Free Republic

RAINELLE, W.Va. (AP) — Every month, Rebecca Michalski takes a deep breath before opening her electric bill. She lives on a fixed income, and heating her small house this winter has been staggering: Her February charge was $940.08 — more than her check. It makes no sense. She turns the lights off during the day and only burns one lamp with an energy-efficient bulb in the living room at night, but she keeps falling further behind on payments. In desperation, she took out a loan after getting a cut-off notice during an extended arctic blast that kept the state’s heaters...

Oil prices could surge to as high as $200 a barrel if the Iran conflict extends into June and the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, Bloomberg reported, citing an analysis from Macquarie Group. A war lasting through the second quarter could drive historically high real prices, analysts including Vikas Dwivedi said in a note, assigning a 40% probability to that scenario. A separate outlook, with a 60% probability, sees the conflict ending by the end of this month. Brent crude (CO1:COM) is on track for a record monthly gain in March as the war involving the U.S., Israel, and Iran...

This morning I went to buy gas in Los Angeles. The price at the pump per gallon was as follows:Unleaded ... $5.3999Plus ... $5.4999Premium ... $5.5999Yet some people here are complaining about gas in their states being $3.50 or $3.60.