Can't ... Keep ... Up

An informal sampling of gas stations in recent days has revealed that Monday's update of the California SUV Fill Up Index to $3.00 per gallon is already woefully behind what is now being seen at gas stations in this area.

Having just filled up this morning at $3.21 per gallon, today's update of the index to $3.10 per gallon is not so much an attempt to catch up to rising gasoline prices as it is an effort to reduce the rate at which the index is falling behind.

Gas station proprietors across the country are surely perplexed with recent developments. Prices have risen by nearly twenty cents since Monday and many stations seem to have begun marking up their corner signs on a twice-daily schedule now. Some go with no prices at all out front for hours at a time, while others have run short of the number "3" and write the number in with a marker.

The gas station owner interviewed in this story is representative of the lot, making a comment at the end which at first appears to be in jest, but when thinking about it again, maybe it's not:

Meanwhile in Encinitas, station manager Vader was weighing whether to order more "3" digits for his signs. Given recent price trends, Vader said "Maybe I won't need to. Maybe we'll [just] go to $4."

Anyway, as promised, another dime another update.

Readers should note that the index is constructed in a way that simply represents the cost to fill up a bone-dry tank - nothing more. No fuel mileage considerations or distance traveled on a full tank were deemed relevant when the index was originally conceived, and that remains true today.

The important aspect to this exercise has always been the digits that are displayed at the pump when, week after week, millions and millions of Americans across the land insert their credit card, pump their gas, and mutter to themselves as they glance at the total price just paid.


In the most recent tally, three more vehicles have breached the $75 level and the Hummer H2 is perilously close to the century mark. Again, it is natural to wonder about those H2 sales and if, as one commenter suggested some time ago, the boxy shape of this SUV facilitates convenient stacking as inventory continues to mount.

As for Cadillac Escalades, also quickly approaching the $100 level, somewhere recently an ad was spotted for the new model with the 403-hp, 417 lb.-ft. Gen IV 6.2L Vortec VVT engine, so naturally, the Cadillac website was perused to consider including it in the index.

All sorts of glitzy animation was available to entice buyers to tap their home equity one last time and pony up the $60,000+ to drive off the lot in their dream SUV - we just wanted to know how big the gas tank was and ultimately left empty-handed.

The Decider In Chief Makes a Decision

Politicians of all loyalties are abuzz with activity in an effort to make it look like they're doing something about high gas prices as mid-term elections quickly approach. Nowhere is this buzzing sound more intense than on Pennsylvania Avenue, yesterday's speech by the "Decider in Chief" before the Renewable Fuels Association yielding two major announcements.

The big news was that the topping off process, underway for some time now over at the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve, will be halted until this fall. This, of course, will have little impact on gasoline prices which are largely driven by problems at the refineries, but it will provide better pricing for the Chinese government to accelerate purchases for their strategic oil reserve.

The other news was that environmental standards will be eased to allow refiners more flexibility in providing gasoline to consumers.

Translation: Screw the environment - we need cheap gas!

In the speech, talk naturally gravitated toward how wonderful things are around the world, there seeming to be just one fly-in-the-ointment - the ointment, that is, of global non-inflationary growth and prosperity for all.

The problem? It's that American vice, our little habit, our addiction:

Yet amongst this hopeful -- these hopeful signs, there's an area of serious concern, and that is high energy prices. And the prices that people are paying at the gas pumps reflect our addiction to oil. Addiction to oil is a matter of national security concerns. After all, today we get about 60 percent of our oil from foreign countries. That's up from 20 years ago where we got oil from -- about 25 percent of our oil came from foreign countries. Now, part of the problem is, is that some of the nations we rely on for oil have unstable governments, or agendas that are hostile to the United States. These countries know we need their oil, and that reduces our influence, our ability to keep the peace in some areas. And so energy supply is a matter of national security. It's also a matter of economic security.

The speech goes on at great length about using less oil, building more refineries, using alternative fuel sources, and hybrids and ethanol and hydrogen and all sorts of things.

It all sounds good, but does little to help the people who, according to recent news reports, are frequenting their local pawn shops on an increasingly regular basis to hock their valuables so they can fill up their tank.

Let's hope they had some gold jewelry and that they got a fair price.

On the positive side - American ingenuity and all - the guy who runs gasbuddy.com seems to be doing well these days. He's showing up on all the network news and talk shows and has legions of motorists anxious to update the local reports of gas prices in the hopes of saving other motorists a few dollars here and there.

That's not much of a positive side, but it's something.