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It’s like we’re in a time warp back to the 1970’s. Not the muscle cars and wild times of Studio 54, just the bad parts – turmoil in the Middle East, high unemployment, food and gas prices through the roof and an occupant of the White House with no clue how to deal with any of it. When asked about this administration’s failures, President Obama quickly becomes Vinnie Barbarino with his “Who? What? Where?” routine. Vice President Joe Biden isn’t any better. In his debate Thursday, Biden took on a personality that was a cross between Bozo the Clown and...

Some had been waiting for more than an hour – sitting in a line of cars that stretched for blocks. Others had arrived hours early, just to be the first in line. Local radio and morning television teased their audience with hints and sparse details before finally making the announcement. After that, the location and details spread like wildfire via text, Twitter and Facebook. What was so important that hundreds would wait in line so long? A new lifesaving medicine? Free hundred dollar bills? A fabulous celebrity cruise? No, nothing quite that glamorous. Americans for Prosperity was offering gasoline...

(Reuters) - The unprecedented price spike that added more than 50 cents a gallon to California pump prices last week ended as quickly as it began, market analysts said, and consumers should see prices fall dramatically in the coming week.

Six weeks after calling for an investigation into high California gas prices, Sen. Dianne Feinstein once again told the Federal Trade Commission that Golden State drivers are being gouged. Dianne Feinstein letter to FTC">In a letter to FTC boss Jon Leibowitz, Feinstein wrote of "malicious trading schemes in the California gasoline market." Feinstein sent an earlier letter to Leibowitz complaining of price spikes "unjustified by supply and demand" on Aug. 28. Citing a possible "illegal short squeeze," Feinstein called for not only an FTC investigation, but also better monitoring of the gasoline and oil markets and also the creation of...

One of the great priorities of the left is to get Americans out of their cars and onto public transportation. When the masses no longer have access to cars, it clears the streets for the limos of the nomenklatura, just as it did in the old USSR, and still does in North Korea. The best way to accomplish this goal is to push up gasoline prices. Energy Secretary Steven Chu famously hoped that energy prices would double, and President Obama also admitted to wanting energy prices to rise, just not too quickly, lest the frog catch on the water is...

Gov. Jerry Brown ordered state smog regulators Sunday to allow winter-blend gasoline to be sold in California earlier than usual to help drive prices down. Winter-blend gas typically isn’t sold until after October 31. Few refineries outside the state are currently making summer-blend gas, putting the pressure on already-taxed California manufacturers. In some locations, fuming motorists paid $5 or more per gallon while station owners had to shut down pumps in others.

There's a shortage of gas in California and consumers are beginning to feel the pinch. CBS LA: What goes up, must come down. But in the meantime, consumers try to cope. Southern Californians are paying the highest prices in the nation currently. And experts say that pain at the pump will last a little while longer. One station in Calabasas is charging the highest rate in LA County - nearly $6 for a gallon. Reporting for CBS2 and KCAL9, Amanda Burden went to the station and called it a virtual ghost town. She said cars peeled in but peeled right...

While we are told to assume it is entirely transitory and speculation-driven, the price to drive your brand new GM Truck (leased for 30 years, interest-only via your EBT card) has never been higher. Do not worry though since this is only temporarily going to mean 'little Timmy' needs to go without food. As a Public Service Announcement, we have also estimated that the opportunity cost of every additional $1/gallon is just 16-20 $0.99 iGizmo apps you can do without for a week (but given sentiment surveys it would seem you do not need any further sedation).

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: This rising gas prices business. I had a memory jog during the break, so I went back and searched our own broadcast archives. Do you remember all those stories that the rising gas price didn't matter to you anymore? Remember all of those stories? Like this from Reuters, Wednesday, August 22nd: "Rising Gas Prices Aren't a Big Concern for Voters," by John Whitesides. CNNMoney.com: "Rising Gas Prices Aren't as Bad as You Think," March 21st, 2012. There were a bunch of more, and we marveled at them. Just as there were stories in the mid-nineties when Clinton...

SAN FRANCISCO -- California gas prices rose 17 cents a gallon overnight due to supply disruptions at some refineries and seasonally low inventories, bringing the one-week increase in the Golden State to nearly 36 cents. The average retail price of gasoline was $4.486 on Friday morning, up from $4.315 on Thursday and $4.131 a week ago, according to AAA data. The average price was $3.818 a year ago. The average price is just 12 cents below the highest recorded statewide price of $4.61, which was reached in June of 2008. "It's insane," said Matt Hurd, 35, who works in real...

