Up like a rocket again

In the previous installment about the ride on the gas price rollercoaster, the corner gas station had actually succeeded in getting a price rise to stick.

By Saturday, all four stations matched their prices at $3.59, meaning that the corner station dropped by twenty cents while everyone else only raised theirs four.  Today, however, all the stations raised their prices to the level that the corner station had been testing for a couple of weeks.  The corner station is now at $3.76, while the other three are at $3.75.  Wow!

I declined to make a prediction other than to agree with what WXYZ reporter Julie Banovic repeated from the experts had told her.  It's just as well.  I may have got the prices up to last Friday right, but beyond that, I would have been unpleasantly surprised.

On Thursday, the prices at the three stations a few blocks away dropped to $3.72, while the corner station held firm at $3.76.  On Friday, it was every station for itself.  Prices ranged from $3.69, which is where I thought they'd end up the previous Monday to $3.89.  I filled up at the station selling gas for $3.69, as I had seen nothing but higher prices all around it.  Since then, prices have only gone up, as WXYZ reports.


$4.00/gallon gasoline?  I haven't seen that, but I haven't left the house yet. 

This latest price increase is not good news for Governor Snyder's proposed gas tax increase, as the Detroit Free Press reports in Pump price nears $4 in Michigan, making Snyder's tax plan a tougher sell.

Average gasoline prices in Michigan were pushing rapidly toward $4 per gallon Monday, a psychological benchmark that irked motorists and likely made passage of a gas tax proposal from Gov. Rick Snyder even more difficult.

The rising gas prices -- a product of numerous regional, national and global factors -- come amid Snyder's call in his State of the State address Feb. 7 for state lawmakers to increase Michigan's wholesale gas tax by 14 cents a gallon and its diesel tax by 19 cents to pay for road repair and maintenance.

The tax and fee increases would raise $1.2 billion annually.

Republican leaders, including Secretary of State Ruth Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, joined a chorus last week criticizing the proposal.

A spokesman for the governor, Kurt Weiss, said Monday, "We know we have some work to do on that legislation, and we are willing to roll up our sleeves and come up with a solution for fixing our roads."

I'm still in favor of this tax.  The roads need the money for repair and I need another incentive to buy a bike and ride it.