Photo by ClevelandSGS. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.

Angela Eversole thought she had it all figured out: she needed gas, and was alledgedly willing to give up a little sex to get it. Unfortunately for her, the deal she was setting up for "a $100 gasoline card and other gifts" was being watched by the police there in Fort Wright, Kentucky. She was arrested and charged with prostitution and, get this, for "doing business without an occupational license," according to the AP. She's pleaded not guilty. USAToday has more.

We knew that a green car could make a man a bit more popular with the ladies, but this is something else entirely. Who knew hybrids could promote moral behavior?

[Source: WLEX]

Left: "We can't drill our way out of this!"
Right: "We can't conserve our way out of this!"
Chorus: "We must innovate our way out of this!"

(Maybe, but how long will that take? What will it cost? Who will pay?)

Democrats: "Big Oil's fault! Confiscate their profits!"
Republicans: "Environmentalists' fault! Drill here, drill now, pay less!"
Chorus: "Speculators' fault! Pass a law!"

(So, investing in things -- stocks, bonds, collector cars, commodities such as oil -- that may, or may not, increase in value in the future should be illegal?)

The price of just about anything is mostly about supply and demand. This is Rule #1 of Economics 101 -- which they made me take, along with English, history and a few other useful things, in engineering school:

1. Demand goes up, supply doesn't: price goes up
2. Demand goes down, supply doesn't: price goes down
3. Supply goes up, demand doesn't: price goes down

Oil will bring whatever buyers are willing to pay and sellers are willing to take, and buyers are willing to pay very dearly these days. Nearly all economic activity runs on oil, and it is extremely difficult for any society to reduce its usage without cheap and plentiful alternatives.

Petroleum products are not just in transportation tanks; they are in almost all consumer products. Take off your jacket, check your watch, dial your phone, boot up your computer, plug in your iPod – these things and nearly everything else contain them as fundamental elements.

Most things consume oil as they are manufactured, and all things consume it as fuel in shipment to market. And so, as we have been learning all too painfully lately, as the price of oil goes up, the price of everything follows in the same direction. So, given that the price of oil depends mostly on supply and demand, what can we do to drag it back down? Reduce demand? Increase supply? Yes, and yes! Anyone who thinks we can make enough difference by working just one end of that equation is wishfully thinking.

Continue reading after the jump.

Photo by pincusvt. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.

Well, now we have proof that the New York Times is biased against flyover country. I mean, only a left-wing maniac would dare point out that living out in God's Country (away from those sinful cities) isn't all it's cracked up to be. And then they dare to point out that our glorious subdivisions might not be the most sustainable living arrangement. How dare they! I'm outraged.

Actually, I'm kididng. But I did want to point out this article that really puts into perspective how high gas prices are delivering a thumping to people who need to drive many miles to the store or to work. I grew up in a place like this, so I know the drill going to the grocery story is a ten minute drive, minimum. Bike or bus? Forget it. What I didn't think about was the possibility, quoted by the Times from an earlier article in in The Atlantic Monthly, that high fuel costs will make "many low-density suburbs and McMansion subdivisions, including some that are lovely and affluent today, may become what inner cities became in the 1960s and '70s - slums characterized by poverty, crime and decay" (written by Christopher Leinberger, an urban land use expert). There's more to digest in the NYT piece - but the key is there are very, very people left who couldn't use a cleaner, more efficient vehicle right 'bout now.

[Source: New York Times]

Photo by ^Riza^. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.

The seemingly relentless march of gas prices in the upward direction has become, well, not quite so relentless. For now, gas prices are hovering around the $4/gallon mark, but what's in store for the rest of 2008? A national survey has found that "a sizable number" of Americans think that the end of summer (Labor Day) will bring $5/gallon gasoline. Of course, this doesn't mean prices will hit that mark, but a similar study conducted by the same group in January found that 71 percent of Americans correctly predicted gas would hit $4/gallon by summer. So there's that.

The survey was conducted by Opinion Research Corporation (ORC) at the behest of the Civil Society Institute, a nonprofit and nonpartisan think tank, and its Citizens Lead for Energy Action Now (CLEAN) project. Full survey details will revealed tomorrow.

[Source: Civil Society Institute, Newton, Mass.]

Photo by ^Riza^. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.

Man, expensive fuel has all sorts of unexpected impacts. People stealing four thousand gallons of diesel in LA. More people running out of gas on the side of the road. More four-day work weeks. And now, ta da, gas stations that don't accept credit cards.

