Gasoline prices hit another all time high

When I first started driving (just over five years ago), I could fill up my tank for about $15. Now? The same amount gets me about one quarter tank. Absolutely ridiculous.

A gallon of regular unleaded costs an average of $3.196, up from $3.178 on Sunday, according to AAA and Oil Price Information Service. Prices are up 33.7 cents from a month ago and 30.4 cents from a year ago, as demand remains strong, and a spate of planned and unexpected refinery shutdowns have constricted supply.

"As we start a new week, we have an insanely bullish market — which has already advanced to absurdly high levels," Cameron Hanover's Peter Beutel wrote in a research report. "We are running seven weeks behind normal this refinery turnaround season, after taking an extra seven or eight weeks in the fall to maintain refineries."

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported last week that gasoline inventories — while increasing to 195.2 million barrels for the week ended May 12 — are still well below the average for this time of year. The nation's peak driving season, meanwhile, is set to begin this long Memorial Day weekend.

I do find it quite amusing when I pull up to a gas pump and see that someone has just paid $75-$100+ to fill their car up. Good going SUV owners of America.

Bush to call on Americans to cut gas consumption

So, Bush plans to call on Americans to cut their gas consumption by 20 percent over 10 years, yet his administration has done little to NOTHING to help ease Americans off of their "addiction to oil."

ABC News:

Such a dramatic reduction in gasoline consumption would require new standards of the Corporate Average Fuel Economy system, known as CAFE, and an increased availability in the U.S. auto market of vehicles that run on alternative fuels.

"He's going to set a very ambitious goal for this country: to reduce our gasoline usage by 20 percent in 10 years," Deputy White House Chief of Staff Joel Kaplan said in an exclusive interview with ABC News. "'Twenty in 10,' we are calling it. It's very ambitious, but we think it's achievable, and I think a lot of Americans are going to rally to that cause."

"Talking the talk," and "walking the walk" are two completely different ballgames Mr. Bush.