Oil prices

Oil prices have now dropped to $52 a barrel, the lowest price since May 2005. And somehow, gas prices have not dropped at all. I consider myself a pretty smart guy, but I just can't figure out why it is that oil prices rising results in increased gas prices, but oil prices dropping doesn't result in lower gas prices. I find the whole situation very irritating. Perhaps I need advanced degrees in economics and physics to even begin to understand the complexity of the oil industry, but I really can't help thinking that we are just getting screwed. I really think that oil companies take advantage of every hike in oil prices as an excuse to raise gas prices, but then conveniently never drop the prices again. And maybe there is even some horizontal price fixing going on. I suppose if it ends up reducing our dependence on foreign oil or reducing the number of hideous SUV's on the road, then it might end up being a good thing, but right now I just find it exceptionally irritating. I'm really tired of paying a fortune to fill up my car.

On a side note, I did a quick search for articles on price fixing among oil companies and found a ton of articles. I don't really feel like wading through them right now to find something that might be credible, but perhaps later. Stay tuned.

One last thing, according to gaspricewatch.com, the national average is currently $2.25 a gallon. We are really getting screwed around here.