Money Crashers: Why Gas Prices Are Rising So High

Earlier this month, a post popped up on my Nextdoor group lamenting about how expensive gas is getting. I honestly hadn't noticed, since we never really go anywhere these days and it's been over a month since we filled up our gas tank. But what struck me about the post was that the comments on it immediately turned political and extremely nasty. Many of the commenters — my neighbors — blamed the rise in gas prices on the incoming Biden administration, even though Biden hadn't actually been inaugurated yet. Others snarled back about Trump, and I guess a lot of people complained about the "unneighborly" tone, because eventually the moderators took the entire thread down.

This experience did more than just reinforce how toxic the combination of politics and any kind of social media can be (and how hard it is to keep them separated). It also showed that most people don't have any real understanding of what causes gas prices to rise and fall. Since they have no way to make sense of it, they just weave it into whatever political narrative they've decided to believe and pin the blame on whichever party they don't like.

I hope my latest Money Crashers post can serve, in some small way, as an antidote to that. It explains the real, complex, and intertwining factors that lead to changing gas prices, including seasonal fluctuations in demand, foreign affairs, changing technology, natural disasters, and shifts in gas taxes (the only one that really has anything at all to do with U.S. politics).

I don't expect most of my Nextdoor neighbors to read it, but if any of them do, perhaps they'll realize that the government can't possibly control all the factors affecting gas prices, and so it's silly to blame any government (especially one that isn't officially in power yet) when they go up. It's much more useful to adapt by driving less: making fewer trips, walking and biking more. And if the price remains high, perhaps even choose a more fuel-efficient vehicle (or even an electric one) the next time you change cars. This not only saves you money but also prevents climate-destroying emissions, so it's a win-win.

Why Gas Prices Are Rising So High – Reasons for Fluctuations