First of all if anyone believes that gas stations are only making one cent of profit from every gallon then they are very gullible. I can assure you it is much more or there wouldn't be a convienence store on every corner. Because the bulk of their sales is in fact gas.

As to the price of fuel the war certainly isn't helping but it isn't just that factor alone that has increased fuel rates. It began over a year ago when several of the refineries in South america / Mexico shut down production and / or reduced production refining wise. Most of the oil refineries cause pollution headaches and the good ol U.S way in the past is instead of doing it ourselves lets have another company do it for cheaper because wages there are much cheaper than what we (the U.S. can do it for). You are seeing a changing dynamic period in U.S economy. For years we have imported in general far more than we have exported. Even supposed "U.S" company of cars have been outsourcing more and more over the years and that is just one industry that has shipped things overseas etc to have done because in the past that was the most profitable way to do so. Because of this we are now finding ourselves not being able to support our own habits. We don't have enough refineries to process the crude oil, no one will give us a for sure accurate account of exactly how much true oil reserves we do have, so the market is unstable. They have cut down on offshore drilling and not spent the money to tap those resources because instead it was cheaper and easier to simply import it in.

We have been lucky all of these years to have the strongest currency in the world. Almost every country wants U.S backed currency (a.k.a the dollar) because it is more stable than other currencies and thus getting imports for a "cheaper" rate has really always been there for us. I think we may be seeing the first of many things that may be indicators that if we as a country want to continue to prosper that we may have to change how we do business. Just my two cents.

As to the why , how and "purpose" of the war we are in now.. I really rather not talk about that. I will only say that I am thankful for the men and women that are over there. They are being loyal to their country. It isn't their choice to be there specifically. They chose to serve their country and as such I respect them regardless of whether I find the "cause" they are fighting for a "good" one or not.

/bow

Zeph