Elections Are Over, Gas Prices Are Up

Stewart A. Alexander
Views and News

The 2006 Election results have been posted within the past few days and gasoline prices have already begun to show increases throughout the entire State of California and in some areas prices have increased 10 to 15 cents. Oil industry analyst are saying the increases are the results of oil production level being reduced in the Middle East however all signs indicate the petroleum industry is rapidly recovering their losses due to the declining prices in the final months before the 2006 November Elections.

Gasoline prices had declined below $2.00 a gallon in some regions across the nation; however with the holidays coming and the increase demand for heating oil, the petroleum companies are poised to raise gasoline prices by more than a $1.00 per gallon by the end of 2006.

During the 2006 Election year Californians were voting on a ballot initiative, Proposition 87 that had two sides waging war to compete for consumer dollars. Both sides spent more money on this one proposition than any other proposition in California history. The proposition would have imposed a gasoline tax that would have established a $4 billion program to reduce oil and gasoline usage by 25%, with research and production incentives for alternative energy.

Proposition 87 left Californians in a position to decide if they wanted to approve an initiative to spend $4 billion in taxes on a program that lacked clarity, or to vote on the side of the petroleum industry that was offering a temporary fix at the pumps. The oil companies won and the voters lost; gasoline prices are rising however consumers will not be paying the increased tax at the pumps.

This will be a record year for oil company profits; however the billions that were lost due to declining prices will certainly prove costly to consumers within the next six months.

Stewart Alexander, with the Peace and Freedom Party, says, “Consumers need relief at the pumps and not by paying higher taxes to special interest programs. Our state and national leaders need to put the brakes on rising gasoline prices.”

Recently Alexander introduced a proposed plan that he says “would put consumers in the driver’s seats” because he believes a program, rather than a tax, backed by consumers, will be an effective means of controlling gasoline prices.

The program that Alexander has proposed is the Friendly Petroleum Producers Program. This program has been designed to enable consumers to identify the lowest prices for gasoline, 87 octane and diesel. The goal of the Friendly Petroleum Producers Program is to bring lower prices to the pumps and to lower the price on two grades, 87 octanes and diesel, at or below $2.25 per gallon; this will benefit daily commuters and truck drivers.

Alexander says, “The greatest challenge Americans are facing to stop rising gasoline prices is not being organized to demand lower prices at the pumps. It is unfortunate that America’s one party system is keeping the nation divided on this front to protect the oil giants.”

For more information search the Web for Stewart A. Alexander; (Alexander: Lower Gasoline Prices, Still No Bargains); or (Congressional Resolve: Oil Giants Too Big).

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