Here's the interesting bit for me... Plus and Premium are still 10 cents apart. So the price for Regular has increased 352%, but Plus only 300% and Premium by 274%. Over time, assuming the 10 cent gap is a hard and fast guide to gas stations, it may be more economical even for drivers with boring cars that don't need it to get the highest quality fuel? (In other words, why not have a 30 cent gap between each level?) - Louis Gray

we're still paying $7 more than that in the UK so count yourselves lucky - Phill Price

The real question... is premium subsidizing regular, vice versa, or do they all really cost the same to manufacture? - Tinfoil 2.0

Louis: Because you want to encourage people to pay extra for the higher grade fuel? The smaller the gap, the greater the chance of upgrading. - Andrew

don't give them any ideas, (but maybe its because the price of crude is up, not the refined product) - ishak from twhirl

http://mattb4rd.com/eloi/?p=42 - Mattb4rd

Alot of nice points. - Andrew Baron

Well, we can see here that W and Cheney have served their masters well. Really well. - iTad

@tad who, european banks? - ishak from twhirl

Not like Baron cares...daddy can just loan him gas money...ooops did I say that? - Andrew Feinberg

hehe - just rabble rousing... though I'd guess that since he and cheney and rice all came from the oil industry their buddies are pretty happy - iTad

Trish: Especially considering profits are going into the pockets of the man on the right. (our right) :) - Mona Nomura

Bottom-right. I wouldn't doubt bottom-left too. - ·[▪_▪]·

I just deleted a comment and blocked a person due to being lame with personal attacks esp. that have nothing to do with this article. Its the third person Ive blocked on ff. I also have blocked two people from Twitter. I'm not sure if its the right thing to do, but found myself to be happier not having to be constantly bombarded by them because I dont think they are nice or valid and actually forget about them for long periods of time. - Andrew Baron

Actually Mona, it's more likely you and I that are the profiteers: http://www.energytomorrow.org/economy... - Mattb4rd

Mattb4rd, sure would be nice if my funds were seeing the kinds if gains big oil are. Besides, there are probably many investors that don't invest in funds that invest in fossil fuel related industries on moral grounds. Similar to not invest in the tobacco industry. Personally, when I invest in energy, I prefer to invest my money in renewable. So I don't own any big oil. - ·[▪_▪]·

@Andrew I hope I'm not one that you blocked. My link to the Obama / X!a photos is editorial commentary. One thing has nothing to do with the other. It's the same as your photos in my opinion. - Mattb4rd

@nicerobot Find a new mutual fund or 401K. Mine have averaged better than double digits for decades. Big oil nets around 9%. - Mattb4rd

Andrew, about the blocking. It's your purgative. My personal opinion is to never delete a comment but blocking persons whose content you have decided you never want to see is completely reasonable. - ·[▪_▪]·

Andrew: life is too short to deal with jerks :) - Mona Nomura

Finally. +1 Aaron :) - Mattb4rd

Are you saying 16 years of inflation should lead to a 4x multiplier? - Jason Carreira

I'm talking about these kinds of percentages: "Exxon Rides Oil and Gas Prices to 36% Gain in Profit" http://www.nytimes.com/2006... "reported a 33 percent gain in second-quarter profit" "Profit from oil and gas sales climbed 68 percent to $10 billion" http://www.app.com/apps... Yet the stock prices are not reflecting these same percentages. - ·[▪_▪]·

@nicerobot that's because their profit margin is the same. Their costs have gone up that much as well. - Jason Carreira

@nicerobot The root of the "evil big oil" argument is that only a few elites benefit from gains. My take is that you and I are the beneficiaries of such a "windfall" and that's not a bad thing. "You and I" includes the bafrillion people that are employed by "big oil", their families, and their family's families. More even than you and I, the US Government, the biggest drug dealer on the planet via taxation, is by far the largest beneficiary. The US Government, by the way, is not W and his cronies. - Mattb4rd

No, it hasn't - Jason Carreira

@Matt, yes, I feel so enriched when I fill my car... - Jason Carreira

A large part of those "costs' are bonuses and salaries of their executives as well as spending to the refineries that they own. You're fooling yourself if you think owning stock in big oil is offsetting gas price increases. - ·[▪_▪]·

@Jason: Maybe you shouldn't inhale so deeply while pumping gas :) - Mattb4rd

Have the salaries of _all_ the employees of big oil gone up relative to the price of gas so that the employees are not impacted at all by gas prices? If not, then you're argument fails because it means the employees have essentially taken a pay cut because their own company is costing them more to work for them. - ·[▪_▪]·

Additionally, by your argument, if I employ lots of people, it doesn't matter how I obtain the money I use to pay them? Anyway, I'm not opposed to companies making a profit as long as they pass it on to shareholders and employees. The reason big oil sucks is because they are _actively_ fighting against moving to renewable energy. That's what's frackin evil!! - ·[▪_▪]·

@nicerobot. Your honesty is refreshing. The logical fruition of your thought process, as it is outlined here, is that capitalism is evil. I'm about to post some photos of 2 "cappulatte's" I just made. That's more fun to talk about. :) - Mattb4rd

Capitalism is evil in some regards but I'm not an absolutist so it isn't either-or. Watch a documentary called "The Corporation". I agree with much of what is presented in that documentary. At the same time, capitalism is a wonderful system in many respects. It just isn't suitable for anything requiring compassionate, humane endeavors. If more people were to clearly undersatnd when capitalism works and when it doesn't we could probably solve a huge rift that exists between republicans and democrats. - ·[▪_▪]·