Fuel for Thought: Come on Up for the Rising

IT WAS TOO GOOD to be true. A week without a bump in gas prices was like a day with copious sunshine, but the storm clouds have gathered faster than screaming teens at a Justin Timberlake show.

The seven-cent jump in self-serve regular — and the crossing of the dreaded $4.50 mark for Supreme users — at the Exxon on Capitol Hill came as gas prices nationally jumped over the $4 per gallon barrier.

A look at the numbers only sours the tale further, The Post's Steven Mufson reports this afternoon:

Gasoline prices are now 93 cents a gallon more than a year ago, and the price of diesel, which fuels the nation's trucking fleet, stood this morning at $4.77 a gallon, $1.87 more than this time last year.

"The fear here is that we've crossed a Rubicon," said John Townsend, spokesman for AAA. "Normally prices plateau after Memorial Day. . . . But we still have this lag between the price of gasoline and the price of crude. We don't know when these prices will come down. I don't think we're going to get much relief this summer."

Don't feel gloomy enough? Here's how it could get worse: "Economists fear that the steadily rising price of gasoline is eating into the money consumers have to spend on other items and that fuel prices could be a drag on an economy already weighed down with concerns over housing prices and the stability of financial institutions."

Can somebody make cars that run on water, green beans or crushed-up Milli Vanilli records now, please?

» "Gas Prices Continue Record Climb" [WaPo]

Posted By Greg Barber at 1:41 PM on June 9, 2008 Tagged in Free Ride , Top Stories

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