Supply vs demand is one cause of price fluctuation.
When we decided, as a nation, to elect politicians who voted to refuse to allow drilling & exploration for petrochemicals, we got whopping price increases from the FOREIGN oil sources who are charging what the market will bear.
Complaining about it & whining does nothing but place blame in convenient places other than where it belongs., Stop buying gas, and they would get the message. Prices would drop. Not suggesting that for me, since I intend to keep buying gas.
Or we could vote for politicians who would ALLOW drilling/exploration instead.......
In this age of "globalization", there really isn't much differentiation between "domestic" and "foreign" oil. The oil companies aren't loyal to one particular country, they are loyal only to themselves and their bottom line. Prices are set by the world market, no matter where the oil originates, and we as a country are no longer in the catbird seat. China, India, and other emerging economies with huge populations are bidding up prices, and reduced consumption in the USA no longer has the major and immediate affect on prices that it once did. It's a brave new world and we need to get used to the new realities, suck it up, and move on. And BTW, if you compare the increase in the price of gasoline over the past 50 years with the increases for everything else in the family budget over that same time, you will find that you aren't getting such a bad deal even at $3.50 per gallon. Everything is relative.
Perhaps if the oil industry didn't have such a lousy record we could convince
our representatives in government to support exploration and drilling in sensitive areas, either in the ANWAR or a potentially even better source along our vast coastlines. Unfortunately, as recently proved by the BP fiasco's in Alaska and Texas, when it comes to protecting the environment or the safety of employees and the surrounding community, they cannot be trusted and our government has no backbone for the rigid regulations and enforcement that would be necessary to reduce the risks to acceptable levels.
Think of it this way, by holding the deposits along the coastlines and in the ANWAR in reserve, we are helping to use up the reserves of our "friends" in the middle east more quickly. Once they suck theirs dry and lose the seemingly endless supply of cash that they use to support our enemies, perhaps our government can start worrying about domestic issues rather than interfering in conflicts that date back to the beginnings of so-called civilization. (In other words, let the sand monkeys kill each other off like they've done throughout history.)
Jerry