Fuel To Rumble

I want to do my part and help fill our highways with motorcycles in route to Street Vibrations, but it got me thinking about fuel prices especially after hearing reports of price gouging from Hurricane Ike.

As Reno readies the welcome mat and bikers roll into town from all over the Northwest for the 14th year of this four-day event – crammed with just about anything for a motorcycle enthusiast – and has events spread all over Humboldt and Lander county – I wonder how many people will pass on the event because of fuel prices?

Reports state we consume 400 million gallons of gasoline every day in the U.S. and the demand for gas has pushed gas prices to record highs.  My trip to the 105^th Anniversary celebration consumed approx $270.00 worth of fuel as Premium fuel averaged a little over $4 a gallon which is less than the current west coast prices. 

I don’t know about you, but I subscribe to the theory that market speculators have fueled the run-up of gas.  Reminiscent of the Enron debacle the commodity trading of large index investors and “swap” traders who trade on behalf of banks or wealthy individuals got into the futures markets which includes crude oil.  Large investors poured $60B into the oil market during the first 5 months of this year then by the end of July pulled out $39B as oil prices declined.  Is it coincidental that the speculation had such a dramatic effect on prices?  I think not!

And speaking of Nevada even the brothel business is down 25 percent which depends on truckers and they have felt the pinch of high diesel prices more so than anyone. So bad is the business that the Shady Lady Ranch is offering gas cards to lure truckers in, and even the Moonlite Bunny Ranch has offered up a deal called “double your stimulus” for those folks who have yet to cash their federal tax rebate checks.  Clearly the price of fuel has had an impact…

I’m not going to let gas prices stop me from getting a bit more “seat time” on the way to Reno, but this sign pretty much sums up my feelings on prices…

Photo courtesy of Flickr/Casey Helbing