Upon further review, the price of oil went up last year as a result of high demand overseas.  Unfortunately, the only explanation for this year's jump is greed — and not by the oil companies, most likely.

The actual price of a barrel of New York light sweet crude oil — down to the penny — is controlled by trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX).  There are people there buying at higher prices on speculation that prices will rise.  They're doing this because of the perceived weakness of the dollar, but apparently don't realize that their pumping of money into oil is actually accelerating the weakness of the dollar.

See, one of the key factors in the value of a nation's currency is the level of inflation.  As oil prices artificially rise (more on that in a minute), so do the prices of nearly all other goods — after all, it costs more to make them and to ship them if oil is more expensive.  These prices are artificially high — the increase is not a result of supply versus demand.  So the rate of inflation increases.  As the dollar can buy less and less because of inflation, its worldwide value drops, making the whole thing entirely cyclical.

These speculators on Wall Street are simply in this to make a buck, and they are the only ones who stand to gain from oil prices going up (aside from Exxon-Mobil, BP-Texaco, Royal Dutch Shell, etc.).  And not just from speculation, either: remember, this is New York City.  There's a pretty good chance most of these guys actually live in NYC, so they never have to drive to work (or to a restaurant, or — GASP! — a gas station.  They don't care about the pain we feel at the pump, because they never feel it themselves.  And don't kid yourselves: most of these dollars going into oil are coming from hedge funds, and rarely is a hedge fund manager not a multi-millionaire.

Oh, about the supply/demand wackiness: a report out earlier this week (I wish I could still find the link) showed that gas consumption has been on a steady decline since about August of last year.  We have used approximately 8 billion fewer gallons of gasoline so far in 2008 compared to the same period in 2007.  And, yet, your price at the pump rises every day. 

Cutting demand will certainly cut gas prices.  But, unfortunately, the dent it will make will be small, and may even be covered by the jerks on Wall Street who don't drive anyway.

The boycotts don't work.

If everyone in America boycotted gassing up their cars for a single day, it wouldn't so much as cause a hiccup.  Why?  Because you still have to gas up the next day.  In the end, all you do is put on a show with no real plot.  But, because we live in a me-first-right-now society, we expect that short-term gains can be achieved in everything we do.  Unfortunately, prices of commodities don't work that way.  They skyrocket upward on speculation, but only fall back down based on proven trends of supply versus demand.  There's only one sure-fire way to bring gas prices back down, and we've all heard it over and over again.  We just don't practice it: reduce overall consumption.  Lower demand, lower prices.

Americans are wasteful.  Horribly, horribly wasteful.  I'm as guilty as anyone, too.  We search for instant convenience at the cost of some far-off comfort we can't fathom right now.  If we had thought about — and accepted as fact — the long-term ramifications of buying gas-guzzling SUVs for no reason other than to say we had the biggest, heaviest, most luxurious vehicle, chances are we'd be driving the smallest vehicles possible while still managing to shuttle our families around.  But, as it stands, we're standing in our own gasoline-soaked grave right now.  Our dependence on fossil fuels has never been higher, and it's getting worse by the day.

Now, don't buy into the liberal hype that our government's domestic and foreign policy is to blame.  As I said a few days ago, the war in Iraq has had, at most, about a 25-cent impact on the price of gasoline, and the highest gas taxes in the country are around 55 cents.  In reality, the cause of the rapid rise in price is something we, as private citizens of the U.S., have little control over: the emergence of both China and India as major economic players.  As their economies improve, their citizens' wealth increases; as people get wealthier, they desire greater luxuries, and in previously under-developed nations, the greatest bang-for-your-buck luxury is an automobile. 

Granted, we in the U.S. still use three times as much oil as China, even though their population is four times what ours is. That's due partly to the established road infrastructure we've developed in over 100 years, and the spread of wealth in this country relative to other nations.  But that's not an excuse; it's an indictment.  We are a top-ten oil-producing nation, but we consume drastically more than we produce, and we do it with such a flippant attitude that it's no wonder we're viewed as arrogant around the world.  All it takes is a little common sense, and we — the most powerful nation in the history of mankind — can begin to sway the price of oil over time.

But it will take time.

Can you cut one mile out of your average daily drive?  That's seven miles per week, people.  It's not asking much.  At an estimated 200 million drivers in the U.S. (a low estimate, considering that statistic comes from 2004), if we cut our driving by one mile per day, we would eliminate 73 billion miles driven per year.  At a rough national average of about 20 miles per gallon (+/- 1 mpg), that comes to 3.65 billion gallons of gasoline saved in a single year.  At 19.2 gallons of gasoline for every 42-gallon barrel of oil, we would save over 190 million barrels of oil, or 520,834 barrels per day.  That's 2.5 percent of this country's daily consumption.  While that doesn't seem like a big deal, it is, and here's why: it's 0.5 percent higher than the average rate of growth in consumption in the U.S.  If achieved globally rather than just domestically, it would be a mere 0.2 percent lower than the expected rate of growth in global demand through 2030.  So, yes, it's a ver, very big deal.

It's beyond possible: it's very achievable.  All it takes is a small amount of discipline, some forethought, and a simple understanding that the best things in life are a result of the patience you put into them and your steadfast belief that it will work.

EDIT: It's May 15th, as noted in the comments.

They're at it again.

Last year, it was on the first day of spring.  A little early in the year if you ask me, especially if you live in the north (as I did until last June), and it seems they realized that.  What am I talking about?  Why, it's Dunkin Donuts' Free Iced Coffee day, of course!

Just stop in to your local DD from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. for a free 16-ounce iced pick-me-up.  Dunkin's coffee on ice…it's like a slice of Heaven served cold.