*** "Conspiracy" *** Heck, no; the very word connotes a 'secret' of sorts. There's no secret to fuel pricing, unless you've got your head in the sand. Remember the centuries-old principle of getting "whatever the traffic will bear"; it applies here.
For the record, in SoCal, mid-1973 gasoline prices ranged from low 20-some cents to mid 30-some cents per gallon, fed & state taxes included. Then by mid-1974 they had jumped to 40-50-some cents per gallon(oddly, diesel prices weren't much affected!). In the late-77 to mid-78 price push, the gasoline prices bumped to over $1.00/gallon, all taxes included. This time diesel jumped up to high 40s to 50-some cents/gallon, spurred on by the barrage of GM's marketing[what they do best, IMHO!] of its Olds 350 diesel-powered abominations to price-conscious motorists.
Part of the problem is as stated before that other cost areas are up 4-5 times[and, yes, gasoline is too; diesel is retailing at 10-11 times what it did in 1973!]. But workers' income largely has not come close to keeping pace. Example: in 1973, the (unionized)grocery clerks here made 1/2 (raw dollars) of what they do today. Retail food prices are up 5-15 times, new vehicle prices are up 4-5 times, and housing is up 8-10 times. Worse still, many millions of jobs don't even exist here in the U.S., or are in fields completely dominated by folks who feel compelled to work 'under-the-table' for less than $5.00 per hour, with few legal remedies. (And, please don't tell me that the single-family farmers are getting rich, squeezing the big supermarket chains for huge wholesale produce price increases). CEOs of large corporations, as a group, have done very well over the same time period. Road taxes on fuel are up a little; profits are WAY up.
Okay... off the soapbox, for this old man. For the government-published figures of retail fuel prices around the country, check out
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/gdu/gasdiesel.asp
Interesting how prices vary, regardless of the excuses given. I mean, c'mon, how do MA & NY (not many oil wells & refineries, are there?)fuel prices run so much less there than California, where we have lots of wells & refineries? Answer: "whatever the traffic will bear!" [Even the website address is interesting: "tonto" means 'stupid' in some Spanish slang!]
Media stories frequently remind us that western European countries frequently have retail gasoline prices in the $4.00-$6.00 range. What is not stated is that the majority of the pricing differential(relative to US) is tax used to build/run/maintain the commuter transit systems, so that most common folk can get around without their personal vehicles much of the time. That doesn't much help folks who have to run a farm truck, but diesel is at least LESS pricey than gasoline there because it costs a lot less to refine than gasoline. Damn! Jumped up on that soapbox again.
Just my 2 cents... musta been worth dang near nuthin' back in 1973!
J.R.
@ 3pennyford sounds like I'm not the only one that has to drive to the mailbox or use a 4x4 to get up the driveway in the winter.I'll take pictures of the drive sometime.