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Record Gas Prices Move Higher

California moves towards $5

By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com

June 16, 2008
The national average price for gasoline continued to push higher setting a record of $4.080 with 28 states and the District of Colombia now above the $4 mark.

Diesel also moved higher to $4.797, according to the AAA Fuel Gauge Report.

Mid-grade gasoline averages $4.333 and premium $4.488 a gallon.

One year ago regular self-serve gasoline sold for an average price of $3.008.

Gasoline prices have surpassed $4 a gallon for more than a week following a year of $3-plus gasoline prices.

The average pump price for regular has increase more than 35 percent in the last 12 months.

Gas is most expensive in California, according to AAA, averaging $4.600 a gallon. Missouri has the lowest average price at $3.834 a gallon.

$5 this year?

Most analysts don't expect gas to hit a statewide average price of $5 in California or elsewhere in the contiguous 48 states, but some aren't so sure. But that doesn't mean it won't happen next year.

"Maybe not by the end of the year, but certainly within a year we'll get there," said Rod Diridon, head of the Mineta Transportation Institute at San Jose State University, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The latest Gallup poll finds that many Americans blame President Bush for not doing enough to deal with rising prices. Only 17% say President Bush is doing enough to solve the country's energy problems, a significant decline from already low figures in 2006.

Of the seven government and business institutions tested in the poll, the Bush administration ranks second on the blame list, behind U.S. oil companies (60%). Oil companies have topped the list each time Gallup has asked the question, and -- like Bush -- are blamed more now than they were in 2006.

In California, drivers have been doing their part, driving less and switching to hybrids in greater numbers than elsehwere. Gasoline sales in the nation's largest state have been falling for more than two years, although they appeared to jump almost 7 percent in February, according to the State Board of Equalization. The board, which tracks gas sales through tax receipts, blamed the apparent increase on an accounting fluke and the addition of an extra day in February for leap year.

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