By Staff
With gas prices soaring toward $4 a gallon, it is time for elected leaders to act.
We urge all voters to send an e-mail, write a letter or call their representatives and demand that they act quickly to come up with a solution to help curb ridiculous gas prices.
They do, after all, work for us. They are sent to Lansing and Washington to look after our best interests.
Even gas station owners are fed up, like the Wisconsin Mobil owner who shut off his own pumps Thursday for 24 hours in protest. "Somebody out there is making money at these prices, but not me," said Harvey Pollack, 57.
The rising price of gas not only pains us at the pump, but now it is beginning to spread to other areas of our lives.
Michigan's economy is based greatly on tourism.
If the price of gas is too high for people to travel this summer, our state's economic woes will only get worse.
"I believe the rapid rise in gasoline prices is having a negative effect on sales," said one retailer who responded to a confidential survey of Michigan Retailers Association members.
"If it's this high now, I'm concerned about the public's planning for the summer months. Couple that with the state of the economy and I'm very concerned about retail sales for the next few months."
In a thoughtful letter to the editor this week retired social studies teacher Russ Bergemann reminded us of our history.
"Big Oil seemingly laughs at us by raising prices and every quarter posting record profits. And Congress sits and does nothing! There was a time when J.D. Rockefeller controlled the oil business and it was called a monopoly and Congress did something! There are several giant oil companies which control gas prices. I would call this a monopoly. Congress has done nothing," Bergemann wrote. "Some say it's a matter of supply and demand; there isn't enough gas for the demand. I think that this is a created shortage. There hasn't been a new refinery built in 30 years. Two years ago with the devastation of Katrina we saw how fragile our gasoline supply was. Congress did nothing! Oil companies could use their tremendous profits to build new, modern and efficient refineries. Congress has not had the foresight to do anything about this problem. The oil companies are like a runaway train, and Congress has allowed this to happen. I know of no plans to build new refineries with the billions that the oil companies have raked in in recent years."