A two-day "blackout" should create an oil surplus ...

If no one was able to use energy because of the black out why are they saying that the blackout caused a shortage of oil and the cause of increasing gasoline prices? I don't get it. Why should a two-day blackout on the east coast create a disaster for Arizona? The oil we are using today was bought at least six months ago...what the hell are they talking about?

And my power stayed on and apparently the gas is flowing. So I agree, why should my gasoline prices be high? I truly sympathize with the people of Phoenix and the eastern part of the country for your energy woes, but still fail to see the connection with Iowa gas prices.

because the refineries were shut down.

Check this out. Do you believe ANY of it?

http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0825/p03s01-usec.html

<<Crude oil prices have stayed higher than expected, in part because it's taken longer to get Iraq back on line.>>

Huh? Back online? Most of our oil comes from South America anyway, Iraq's oil was a tiny amount of our oil supply.

<<In addition, about 300,000 to 400,000 barrels daily of Nigerian oil production are curtailed because of local political turmoil.>>

Right, and this is making U.S. gas prices hit an all-time high? Hasn't this turmoil been going on for a while?

<<At the same time, Venezuelan oil production has not returned to prestrike levels.>>

So fucking what? The strike was a long time ago. The prices went up last week. Hm, just before labor day, what a coincidence.

<<And on top of everything else, OPEC has cut back on quotas, says John Felmy, chief economist at the American Petroleum Institute (API).>>

Oh right. When? By how much? Last week?

It's all bullshit. The gas companies ALL HAD RECORD PROFITS LAST QUARTER. THEY WANT TO KEEP THAT UP.

They'll do whatever it takes to keep that up.

It's just like what they did in California, only now they're getting it out of all of us, gallon by gallon, dollar by dollar.