>La Grande Observer | Union and Wallowa Counties' News Leader

The prices of gas and diesel are shooting into uncharted territory in the United States. The high prices are taking a bite out of everyone’s budget and having a ripple effect through the entire economy. It’s easy to get angry, or at least frustrated, over the fact that the cost for fuel is impacting everything we do.

It’s important for all of us to remember, though, that the surge in prices isn’t the fault of local gas dealers or the truckers who deliver the liquid gold. The forces at work in these days of escalating gas prices are well beyond local control.

The weakening dollar and escalating demand for oil in other countries has more to do with the cost of oil surpassing $100 a barrel than anything else. While the demand for oil and its byproducts has stayed relatively flat in the U.S. the past couple of years, developing countries are demanding more of this precious and finite resource. And the weakening dollar has investors looking for other opportunities, among them oil.

A recent national news report said that gas station owners and gas haulers are seeing more verbal attacks from angry consumers. The station owners are reporting more people driving off without paying. The same report said that the dealers are barely making any money from the sale of gasoline and can only hope that customers will venture into their stores to buy goods that they can turn a little profit on.

So let’s not take out our frustrations over the high cost of fuel on the people who own or work at the gas stations, or the people who haul the fuel. Oil is a finite resource and the world market is such that there is little we, as consumers, can do to impact prices other than to save where we can and encourage oil companies and other interests to keep exploring alternatives.

We shouldn’t be taking out our frustrations on people who have to buy their fuel by the gallon just like the rest of us do.