Shock and awe ... at the gas pump

Tell me again why you bought that big ol' truck, that gas guzzlin' sedan? "I wish I knew," the guy with the GMC pickup said, as he shut the pump off at $30 -- 8.6 gallons. And how far would $30 worth of gas get him? "About 100 miles, hopefully to payday on Friday," he said.

A trip through local gas stations this morning shows that many motorists are coping with the rise in gas prices by limiting the amount they buy; many pumps show evidence of $7 (two gallons) and $10 (2.7 gallons) purchases. That'll show those greedy:

a.) refiners,
b.) Mid-East suppliers,
c.) clueless politicians.

Good luck with that. Gas prices, according to MilwaukeeGasPrices.com which monitors them, went up again over the weekend. The chart above shows the big picture; driving by any local gas stations here in Racine shows it as well.

The average price of $3.47 a gallon for Regular is up nine cents from a week ago, and 35 cents from a month ago. And more than double what it was five years ago before the war in Iraq (fought to protect our oil supply and keep prices down, cough cough).

AAA Wisconsin says the record for the Milwaukee area is $3.49 a gallon, hit last May 24. Stay tuned; picture at left is from the Citgo station on Lathrop this morning. And if you use diesel, well, that may have been an economical choice once upon a time, but no longer. We found diesel prices ranging from $3.79.9 at one BP station, to $4.05.9 at Mobil.

The only thing that makes gas prices look cheap at most gas stations is the price of a pack of cigarettes. Choose your poison.