Then for two weeks, it went down by four cents a gallon. Then up two cents to $2.26; then it jumped to $2.34 a gallon. That was on Aug. 11.
Then, two weeks ago, at the same corner convenience store, the per-gallon price was at $2.33.9 when I passed on my way to work in the morning. By mid-afternoon, the price had jumped an amazing 16 cents to $2.49.9.
That $2.50 (rounded off) price tended to be fairly consistent throughout York County. But there were plenty of gas stations in the area that were selling gas for five cents, 10 cents, even 15 cents higher per gallon.
One station in York County -- Tom's Mobil in Shrewsbury Township -- was actually charging $2.59.9 a gallon last Thursday.
Eye opener: You can't hear me gasping, but I'm gasping. I'm also checking out the ads for motor scooters. And I'm anticipating, along with lots of other folks, the possibility that the cost of gas won't level off until it reaches or passes $3 a gallon.
That's certainly something to look forward to, isn't it?
And we're lucky here in York County that we live on the East Coast and not the West Coast or Hawaii, where prices have been consistently higher than we've seen here.
As I said, it's been an eye-opener. That's coming
But that was different, because back then there were actual shortages of gasoline and oil, which caused prices to rise and forced people to literally compete for the purchase of a gallon of gasoline.
That's not the case this time. There seems to be plenty of gasoline and oil. There are no long lines of people waiting at the pumps and no rationing. Nevertheless, the cost of gasoline has gone sky high.
I don't get it.
And then in Iraq: And then to compound my confusion, I read a story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette last week, about the cost of gasoline in -- take a guess -- Iraq.
"Gasoline apparently costs a lot less in Baghdad than it does in the United States. While the current average U.S. price per gallon hovers around $2.50; in Baghdad, it's 8 cents a gallon," according to the Post-Gazette.
How can that be? you might wonder. I wonder, too. So here it is:
"That dirt-cheap price is because the United States subsidizes the price of gas in Iraq."
Ouch!
It's not bad enough that we're still over there being shot at and bombed by a segment of the Iraqi population that preferred life under Saddam Hussein. It's not bad enough that our economy in the United States is being pinched by
the cost of maintaining a fighting force in Iraq. It's not bad enough that Americans are losing their lives in Iraq almost every week, if not every day.
Now we learn that we're paying $2.50 a gallon for gas, while the Iraqis are paying a paltry 8 cents a gallon.
Why? Because the taxes we're paying on our hard-earned dollars are being used to reduce the cost of gasoline for Iraqis.
Something wrong: I'm sorry, but there's something wrong with that picture. I don't mind so much my tax dollars being used to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure. I don't mind my tax dollars going to build schools, libraries and hospitals. My tax dollars can even be used to upgrade Iraq's sewer and water services, and I won't complain.
But to use my tax dollars for the purpose of providing practically free gasoline to Iraqis -- Iraq is one of the largest producers of petroleum in the world, surrounded by nearly all of the largest producers of petroleum in the world -- is a slap in the face when I'm paying $2.50 a gallon.
It occurs to me we haven't learned a darned thing in the 30 years since the gas shortages and rationing in '74 and '75 rattled our cages. In fact, if anything, we've become more dependent on foreign oil, not less.
So for being stupid, we probably deserve what we're getting.
What we don't deserve, though, is 8 cents a gallon in Baghdad.
Columns by Larry A. Hicks, Dispatch columnist, run Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. E-mail: lhicks@yorkdispatch.com.
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