• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

SUNDAY SYMPOSIUM; Gulp! Oil, Gas Prices Keep Going Up

Posted on: Sunday, 14 August 2005, 15:00 CDT

We need to do something about all of the cost increases

The Aug. 11 article regarding the continuing rise in price of crude oil mentioned "the apparent lack of any response from motorists" ("Oil hits $65 a barrel"). This I find hard to believe.

Crude oil prices have gone from being in the $40 range to the $60 range. Soon, it will hit $70. This is taking place in the span of one year.

In the same day's Journal Sentinel, I also read that although housing prices continue to rise, salaries remain flat. So what's really going on here? I now pay more for gas, utilities, food, pretty much basic necessities. Yet my income remains exactly the same.

We also all know that once these prices increase, they rarely decrease. A good example of this is the price of a gallon of milk: $3 a gallon? Again, I have to ask myself, and so should the rest of us: What's really going on here?

I, for one, am sick and tired of having cost increases passed on to me. Maybe a survey or a poll might produce some startling answers by consumers. The gap between the haves and have nots is growing daily, and I truly hope people will finally wake up to it and do something about it.

Margaret Melville

Cedarburg

How can gas prices be so different around the area?

I took a little ride to Adams County the other day and needed gas, so I stopped in Jefferson. Can someone explain why gas is 15 cents cheaper only 40 miles from Milwaukee?

On the return trip, I stopped in Lake Mills. Gas was $2.44 a gallon, that's still high, but 15 cents cheaper than in Milwaukee.

Can someone say rip-off?

R. Straszewski

Greenfield

Of course the consumers are upset about high prices

This is in response to the comment by James Cordier, president of Liberty Trading Group in Tampa, Fla., in the Aug. 11 article "Oil hits $65 a barrel": "Even so, Cordier said he has been stunned by the recent run-up in oil and gasoline prices and the apparent lack of any response from motorists. Cordier said prices at the pump might continue climbing until consumers are crying uncle, which they're not.' "

Lack of response from consumers? Oh, I forgot! Time again to fill up the 6 trucks we need to service our clients to the tune of about $80-plus per fill-up, I might add. Oh, I also forgot! I've got to fill up my vehicle again. I have clients to visit and job sites to travel to. I could take a bus to work, but gee whiz, what shall I do once I get there?

It appears to me that there really isn't much choice in the matter. But, if it makes a difference UNCLE!

If I stop banging my head against the wall, maybe the headache will go away, too.

James W. Kasper

Milwaukee

People should be concentrating on really important issues

Scanning the headlines, I found out that nine, yes nine, people may have voted twice ("9 may have voted in 2 cities," Aug. 10). Now we are going to waste more time and money to send the voter ID bill back to the governor.

Let's see some real headlines. Were there any headlines about $2.60 per gallon of gas? It wasn't long ago that $20 would fill up my gas-guzzling Cavalier. Now it takes more than $30.

Let's spend $34.7 billion on going to the moon. If gas prices get any higher, we will all go to the moon. So let's not make a big deal out of nine votes and concentrate on something major like our pocketbooks.

Bruce Pederson

Waukesha

Wisconsinites must not sit back and accept this

Price gouging is alive and well in Wisconsin, thanks in part to a governor who is not concerned with how this daily robbery is affecting his constituency. Why, other than our exorbitant fuel tax, is gas in our neighboring states 15 to 35 cents less per gallon?

Other states are proactive, controlling fuel vendors' ability to pad their profit margins. In Iowa, stations can only raise their prices on the day they take delivery of new fuel. This increase is also limited to a certain percentage over what they are being charged for the gas. How sensible! Why do we sit back and accept random increases on gas?

How can gas that was already in their tanks yesterday cost us more today? In Wisconsin, vendors can raise their prices when they hear on the news that the price of crude oil has gone up. It takes months for crude oil to be refined into gas, yet they are charging us now, speculating the amount prices will increase when the gas finally makes it to their station next year!

Wisconsin has similar fuel cost control laws to those in Iowa. Why is no one enforcing them? Our state is allowing this gouging to take place, and we are sitting idly by and accepting it.

Kelly M. Kritz

Wauwatosa

Copyright 2005, Journal Sentinel Inc. All rights reserved. (Note: This notice does not apply to those news items already copyrighted and received through wire services or other media.)

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

More News in this Category