Gas Prices by County

Murdoc's got a great post with a map of U.S. mainland gas prices by county. I find the map very interesting. Something is clearly up in the midwestern states and New York. My guess is tax rates, since these are prices at the pump.

The west coast is also significantly higher. Since that covers a broader geographic area, I hesitate to attribute it to tax rates, since it could also be a supply/distribution issue in the fast-growing west. It wouldn't surprise me if those states also have higher taxes, though.

Murdoc also makes the comment:

I guess we'll see what they do in the coming weeks, and if they shoot back up you can be sure we'll be hearing all about how the GOP manipulated them down for the elections. And it might even be true.

I, for one, do not believe the GOP has been manipulating anything associated with gas prices. Mainly because they haven't had to. The petroleum companies have been doing it on their own. There is no question that the petroleum industry will be better off under a Republican congress, and they know it.

And I don't even believe this is a matter of collusion. It's only collusion if the companies get together and agree to do something. In this case, I believe they are all doing it because it is so obviously in their best interest; they don't have to get together and discuss it. Their best interest is for Republicans to retain as much influence as possible and they know that lower gas prices will help achieve that goal.

Comments

[Murdoc]

Thanks for the link! I also do not think the GOP is responsible for prices going down recently. I was just reminding folks of all the accusations made recently, and pointing out that we will better be able to judge the merits of those accusations soon.