Well, there's at least one station that doesn't: a small shop in Charleston, West Virgina, according to the AP. The problem is the way that credit companies get their money, which is a percentage of the total sale (that's why there's usually a $5 minimum purchase, so the store can make at least some money after the credit company has taken their chunk). The problem for gas stations is that higher gas prices mean that the credit companies are getting more pennies per dollar sold. Sadly, for the station owners, the station's mark up is a set amount (the AP says around 11 or 12 cents a gallon) and so doesn't grow when the price climbs. With $4 gas, the credit card companies get about 10 cents a gallon. It's easy to do the math and see that the station owner isn't exactly rolling in dough here. While the AP could only find one station that has banned plastic money, a lot of station owners are not happy with the way things are headed. Don't be surprised if this trend grows right along with gas prices.

[Source: AP]

So you think $4.50 a gallon is tough to swallow? How about nearly $15/gallon? That's what drivers in some parts of south-west England and Wales are faced with this week. A strike by tanker drivers who deliver fuel to Shell stations has left many stations in the region running out of gas and diesel. We all know what happens when fuel supplies run low but demand doesn't; it's economics 101. This time around, station owners have started ramping up the prices to as much as £1.99 a litre or $14.76 per US gallon. Talks between the union and the trucking company are ongoing, but at this point it looks like the strike will be continuing through this weekend.

[Source: AutoCar]

Photo by Cyfer13. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.

Depending on where you live, this may seem like old news. As the photo above (taken by Flickr user Cyfer13 on May 24 in San Francisco) shows, gas has been over $4 a gallon in some areas for a while now. But the official word has now been declared: the U.S. national average is now above $4 a gallon (officially, the number reached $4.005 on Friday, the AAA and the Oil Price Information Service announced). This is the first time gas prices have reached that barrier. But, speaking of old news, the AP story declaring this state of affairs, contains this nugget, "Prices at the pump are expected to keep climbing, especially after last week's furious surge in oil prices." That surge and all of the money being traded in energy these days has resulted in the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission opening a probe into potential price manipulation. Any results from that investigation will take a while. For now, Cyfer13 can see the writing on the wall. His or her caption to the photo reads, "Sadly, in a couple of months...this may be cheap."

[Source: AP]

If you're getting rid of a leased car, high gas prices are not your biggest reason for doing so. They're not even in your top five. At least, that's what Swapalease.com discovered when it asked users why they wanted to, well, swap a lease. Swapalease.com is a lease marketplace and the people behind the scenes wanted to find out why users were turning in their cars. Through a system that asked for information online and through employee-user interaction, Swapalease came up with a top ten list of issues. The only item that is tied in to the vehicle not being efficient enough was gas prices, which came in at number six. People working at Swapalease say that concerns over gas prices are "quickly moving up the ranks as a motivator for lessee's wishing to transfer," but they are still solidly beat out by others. Michael Citron, a sales manager for Swapalease, said in a statement that, "I've spoke [sic] to thousands of clients over the years at Swapalease and I have definitely noticed an increase in gas price talk over the last several months, but it is still not the key rationale given." Find the rest of the Top Ten swapees' concerns after the jump.

I guess they've got to pretty much give it away: E85 fuel will be on sale for just 85 cents a gallon for two hours in Colorado next week. Domestic Fuel says that the special sale on the biofuel for flexfuel cars will take place in the town of Fowler from noon until 2 p.m. on Tuesday, June 12. The sale is sponsored / subsidized by the Colorado Corn Growers Association, the Governor's Biofuels Coalition (GBC) and Western Convenience. Domestic Fuel calculates that there are about 85,000 flexfuel vehicles running (out of around 300,000 total vehicles) and fifty places to get E85 in Colorado. The Ethanol Promotion and Information Council notes the location of those pumps in the Alternative Fueling Station Locator. The GBC is a statewide organization that promotes ethanol and biodiesel to Colorado drivers.

[Source: Domestic Fuel]

Deals on gasoline make at least some sort of sense when automakers offer them (looking at you, crazy Chrysler), but when the latest free gas gimmick comes from buying Dockers, you know fuel prices are high. This is exactly what's going on, though, with a Father's Day sale at Sears that will give customers a $75 gas card and a $10 Sears gift card with the purchase of $100 worth of Men's Dockers stuff (but not shoes, purchases must be made between June 7 and 15). Sears is also giving away a 2008 Prius worth over $21,000. There is no purchase necessary - and you don't need to be a dad - to try and win the Prius, but the website to enter isn't active yet (guessing that'll happen on the 7th). A winner will be selected around the beginning of August.

