Gas prices are frequently in the news now, but the brainless style of reporting infuriates me. Gas prices are discussed like the weather; they just fluctuate passively without any sense of agency.
Hey, NPR: gas prices didn’t rise by themselves. SOMEBODY raised them. Please report it this way.
Of course, finding out who raised them first and who raised them second, would lead inevitably to questions of collusion, which they can’t be bothered with.
The News Hour on PBS did a whole series on what affects gas prices a week or so ago-- a different segment every day for a week.
Yeah, because NPR is all about hiding corporate collusion. 
Besides, it’s not all that complicated why gas prices have gone up-- oil prices are through the roof, and the dollar is very week. Collusion not necessary.
Just so we’re clear, who is colluding with whom? Is it a question regarding big oil colluding, or your local street corner marts colluding?
A portion of the cost of gasoline is the uncertainty. If you’re a retailer with a storage tank full of gasoline to sell, you need to sell it at a price that will let you purchase enough to refill it, plus your margin. If you don’t have any idea what gasoline will cost next month, or next week, or even tomorrow you’ll have to charge extra for that. When you sell gasoline you’re effectively participating in the futures market and incurring a risk. Like everywhere else, risk has a price.
OK, forget the last sentence. The issue is the language used in your typical news story about gas prices. It’s positively Orwellian. Tell it how it is!
BTW, premium gas hit $4.29/gallon in Chicago today. Wheeeeeeeeeeee!
Well…how is it then? I’m lost…what exactly is your problem with saying gas prices rose? Do you want the news folks to go into the complex reasons they rose when they are just reporting that they in fact did rise?
No single agency is responsible for rising the price of gas at the pump…there are a lot of factors involved, most of which seem to be little understood by the majority of people in this country who want to simply blame it all on The Greedy Bastards at Big Oil™.
-XT
Well then, I’ll tell it. Gas is cheap.
According to some, we might be better off if cost more.
I saw the guy changing the the numbers on the sign with a long pole; it’s his fault.
Exactly. The problem I have with the reporting is the unstated assumption that all the listeners would prefer the prices to be lower. Rise up!
Indeed, I enjoy searching under the floor mats for change so that I can go inside and ask for “$3.71’s worth please” only to not have that enough to get me home 
.
Hery, you finally caught up with us. The gas station two blocks from here is charging $4.49 for premium, and $4.29 for regular.
But often reporters don’t know “how it is”. Do you ever notice how the stock market moves are reported? *The Dow dropped 50 points today on fears that the Fed might not take action later this week. * That’s pure speculation. No one really knows what moves the markets, and if they did, then broadcasting it would change the effect it had on the market, rendering that information invalid.
Most people, myself included, don’t give a rat’s ass why the gas prices have increased. We just want to know what we’re going to be paying.
I know why the markets (indices) move! They move because people are buying and selling the securities in the indices. If there is more selling than buying, then the index goes down. If there is more buying, it goes up.
As for what triggers the herd mentality, I have no clue.
My complaint with market reporting is that it is done in a vacuum. Don’t just give me a number; give me a percentage and include, at the very least, a year-to-date number. It’s not like the idiots reading the prompter have to understand it - they only need to read the lines.
So why are oil prices through the roof?
These threads are always fun. My wife is an economist, and her principal job is appearing on NPR and talking to reporters about why prices are rising. If you are interested in the reality you can go to www.eia.doe.gov. EIA is not a policy making arm and simply compiles and presents the data, making it a good objective source. Suffice it to say that prices are going up for the same reasons prices usually go up. Supply, in the form of refining capacity, is short and demand remains high. The dollar sucking doesn’t help matters either of course.