Oil Prices Keep Rising

Last Wednesday oil prices shot to a new record above $144 a barrel. That was as the government reported a bigger than expected drop in U.S. Supplies and the threat of conflict with Iran weighed on traders' minds. I think today it is about $136 per barrel but I haven't heard the latest report. I know one thing, gas jumped 6 cents a gallon today in our stations here. At the end of last year, oil was going for $96 a barrel. Retail gasoline prices have climbed to a record of their own in the U.S. Crude oil supplies have fallen and that is bad also. Demand has continued to go down, suggesting that record fuel prices are prompting a real shift in Americans' driving habits. I know we cut back last week over the 4th and skipped our trip for Mexican and replaced it with a trip to the same town for fireworks later in the week. You can only eliminate so much of your driving as it is necessary, going to work, doctors, dentists, etc. but we make less trips to the store and have prescriptions delivered to the house. I try to combine several errands into one trip and go in the order of the stores with no extra driving around town. It all helps. We are beginning to see more big trucks, SUV's and vans for sale all over town, for sale by owner and there are more smaller new cars on the road too.