I got a bit of sticker shock today when
I pulled up to the gas pump at our local BJ's Discount Club.
The Thursday before Christmas regular
was $3.079 per gallon. Today, just a day shy of two weeks later, it
was $3.229, an increase of 15¢.
Asking around it turns out the price went up just yesterday by 7¢.
Other prices around the area had jumped as high as $3.279.
It
made me wonder why, considering oil prices haven't gone up nearly
enough to generate that much of a price increase. Heating oil prices
haven't increased as they would have had there been a crude oil price
increase. Then I remembered: no more subsidies for the ethanol used
in gasoline.
Gee,
it didn't take long for that little gem to work its way through the
supply chain, did it? Of course if it were the reverse, with
subsidies starting, we wouldn't see a price drop at all, would we?