Gas Prices

Okay, we've been away a few days. Doug has been working 12-hour shifts, and Robin has been writing articles for the Carolina Coastal Guide.

And ..., we drove our son David to Appalachian State College for orientation. And ... we went to Wilmington for research ..., sigh, where does time go?

But ..., we did have a few thoughts about gas prices. Everyone knows how they've jacked up in recent weeks/months. The curious aspect about it, though, is that nobody with inner knowledge seems to agree on the reason. C'mon, there have been Senate committee meetings and no one's the wiser? Speculators on the futures markets get some blame, according to reports. And some say that supply is an issue in the face of growing demand. Others might thing this is a ploy by lobbyists to get drilling in the Atlantic ocean and in Alaska. BUT ..., here's some speculation.

What if bin Laden and his cronies got their act together and figured out the best way to crash the American economy was to force the price of gas to 10 dollars a gallon. First, let's agree that this price would definitely have the potential of crashing the economy. Most foods get shipped via transportation that has the rising costs of diesel and gas. The price increase hits us not only in the gas tank, but in the food basket as well.

Well, crashing the twin towers didn't work, so how about jacking up the price of gas at the pump?

It just ... might ... work.

We're not suggesting that this is actually being carried out. We're just saying that nobody has given a convincing reason for why the prices are going up. And if we don't know, maybe bin Laden does.