AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine gas prices have jumped another eight cents in the past week to an average of $3.77 per gallon.
Price-monitoring website MaineGasPrices.com reports Monday that while the jump in Maine is lower than the national average, the retail price of gasoline in the state remains about 13 cents above the national level.
Prices are now more than 38 cents per gallon higher than the same day a year ago and 24 cents per gallon higher than a month ago.
The national average has increased almost 27 cents per gallon during the last month and is 30 cents per gallon higher than the same day a year ago.
A company analyst says crude oil speculation and Middle East volatility are driving up prices.
The economy will never recover until oil prices are under control. Any extra money people have to spend down the economy is going into gas tanks to get to work. High gas prices and high heating oil prices mean people travel less and spend less.
Thats right!
Oil Price Spikes,
It was the cause of the great 2007 /2008 recession,
the banking crisis was just the result!
We have to get away from our reliance on oil. These soaring prices are a global phenomenon and there is little we can do domestically to stop it. Hopefully more breakthroughs in research/technology start coming soon and we can stop being bogged down by oil.
Is this the free market fixing the green house gas issue , naturally ?
If the technology would be more affordable, but when this new stuff comes out and is priced, greed rules and nobody can afford a new Hybird, Solar power panels, Wind Turbines, etc
Yeah, it’s certainly not perfect and it’s expensive, but we seemed to have plateaued with our ability to make oil as efficient as possible. As time goes on, with every attempt, the technology will get better and more affordable — that’s true of everything.
I managed to get away from heating oil for the most part, sadly all the money I saved is in the gas tank it seems
Its a Catch-22. Affordability comes with demand. Buying and using the new technology creates demand….called the green economy. Takes time, but it will get there. This is a major shift in how we all live. Green products are often more expensive to buy, but when you consider that they don’t pollute, don’t exploit people in emerging nations, and are often made in the US, the true cost is far less than the hidden costs of non-environmentally friendly products. Plus, as a way to get the green economy moving, there are, and will be for the foreseeable future, many incentives and tax breaks for buying green.
Yep. Look what they did with the ethanol. The price of corn shot up. Did you ever think you’d be competing with your car for an ear of corn? I remember when ethanol was touted as a savings for the consumer. So now I can’t afford to buy gas or corn.
Oh I remember that, the articles plastered by the media that quoted the Gov’t bragging about the savings we would see in gas, we still don’t and Corn is up. The Gov’t needs to admit the speculators is killing it and they are not regulating enough. If the Gov’t wants to babysit someone, this would be a start, as said for many years.
We cannot, the speculation of it is unreasonable. Our economy, if you have not noticed, is oil based.
Has anyone else noticed how they all support government subsidies,
without saying the words “government subsidies”
is all that the conservatives are really saying here ?
What happened to the Oil in Iraq that we were protecting??? Also, Saudi Arabia is supposed to be our Buddies?? We are being hosed BIG TIME!! Wake Up People!!!
“What happened to the Oil in Iraq that we were protecting???”
Did we win ?
What do you expect then ?
The oil was Sold to China!
Haliburton got the drilling rights.
actually Saudi Arabia increased production to help off set the Iranian cutting back production. So, if that is the case why haven’t the speculators lowered the price?
{A company analyst says crude oil speculation and Middle East volatility are driving up prices.}
We need a Law that makes it so that you cant buy oil on the open Market unless you take delivery!
Remember this next time our Maine politicians ask you for your vote. They stand by in Congress and let Wall Street Speculators and Big Oil crush the working and poor people in this country beneath their feet. There are many in Congress who are getting their pockets lined by Big Oil. Yea, these are the politicians who are supposed to be looking out for the people who put them in office.
The Oil industry wants to build support for a new Trans-National Pipeline
from Canada to Texas which has been promoted as the future of American petroleum consumption but historically they have not maintained the Alaskan Pipeline and recently had a major leak. The Obama Administration has rejected proposals by the Oil industry to build their new pipeline and has been trying to eliminate an old ‘blue-law’ (using the term looesly) that give federal dollars to oil companies when Americans purchase petroleum products. Sounds crazy, but it’s true. Why can’t these petroleum companies not diversify more heavily into bio fuels instead of trying to build another environmental hazard in our back yards?
http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-broke/
Hope it goes to $5.00. We need a new government.
http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-broke/
Realize that this is a national issue but Maine is really, exceptionally stuck in the dark ages. One gallon of gasoline is now officially more than 50% of the hourly minimum wage in the State of Maine with little-to-no public transportation. Time for a serious change. First, Maine should manufacture ethanol. Huge Amounts of it. You can – today – heat a house with it, run a vehicle ,it doesn’t pollute and provides economic support for agriculture. Second, minimum wage should be 10.00/hr not 7.50 – this is not a living wage and it hasn’t been since 1985.
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/BioFuel/biofuels.htm#Ethanol
http://running_on_alcohol.tripod.com/id36.html
http://journeytoforever.org/ethanol.html
http://www.revenoor.com/pdf/catalog.pdf
http://www.green-trust.org/2000/biofuel/makingethanol.htm
http://journeytoforever.org/ethanol_link.html
http://www.woodlanddirect.com/Fireplace-Accessories/Ethanol-Fireboxes-Burners
http://www.ecosmartfire.com/
It was just a fraction of a penny shy of $4 in Presque Isle today. The more I cut my spending, the faster they raise prices. The only ones getting ahead are the ones getting our money.
The plan is to move all the money to the top, then…
$ 3.77 ? Where ? I just gassed up in Houlton and the lowest I found was $ 3.83.
Did anyone else see that buffoon Newt Gingrich implying that if he is elected president we could see $2.50 a gallon gas again? lol. How pathetic is that? He might as well have an Obama 2012 bumper sticker on his car.