Why Are Gas Prices Rising?
March 26, 2012 4:30 AM 
Gas prices are on the rise. The average nationwide cost of a gallon of gas has risen $.53 since January and analysts predict they will go higher before topping off. The price of gas in the Utica-Rome area has either topped or is fast approaching $4 per gallon giving local motorists pause before heading out to the store for a loaf of bread or visiting friends and neighbors. What is causing the increase? Lots of things.
Politicians are saying it’s the lack of new production here in the United States, this despite the fact that we have actually become an oil exporter. Others point to unrest in the middle east although we import almost twice as much oil from Canada and Mexico than we do from Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait combined. Then there is increased demand from China and India. The Christian Science Monitor has yet another explanation–speculation.
Wall Street is betting on higher oil prices in the future — and that betting is causing prices to rise. The Street is laying odds that unrest in Syria will spill over into other countries or that tensions with Iran will affect the Persian Gulf, and that global demand will pick up as American consumers bounce back to life.
These bets are pushing up oil prices because Wall Street firms and other big financial players now dominate oil trading.
via Gas prices rising: Why GOP won’t address real cause – CSMonitor.com.
It may well be a combination of all the above but whatever the cause it’s starting to hurt!
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