no matter what the spin on the subject, the big oil companies will refuse to acknowledge any wrongdoing or any culpability in their criminal approach to price fixing... their laughable explanations spouted by paid mouths of the industry is only trumped by the assinine reporting that refuses to look beyond the smear of black oil rubbed on their backsides ... the cowardice of both the big oil men and free press is matched only by the haze of effluence blasted by the governments of the oil producing nations where they claim no irregularities have ever been found.

I'm not sure what time frame you're referring to, Clark, but here in mid-Michigan gas has been steadily creeping down again
$1.90...
$1.80...
$1.70...
$1.60...
now under $1.60 per gallon.

The big oil companies are not earning record profits off of oil, so they reduce refinery output to make the profits off of gas. They have to try and match their record profits of last year for any company EVER, or the stockholders will cry...they will use the upcoming busy summer driving season and any other pessimistic reasons they can think of to drive the price of gas and oil up. when the truth is if they had refinery production wide open we would have close to $1 gas at the pumps.
Even when demand is drastically reduced at the pump (as it was with $4 a gal gas) they just cut back production, so your supply and demand model will never work....with government regulating and bailing out everyone they need to keep an eye on the big oil companies who, along with speculators, artificially inflated the price of oil and gas to record prices at the consumers expense...yes the financial markets were troubled, but i believe the oil and gas price gouging last year was the straw that broke the camels back. It drove up retail prices on many things including food...and when gas and food cost more the average american can feel a recession. They need to regulate the oil futures market and keep oil comapnies from hindering supply for their own profits!