[Source: Sears Holdings Corporation]

Photo by Laffy4k. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.

Feel like pushing your luck a few more miles? I think you are, as it seems like more and more drivers are hoping the half- or quarter-fill-ups at the gas station will take them a bit further than is possible. It's easy to find news reports today about an increase in stranded drivers on American roads these days, drivers who can't deal with $4 gallons of gas.

In North Carolina, the state highway patrol is dealing with more drivers stuck on the side of the road than before. No, that's not accurate. A local TV station says, "Trooper Jeff Nash said some people don't even make it to the shoulder of the road when they're out of fuel, and end up stranded in the middle of the highway."

The AP finds this is a national trend. From Philadelphia to Dallas, Oregon to Tennessee, anecdotal evidence supports the idea that people are simply unable to completely fill up the tank these days and are therefore running out before reaching their destination. There are no national statistics that track strandees, but the AP found that out-of-gas calls to the AAA in the Philadelphia area doubled between May 2007 and May 2008, from 81 to 161. AAA Mid-Atlantic saw a 15 percent increase over last year.

[Source: AP, WSOC-TV]

Photo by Yandle. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.

Some jobs easily lend themselves to telecommuting. Office work, for one, is easily done from home, as is any job that requires nothing but a phone. Oh, and that bizarre blogging thing. But custodial work? You might not be able to mop the gym floor from your bedroom, but that doesn't mean you can't figure out a way to stay home one day a week.

Reuters has a story about a shift in the U.S. to a four-day work week, just one more response to the recent jump in gas prices. The first group of people mentioned in the story is custodial workers at Kent State University. The idea isn't new, and some employers have long offered employees the chance to work four longer days of 10 hours each instead of five "normal" days of eight hours. Nowadays, though, workers are migrating toward the shorter work week, especially in rural areas where public transportation isn't an option and commutes can be long. One new idea that could also someday become a trend: the four-day school week.

[Source: Reuters]

American car buyers have been turning away from large trucks and SUVs for a while now, and Ford executives think they know what did it: $3.50 for a gallon of gasoline.

Automotive News (subs req'd) reports that Ford CEO Alan Mulally spoke last night to automotive reporters and revealed that his company's internal sales data from early May (combined with earlier reports) shows that the move toward smaller vehicles "is more dramatic and permanent than previously projected," in AN's words. Mulally said that the $3.50 level was when buying shifts "really started to move." Ford's U.S. pickup sales numbers dropped from 14.1 percent of its retail sales in 2007 to 13 percent in early 2008 to 11 percent in April to just 9 percent so far in May. SUV sales dropped as well (from 8.4 to 6.8 to 5.2 to 4.4 percent in the same time frames). Looking to the future, Ford is estimating that U.S. gas prices will sit somewhere between $3.75 and $4.25 a gallon for the rest of this year and next.

[Source: Automotive News (subs req'd)]

Following Chrysler's new "Let's Refuel America Gas Card" announcement, the critics spoke out quickly. While a guaranteed gas price of $2.99 a gallon for three years will certainly appeal to some people, other incentives might offer buyers better savings. To deal with the media fallout and to clarify a few questions about the card, Chrysler's media-only blog, The Firehouse, has tackled the topic with a post discussing the deal and the media coverage.

Stuart Schorr, the senior manager of sales for Mopar and Dealer Communications, wrote that there have been hundreds, possibly thousands, of stories about the incentive around the country (three of these videos are available after the jump). A TV station in Wisconsin calculated possible gas card savings to the customer of $8,760. Of course, they used gas prices of $6.65 a gallon to get that number. Also, Chrysler will be sending out official "Let's Refuel America" banners to dealerships in the coming days. Schorr also provided a list of ten questions (and answers) they've been hearing about the gas card, including one we've heard from our readers about what other incentives, if any, are available to people who sign up for the card. Check them out after the jump.

You may have seen an ad or two by "The People of America's Oil and Natural Gas Industry" lately. With price reaching $120 a barrel and $4 a gallon, the monopoly fuel for transportation in the U.S. apparently feels the need to do a little explaining. A spokesmodel on TV tells us there's enough oil here to fuel 60 million cars for 60 years (if only we let the oil companies go get it.) A voice on radio suggests we stop knocking oil companies because they are us; we all own a piece (through our pension funds). We really ought to stop beating up on ourselves.

Last night, Stephen Colbert took a closer look at a newspaper ad on "The Price at the Pump." He discovered "oil is a zero profit business." Check out the video clip after the break.