Well gas prices went up another 18 cents a gallon in my area yesterday. That's a 6.1% increase in one day! This is prompting me to question why this product's pricing could be so volatile. How many other consumer products are out there that will go up 6% in one day and then maybe another 5% in two weeks? We buy other products that are traded as commodities and whose trading price changes daily, but those changes never really seem to be reflected in the end-price to the user. Somehow, those products are able to level their sales prices out so, as consumers, we don't see many changes. I mean how often do groceries go up in price? Maybe once a year or so. But you aren't expecting a 5% increase every time you go to the supermarket.

Unfortunately, there are so many differing views on the state of oil supply. Some people say there's tons of oil left while others say a lack of supply is driving prices higher. I wish I could find some real good statistics about exactly what is driving these price increases? How much of it is just oil companies raising prices because they know we'll pay for it?