We all should have expected $3 per gallon

I don't know about most of you, but the price of gasoline jumping to $3 per gallon across the region doesn't really surprise me that much. For years I have watched as the price of this much depended on liquid has edged up higher and higher. In fact, I am actually surprised it took this long.

Now, I usually don't fall into the conspiracy theory trap, but something seems a little fishy in Denmark, as the saying goes. It appears to me that every time we are nearing a peak driving period, for instance a holiday season, the price of gasoline jumps up. Whatever happened to the old economics principle they taught us in school where as the demand goes up, the price comes down? Not so with gas my friends.

I don't claim to be a genius when it comes to the economy, but I do know that when the price of oil climbs to $100 per barrel, that spells trouble for the common working-class person like me. Everything I do starts to depend on how much traveling I will have to do. I start looking for ways to limit my travel as a means to offset this sudden blow to my personal budget. That's not always easy to do, considering much of my job involves driving to different locations in Clarke and Washington counties to get the news.

Despite the price of gas, I still have to cover meetings and visit with people who provide much of the information contained on these pages each week. Then, of course, there are other unexpected things that occur, such as fires and wrecks, that we want to let our readers know about as well. My job is reporting the news. I can't just say, "Oh, the price of gas is too high, so I won't be able to get that story."

I am not the only one whose job is affected by the rise in fuel costs. There's construction workers, delivery people, salespeople...., the list goes on and on. And because of this rising expense, the price of everything else goes up, including the food we put on our tables and the clothes we wear.

Simply put, the price of transporting goods and services rises with every cent that's added at the gas pumps. It dictates everything we do as a nation.

What really bothers me is the oil prices are often raised because of what is perceived "might happen," in the Middle East. If there's an ongoing argument with one of the Middle Eastern countries, such as Iran or Syria, we get the screws put to us at the gas pumps. If violence rises in Saudi Arabia, there's another 5-cents per gallon gas hike. It all just sounds a little fishy to me.

I believe the truth of the matter lies in the pocketbooks of those who stand to gain the most.OPEC has a hold on all of our purse strings, as do many of the large oil companies here in our own country. The truth is, as I am sure many of you have heard, that the United States does not get the majority of its oil from the Middle East. The fact is we get more from other countries and our own oil producers right here on our home soil. So, why do the "situations" that arise across the ocean have so much control over what we pay at the pumps?

I have read a number of statements by heads of the oil companies here in the U.S., who claim the price goes up when OPEC raises its price per barrel, to offset the cost of what we do import from them. If that is the case, then we certainly need to be looking at ways to sever our ties with them.

I recently read that a large oil deposit was recently discovered in Brazil, believed to be an estimated 8 billion gallons of light crude. Perhaps the U.S. should make sure our relations with Brazil are the best they have ever been. We surely can't count on their neighbors to the south in Venezuela. Simply put, Chavez has it in for us and is in bed with the powers that be in Iran, so there's no hope there. Regardless of his much-voiced hate for the U.S. Government, Chavez still keeps lining his own pockets, which seems to be as deep as those that control the price of oil in the Middle East.

Until we find a viable solution to curb our dependence on oil, we are doomed to pay whatever price is posted at the pumps, whether it be $3 or $5 per gallon. And if things don't change in the coming years, I fear the latter isn't as far away as we might think. After all, it's not like we can say that we aren't going

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