a family of 4 and take them to some big park first you have to get there and if you fly, you are paying more for tickets because of fuel prices and if you decide to drive you will also pay a lot more for gas at the pump, so you will not be able to do as much at the location you are going for a vacation.

How can you save on fuel costs?

What many families are doing these days is staying home more and not going out unless they have to. Motorcycle sales are much higher these days, because they are getting from 40 - 70 miles per gallon. So people are getting these bikes to get back and forth to work and not taking their families places, so it is causing the parent to be with their children less time each week. The automobile market is also having problems selling cars that do not get more than 30 MPG. The cars that are coming out that are electric are just to expensive for most of the Americans to be able to afford, since the unemployment rates are at an all time high. This has also caused the trucking industry to have to go up on transportation to get all of our products to the stores. What this is called is inflation. Once all of these companies get their prices up, then they will keep them there, and it will only get worse for the consumer.

In conclusion, when you purchase gas at your corner store be sure to be nice to them, because they are only doing their job as an employee. Yeah prices are too high and that store is only making an average of .05 per gallon of gas they sell. When the prices skyrocket some of these stores are laying off their employees and causing more issues. If you do not have to drive then just stay at home and start up some kind of online home business. There will be over 80 million home based businesses that will be started up in the next year. How are your finances?