Gas | featured news

How much are Americans freaked out by the prospect of paying $4 a gallon at the pump? A whole lot ... and not at all. Like a lot of carless New Yorkers, I am generally confused by bursts of populist outrage over high gas prices. But I have always assumed that the anger is genuine — that hard-working Americans, who already spend a lot on gas, are thrown into turmoil when they have to spend even more. After all, 63 percent of Americans insist that these price increases have caused them some financial hardship.

For all the domestic political talk about high gas prices, President Obama says one major factor can be traced overseas: Iran.

Families canceling vacations. Fishermen watching their profits burn up along with their boats' gasoline. Drivers buying only a few gallons of gas at a time because they can't afford to fill the tank. From all corners of the country, Americans are irritated these days by record-high fuel prices that have soared above $4 a gallon in some states and could top $5 by summer. And the cost is becoming a political issue just as the presidential campaign kicks into high gear.

Higher gas costs drove U.S. wholesale prices up last month. But excluding the big jump in gas, inflation was mostly tame.

Gasoline prices have never been higher this time of the year. At $3.53 a gallon, prices are already up 25 cents since Jan. 1. And experts say they could reach a record $4.25 a gallon by late April.

Consumer prices rose modestly in January on higher costs for food, gas, rent and clothing.

Consumers paid more for food and gas last month, although inflation outside those volatile categories was tame. The Labor Department says the Consumer Price Index rose 0.3 percent in September, below a 0.4 percent rise in August. Excluding food and energy, so-called core prices increased 0.1 percent, the smallest rise since March.

U.S. gas prices have edged up 6 cents over the past two weeks, but don't fret that a steady climb is on the horizon, the publisher of a new survey said Sunday.

The United States could create more than one million jobs by 2030 by expanding offshore drilling, limiting federal regulation of shale gas development and quickly approving a Canadian oil sands pipeline, according to a study commissioned by a major oil industry trade group.

With its gas business in decline, Russia on Tuesday begin filling a new pipeline that goes directly under the Baltic Sea to Germany, bypassing Ukraine, Belarus and Poland.