How much for a dollar?

With the sliding value for a dollar, instability in the job market and economic crisis, no one knows what one might get for a dollar. Gas prices seem to be rising every week as a result of summer and people travelling to their destinations for vacation. I wonder how one could afford a travel when they complain about job loses and recessions but there are a few who do travel for getaways whether they or someone books it. What is driving the price of fuel these days with a barrel of crude oil being $68?

OPEC had mentioned last year that they were going to cut back on oil production because they were not making enough money per barrel. How could that possibly be when the price of a barrel of oil is swinging between $65 and $70? OPEC wants their barrel price to be $74 as an ideal condition. Sure, they can stop production, which will increase demand as a result of less oil in the market and hence more cost per barrel. When OPEC will reach its goal where does that lead us to? Shelling out more dollars to get our tanks filled up every week.

The speculators, energy policy, global economy, foreign demand (especially from China and India) and the brokers working with clients who give big bucks to buy oil tend to raise the price. If we cut down on fuel consumption, maybe the oil prices will go down. Whatever happened to not driving the big fuel guzzlers to work or vacation trips, riding a bicycle to work day per week, carpooling, metro usage to get to work? Spending about $50 a week per car is scary in this recession. In January of 2009, the average fuel price was $1.77 and now it is about $2.56, driven in part by a falling dollar. I guess if we do a little bit on our side, we can bring down the price of fuel. I remember when the fuel price was $0.99 way back in the 90’s. If not that low, some drop in fuel price would not be a bad thing.