One of the site's features is a Gas Temperature Map, a color-coded snapshot of prices by county and, when zoomed in, by town. Green is good, yellow less so, and red areas are paying through the nose, relatively speaking.
We Buckeyes are feeling lucky, rightly so, albeit not as fortunate as Missourians and Sooners. Illuminating the map, GasBuddy.com's tables bear that out -- the Ohio average for a gallon of regular is $1.870, Oklahoma is a penny cheaper at $1.859 and Missouri boasts the nation's best price at $1.844. Among major metro areas, Columbus currently sits in fourth place at $1.813, behind Des Moines ($1.793), Tulsa ($1.773) and Kansas City ($1.749).I see that in Mrs. KintlaLake's hometown, prices are considerably higher -- generally around $2.39 -- but a glance at the map suggests the reason why. Wherever there's a marked difference in "temperature" at a state border, there's a plausible explanation: taxes. It looks like West Virginia levies much higher gas taxes than neighboring Ohio.
Notably, and with a nod to the presidential and vice-presidential candidates, Chicago is paying $2.299, Wilmington $2.062, Phoenix $2.286 and Anchorage (drum roll for the highest price in the nation) $2.965.
I'll close this post with a comment about the Obama-Biden administration (and its allies in Congress) proposing an increase in the national gas tax -- according to some reports, by at least a dollar a gallon. (Right now it's 18.4 cents a gallon.) Their goal is to discourage demand by keeping gas prices artificially high, reduce the appeal of gas-guzzlers, and pander to enviro-weenies.
My first reaction is that consumers shouldn't be slapped with a tax that increases the price of a non-discretionary commodity by as much as 40%, especially in this economy. It may be oversimplifying to attribute today's lower prices to supply-and-demand alone, but the fact is that Americans hit a price barrier when we started paying four bucks for gas -- demand decreased, supplies grew and prices dropped naturally.
Screw the tax increase. The marketplace works. Our government should butt the hell out and let it keep working.
