Prices for gasoline in the United States are out of control. How can you budget money for something that fluctuates so much? That is a question that often goes unanswered. We need gasoline everyday, therefore making it invaluable to us. We are at the mercy of OPEC as well as US oil companies.
In 1997, OPEC opened up all their resources to increase the flow of oil. That in turn drove the price of oil down. It actually drove prices down to historical lows, having the exact effect that OPEC wanted. US investors and big drilling companies were discouraged from doing any more exploration at the time, putting more than 30,000 American workers out of jobs. Then in the year 2000, OPEC decided to turn production down, drastically decreasing the flow of oil, and eventually driving the prices to record highs. This made our American companies, whose production was slowed way down, have to purchase extra oil from OPEC. That mark up in prices made us pay tens of billions in extra dollars per year.
Being at the mercy of OPEC is not something that anyone wants. We have to keep exploration ongoing. This is our only way to not be at their mercy. Congress is keeping a much closer eye on these problems now. Still, conservation of fossil fuels, should be our utmost concern. Using a little less each day will improve our air quality, as well as lessening our dependence on foreign resources. A little conservation goes a long way.
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