FORTUNE -- President Obama may have a lot more to worry about than bombing the debate this week. Traders are starting to get particularly bullish over gasoline prices – and that is bad news for the average driver, who may also be looking to vent his spleen at the voting booth. Reports of gas shortages along the high-demand west and east coasts may be fleeting – although deeply concerning – but they highlight a problem that's expected to persist in the U.S.: our refineries are getting old. Given that a new refinery has not been built since 1976, commodities desks...

When Errol Emrich drove by a Shell station in his San Jose neighborhood last weekend, regular gas was selling for $4.05 a gallon. On Monday, it was $4.15. On Tuesday, $4.25. And this weekend? Analysts say it could reach a whopping $4.40. Problems at California refineries have slashed supplies across the state, cutting fuel production and raising wholesale prices -- the price stations pay for their gasoline -- by as much as 73 cents, to levels not seen since 2007. And that almost certainly will boost prices at the pump again soon. "California gasoline prices may surge in the next...

"The squeeze is on, and people are doing desperate things," is how one independent described the situation in California. As Bloomberg reports, a shortage of supply along with drastically higher wholesale prices of gasoline has caused 'mom-and-pop' gas stations to close down as their margins are destroyed. Even larger firms, such as CostCo, are closing sites due to the shortages as Los Angeles and San Francisco gas prices jump 30-45c in a few days. As one owner noted: "I can get gas, but it’s going to cost me $4.90 a gallon, and I can’t sell it here for $5," and...

U.S. consumer spending rose in August by the most in six months as households stretched to pay for higher gasoline prices, according to a government report on Friday that pointed to lackluster economic growth in the third quarter. The Commerce Department said consumer spending increased 0.5 percent after an unrevised 0.4 percent gain in July. Last month's rise was in line with economists' expectations. Consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of U.S. economic activity and the second straight month of increase mostly reflected higher gasoline prices, which rose 28.2 cents per gallon last month, though automobile purchases also helped.IO

Here's a question: If there's a disaster, a war, a severe drought or some other calamity that restricts future supplies of a commodity -- such as oil, coffee or corn -- what is the intelligent thing for people to do right away? If you said "use less now and try to produce more," you'd be absolutely correct. That's not rocket science, but understanding the machinery involved in getting people to do so is a bit more challenging. The best way to get people to use less and produce more is to allow prices to rise. For example, say a Middle...

So there I am, pulling into a gas station in my town, and Tarek is smiling. He owns the station, and right now he's charging me $4.25 a gallon. American motorists may not be better off than they were four years ago, but Tarek certainly is. When President Barack Obama took office, the average price for a gallon of regular gas was $1.84. That means gas prices have more than doubled on Obama's watch. But why? The primary reason is that the system is rigged. Oil companies watch the worldwide speculation market, and if the traders are bidding the price...

With prices at the pump worrying Americans, Republicans have railed against the Environmental Protection AgencyÂ’s new gas mandate that requires consumers to buy at least four gallons when purchasing from stations with hoses containing 10 percent and 15 percent ethanol-blended fuel. On Monday, Republicans on the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology sent a letter to Environmental Protection Agency Chief Administrator Lisa Jackson criticizing the agencyÂ’s approval of the sale of gasoline containing 15 volume percent ethanol. Specifically, the EPA will require that consumers purchase a minimum of four gallons when buying from a gas station that sells gasoline...

On Sept. 11, Pastor Lindsey Williams, former minister to the global oil companies during the building of the Alaskan pipeline, announced the most significant event to affect the U.S. dollar since its inception as a currency. For the first time since the 1970's, when Henry Kissenger forged a trade agreement with the Royal house of Saud to sell oil using only U.S. dollars, China announced its intention to bypass the dollar for global oil customers and began selling the commodity using their own currency.

Oil Just Tanked Out Of Nowhere... Joe WeisenthalSeptember 17, 2012Trying to get to the bottom of this. Oil just tanked. Here's the USO (ETF), which is a decent intraday proxy, falling nearly 3% in a flash. There's some chatter it's a fat finger, and others wondering if there's some kind of Strategic Oil Petroleum related news. More to come as we figure it out.