Parking our Cars, Costing our Roads

Higher gas prices mean we're driving less -- and that means less tax revenue to repair our roads.

The federal Transportation Department says Americans drove 1.4 billion fewer highway miles in April -- than in April, 2007. It's the sixth consecutive decline in our driving habits. (CNN)

Big Inflation Bubble

Inflation shot up last month at the fastest pace in six months. Gasoline and other energy costs pushed prices higher.

Gasoline was up 5.7%, food climbed 0.3%. (AP)

Your Tax Rebate? Already Gone.

Every penny increase in the price of gasoline takes $1.3 billion out of the pockets of American families.

That's the math from Merrill Lynch's David Rosenberg cited in Newsweek.

Now here's some more math on those stimulus checks we're waiting on from Washington.

The package was worth $120 billion. But when it passed, gas was $3.00 a gallon. Now it's $4.00. All that stimulus is already gone before the checks arrive -- kinda like your paychecks these days! (Newsweek)

What, Me Worry?

President Bush says America is not heading into a recession. I asked some people if they wanted to bet five bucks on that, and had no takers -- seemed they all needed any spare change for gas and groceries.

The President's predictions came during a White House news conference.

When asked about analysts' predictions of $4.00 a gallon gas by spring, the President said he hadn't heard any of those reports. But ThinkProgress pointed out a few minutes later he said he couldn't talk about donations to his Presidential library fund because he was "focused elsewhere, like on gasoline prices." (AP/ThinkProgress)

Iraq war, gas prices, surpluses mark 2007

The Iraq War, gas prices, and state budget surpluses marked the 2007 state legislative season. Stateline.org has a wrap up of how legislatures are wrapping up their 2007 sessions. (Stateline.org)

Troopers told: Park it

Budget cuts and rising gasoline prices are keeping Michigan State Troopers in park.

Troopers have been limited to as little as 40 miles per eight hour shift. That's taking them off patrol and leaving them sitting on the shoulder. Some troopers are putting in their limits before lunchtime -- spending the rest of their shifts sitting at desks instead of patrolling the roads. (DetNews.com)

Pols Paid to Drive to Work

Massachusetts lawmakers may be slow to feel the pain their constituents are feeling over gas prices.

That's because state legislators get their travel expenses reimbursed.

The Boston Herald tallied the list of lawmakers and added up their travel bills billed to taxpayers. At the top of the list, Rep Daniel Bosley (D-North Adams) has collected $6,930 for commuting 77 days to work -- at $90 a day.

Overall, the Bay State's paid out $200,000 for traveling lawmakers this year. (Boston Herald)

Checkbook Mentality and Higher Gas Prices

Big oil's own paperwork suggest at least one company not only put profits before needed repairs -- but profited from an eventual breakdown.

"BP field managers were being asked to choose between saving money and ccritical maintenance." -- Rep Bart Stupak, (D-MI), Chairman, Energy and Commerce Investigations Subcommittee

Internal documents from BP show the company ignored corrosion problems on the Alaska pipeline. The company slashed $800,000 in spending on anti-corrosion chemicals and reduced the number of inspections.

Over the same time, BP raked in $106 billion in profits.

The cutbacks resulted in leaks -- idling the pipeline for months, cutting off millions of barrels of oil and driving up oil and gasoline prices. And those higher prices resulted in more profits for BP -- effectively rewarding them for allowing the pipeline to breakdown. (Wyoming Tribune-Eagle)

Mixed Message from Big Oil

Congress is questioning where big oil puts its profits.

A House subcommittee is looking into whether oil companies have erased a supply cushion -- leading to record high gasoline prices of late.

"Oil companies today are enjoying record profits, and while they could use those profits to invest in more production capacity, instead they use the money to buy back shares in the markets."-- Rep John Conyers Jr. (D-MI), quoted by the AP

Gasoline prices have risen even as crude oil prices have dropped. Oil company exec's have said that refineries have had to close and cut back -- but in testimony before the subcommittee, John Felmy, chief economist at the American Petroleum Institute, says refineries are producing record amounts of gasoline. (Wyoming Tribune-Eagle)

Outlawing Price Gouging at the Pump

Fifty-four Republicans crossed the aisle to join House Democrats in making gasoline price gouging illegal.

President Bush promises to veto the bill.

It'd allow the President to declare a gas price emergency and fine oil companies -- even arrest their executives -- for gouging. The power to look for and declare price-gouging would rest with the Federal Trade Commission.

The FTC found 15 cases of potential price gouging in the wake of Hurricane Katrina -- but lacked the authority to investigate further.

At least 29 states already have some kind of price gouging laws on the books -- but enforcement varies from state to state. (HeraldNet)

America's Gas (Price) Cap

$4.16.

That's how high gasoline prices will have to go before Americans finally say enough is enough.

And you thought road rage would kick in so much sooner.

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows that we're fed up with high gas prices, they're causing household budget crunches, and canceling our vacations.

But Americans are slow to anger.

It seems -- on average -- we'll have to hit $4.16 a gallon before we demand action. So that's when -- about this time next week? (Philly Inquirer)

Getting Political Mileage Out of $3 Gas

With gasoline at an all time high -- and the summer driving season still weeks away -- politicians are going for all the mileage they can get.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) accuses big oil of deliberately shutting down refineries to drive up prices and profits.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced seven hearings in coming weeks and wants an energy package ready for Congress by the Fourth of July.

Figured out the Democrat's theme? Independence Day. Get it, "energy independence?"

The Democratic plan would focus on cutting US gasoline demand by improving automotive fuel efficiency.

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) struck back saying Democrats have blocked plans to open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling. (Reuters)

Tackling Health Care & Gas Prices

For the American family, no rising prices have been pinching pocketbooks as much as health care and energy costs.

With gasoline prices breaking the all-time high, 1981 record this weekend, Sen Barak Obama (D-IL) found a way to combine the two issues into a single one for his White House campaign. From the AP:

"[Sen] Obama said his plan encourages domestic automakers to make fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles by giving them health care assistance for retirees. Federal financial assistance would cover 10% - up to $7 billion - of automakers' annual legacy health care costs through 2017, under Obama's plan, which would require automakers to invest at least half of their health care savings into technology to produce fuel-efficient cars."

Financial incentives to help with health care costs and fuel efficient cars. It's a vision for America's future -- where we're driven to the emergency room in a hybrid ambulance getting 50 miles to the gallon. (AP)

Record Highs at the Pumps

The record stood since before John Hinkley shot Ronald Reagan was President, before the first Space Shuttle flight, and just as the first DeLoreans were rolling off an Irish assembly line.

This weekend, gas prices hit an all time high.

Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg reports gasoline prices in America averaged $3.07 a gallon on Sunday.

"[The President] must jawbone OPEC members to lower prices.” -- Candidate George Bush in the the first GOP Primary debate, 1999

Factor in inflation and they beat the previous record set in March, 1981.

Back then, they averaged $1.35 a gallon -- $3.13 in today's dollars.

And more recently, the latest average is four-cents higher than the $3.03 average set in August, 2006. (CNN)