Gas Prices Are Driven by Greed

The average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States is now $2.55, the highest in six months according to a nationwide survey of gas stations.[1] The analyst quoted in the cited CNN story blames a dip in supply caused by an unusual amount of refinery maintenance for the rising prices.

An interesting excuse when you consider that oil companies have continued to report record annual profits[2], and that the 26 oil/gas industry CEOs identified by Forbes make an average annual salary of $17 million, with the highest paid taking home nearly $81 million annually and $198 million over five years.[3] In 2005 oil CEOs took home 518 times the average pay of their workers, and took raises in salary for themselves that averaged 50%, while giving their employees raises averaging only about 4%.[4]

So Big Oil makes annual profits of hundreds of billions of dollars and seemingly has nothing better to spend it on than exorbitant compensation for its bosses (the money certainly isn't being spent on the employees), yet when the refineries shut down for repairs a little too often or crude prices go up over $60 a barrel, the barons have no choice but to pass the cost onto us hapless consumers. Doesn't that sound perfectly reasonable to you?

Refinery maintenance might well be causing a drop in supply, and anyone who occasionally glances at the front of the business section in USA Today can tell you that crude prices have been high for the last few years, but neither of those is the reason for our rising gas prices. The real reason is greed.