Up Front

Oil on our minds

The price of oil is on everyone’s mind these days (see our “Say What” feature on page 32). It doesn’t take an energy expert to figure out that if the price of crude oil goes up, the cost of diesel fuel is sure to follow.

Whenever the cost of fuel goes up, consumers want to know who to blame. Sure, you can point the finger at U.S. oil execs supposedly working in concert to boost profits, but that won’t solve anything. Congress came up with a half-baked plan to give Americans a $100 rebate to help pay for gasoline. The plan was dropped not long after it was introduced. Americans are smart enough to know that you can’t throw money at every problem and make it go away.

As we write these words in early May, Congress is looking to strengthen penalties on gasoline price gouging. Good luck. The fact is, the price of oil is determined by many factors, most beyond the control of the president, Congress, oil executives or even OPEC. It’s called supply and demand.

So what can you do? Conserve fuel whenever possible and try to get the lowest possible price every time you fill up. For details, see Kevin Rutherford’s “Business of Trucking” column on page 40.