Gas prices, while lower, still alarming

The recent spike in gas prices, although not as dramatic as last year's summer prices, are becoming as alarming.

Our fragile economy cannot withstand another summer of these prices. The unemployment rate has soared since last year, food prices have stabilized at a significantly higher plateau. The American public is still reeling with the loss of personal income in their investments.

Despite oil reserves still available, consumption has not been the driving factor in the increase of prices. Gas companies are producing less gasoline, which artificially creates higher prices by way of supply and demand. While we may think that this is our free enterprise system at work, the reason is that there are only a few refiners who can produce gasoline and control production. I see this as price fixing and manipulation to increase profits at the consumer's expense. The profits of these companies will be the telling factor.

Another reason is speculators in the market, such as those who last year bought up oil futures contracts, driving the cost of a barrel of oil to unprecedented levels of $147 a barrel. If this is the situation, the federal government must take action to curb this. The simplest solution is for the government to allow only oil refiners who produce gasoline to own contracts. In other words, you cannot be a stock speculator and own oil futures. You must be a producer who has the capacity to produce gasoline. This will keep big-money investors from manipulating crude oil prices, which drove gas to $4.47 last year. If the government is sincere about rebuilding our economy, drastic measures are needed to drive the cost of energy down.

Tom Rajcan

Wheaton