Political Forecast

Via Matthew Gross, this from CNN:

“Consumers can expect retail gas prices to rise to $4 a gallon soon but whether they stay there depends on the long-term damage to oil facilities from Hurricane Katrina, oil and gas analysts said Wednesday.

“There’s no question gas will hit $4 a gallon,” Ben Brockwell, director of pricing at the Oil Price Information Service, said. “The question is how high will it go and how long will it last?”

OPIS tracks wholesale and retail oil prices and provides pricing information for AAA’s daily reports on fuel prices.”

Already the demand and the belief that our supplies will dwindle have led to massive cases of price gouging in some areas. In Atlanta, the two biggest pipelines bringing oil in are down thanks to Katrina and the city is facing a possible crisis.

In Des Moines, prices have surged to over $3 a gallon in some places. The average price, by my recordings last night, was around $2.56/gallon. If prices keep surging, the economy is most definitely going to take a hit, contrary to what the White House is saying.