As a kid I remember seeing the Exxon gasoline stations in Italy. Then later started seeing them in the U.S. Kind of reminded me of back home in Italy. While in Italy I thought wow these Italian gasoline companies must be making a lot of money. Then I found out that Exxon belonged to Standard Oil of New Jersey(Esso Europe)and that Standard Oil of New Jersey sold more gasoline in Italy(Europe)than it did in the United States.

The cost of gasoline has become an incendiary election-year issue even though there may be little politicians can do to affect gas prices. Democrats and Republicans are lining up to say they're on the side of consumers.

Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist sent a letter to President Bush on Monday urging his administration to keep a close eye out for price gouging. On Tuesday, Bush announced a federal probe into cheating in gas markets.

Democrats, meanwhile, stood up to say that not only does the White House need to investigate price gouging, but let's also take a look at those plush subsidies and tax breaks that the oil industry got in last year's energy bill. Big oil was granted billions of dollars in tax breaks and other incentives over the next decade.

As consumers struggle to make ends meet and the price of fuel skyrockets, many people are asking: Why does an industry that is making record profits need a government handout? Weren't those subsidies designed to keep prices down?

For the record, the five largest oil companies, Exxon Mobil, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips took home more than $111 billion in profits last year. That's greater than the GDP of 174 of the world's countries (2005 figures). With oil above $70 a barrel, it would hardly seem necessary to encourage people to go out and look for it, yet the government still does. Some people argue that without subsidies, the price of gas would be higher still.

There is something to be thankful for in all this: Thankful that you're not buying gas in Norway, England or Italy, where it hovers around the $6.00 per gallon mark. Alternately, you could wish you filled up your car in Kuwait, where gas is about 78 cents per gallon, or Caracas, where Venezuelans are paying a little over a dime. Or you can get used to paying $3.50+ per gallon right here at home, because that's probably where it's going to stay for a while unless it goes to $4.00 per gallon.

Just keep your fingers crossed that nothing disrupts the supply chain, because if it does, the price could go even higher.

Just for the record it's Exxon Mobil now.

As painful as the rise in fuel prices has been for car owners, it's been significantly worse for truck drivers. Today, gasoline cost an average of $3.48 a gallon, up from $2.58 a year ago, an increase of nearly 25 percent. But diesel now averages $4.20+ a gallon in the region, up from $2.69 a gallon a year ago, a startling 55 percent increase.

For truck drivers, the equation, inevitably, is this: Fuel costs more, so the goods that they haul cost more, and that means consumers buy fewer goods, which means there are fewer runs for truck drivers.

"I'm only getting about eight hours of runs a week right now," said Barlow, who lives in Brimfield and drives for T.R. Stone Trucking out of Chicopee.

"I'm very worried," she said. "My husband (who also drives a truck) and I are trying to cut back. We only go out to dinner maybe once a week now. We turn the temperature in the house down. And we burn coal and wood pellets for heat."


The nation's 3.5 million trucks drivers haul about 70 percent of the tonnage of goods sold in this country, according to the American Trucking Associations. And diesel is what fuels most trucks. A tractor trailer might have a tank of 100 to 150 gallons, so a fill-up may cost in excess of $500. And with a fuel mileage of only 5 or 6 miles per gallon for many trucks, fill-ups can be frequent.

One reason why diesel prices have risen so much faster than gas prices in this country is the growing use of diesel fuel in Europe and elsewhere to run passenger cars, said Stephen C. Dodge, associate director of the Massachusetts Petroleum Council.

"Almost half the new vehicles being sold in Europe are diesel and now a good portion of their total fleet is diesel. Diesel cars last longer, they have lower maintenance, they get better fuel mileage and they run cleaner. So there's been a big conversion in Europe going on, and that has sucked up some of the diesel product that would have come here," he said.

Thomas R. Stone, who is co-owner of T.R. Stone Trucking, normally has a dozen trucks on the road. Now, though, more trucks are sitting idle.

"Mainly we haul paper, general freight and the U.S. mail. But my business is down about 60 percent this year, just because no one is moving commodities," he said.

He has had to charge customers a fuel surcharge, he said, "but the extra money still doesn't even scratch the surface."

"The price of a tire, a belt, a hose, a break lining have all gone up. So the cost to operate has doubled. I haven't laid off drivers yet, but every one of my drivers has taken some short weeks so that other drivers could have some hours," Stone said.

"I don't think fuel prices will go down," Beth E. Smith, co-owner of the trucking company, said. "So a lot of owner-operators may go out of business or there will be downsizing of companies or consolidations."

"We're in a fortunate situation because we have a contract with the post office to haul mail. So we'll probably stay in business. But if you don't have guaranteed work, you're going to be in trouble," she said.

Agip is the Italian oil company -
Well - I just returned from Italy and gas prices where 1.40 Euro a Liter. 1.4 times 1.6 ( Euro Dollar ) times 3.6 ( liter a gallon ) the cost is $ 8 a gallon !

All the giudicial system seem always too busy constantly going after Microsoft when this oil companis make Microsoft revenue pale - According to a Washingon Post article of a couple of weeks ago Exxon did not yet settle in full the Exxxon Valdez oil spill and may families are still waiting for the money 20 years later.

Ayway to avoing goind too much off theme I am adding a Agip logo in the attachments

PS In Italy it work this way :
The dollar goes down, the price of gas goes up
The dollar goes up, the price of gas goes up
The dollar is stable, the price of gas goes up.

"Wait a minute. What did you just say? You're predicting $4-a-gallon gas? ... That's interesting. I hadn't heard that." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Feb. 28, 2008

Only about 8 months to go until we're rid of Bush, a morally bankrupt fool. Unlikely that McCain ("Bush Lite") will win the election, but the damage to our economy caused by Bush's idiotic policies will last for generations. It took 2 terms for the last Democrat (Clinton) to balance the budget and reverse the economic mistakes made by Bush's father. I doubt that we will ever be able to undo the harm to our economy and our global reputation.

You said it Kallitype
Unfortunately many people see things a completely different way and they are completely blind to the Bush disaster -

"With oil above $70 a barrel..."

Villa, you might want to update the text. Oil just passed $135 per barrel.

You said it Kallitype
Unfortunately many people see things a completely different way and they are completely blind to the Bush disaster -

They are known as "Republicans", which, apparently, is a synonym for "idiots".:D Or, as Aliena has taught me, SCEMI!

PS In Italy it work this way :
The dollar goes down, the price of gas goes up
The dollar goes up, the price of gas goes up
The dollar is stable, the price of gas goes up.

lol, I think it works like that in USA, too!

I think in America we see cars as extension of ourselves and the right to drive anywhere we want to, when we want to, a birthright. I think the current gas crunch is forcing many of us to re-examine this. Maybe we don't have the right to gas guzzling SUV's and Hummers (or at least the right to cheap gas to fuel them.)

May I ask, what is the philosophy it Italy? I've been told that Italy (and Europeans) do not see it the same way, that not everyone owns a car and that's okay, not every family owns multiple cars, that public transportation is much better and seen as more sensible.