Latest Gasoline Prices - It Ain't Pretty

Well, it is like this: If you wanna drive, its gonna cost ya. Not that we can't afford it. We clearly can because the fuel is spewing out of the gas pumps all over the nation. But, what are the trends? Where are we coming from and where does it look like we are going. Here is an example of your federal dollars at work - our friends at the Department of Energy. Deep within the halls of the department is the EIA - not the CIA or the EPA - but the Energy Information Agency. Their job is to track energy use and price movement in all its myriad ways. With billions of engines just in the USA - how many engines do you own? - it is a never ending task. Anyway, here's the latest:

In mid-May we hit a new national peak average gasoline average price of $3.20. A year earlier, you can see a similar trend in price. High in the summer into September. Lower in the winter. Now, look at the swing - about a dollar a gallon. In February the price was $2.20. Looking further back we see that the summer of 2005 stayed low until Hurricane Katrina hit. As we learned in 2006, you can never depend on a hurricane to do what you expect. Well, anyway, now you know.