Do you think THEY have put fuel prices up, to curb carbon emissions?

Question

If we cant afford to drive we will have to use public transport, ride and walk.

This way the government can back off a little in its planning..

Answer 1

hahahahahah, thats a positive way to look at it... but the answer would be NO

Answer 2

I can tell you this, we're at 3.85 in NO.VA, and all of the pumps are always busy busy buys, no slow downs here! I think people are cutting corners, but not at the gas pump...at least the majority....

It is a nice idea where pub. Trans ride and walk are options,

I commute an hour to and from work...yikes...

Answer 3

I notice the use of THEY, as if THEY are one monolithic entity with one purpose.

There is no "THEY" in this sense.

There is the basic economic phenomenon of supply and demand.  The supply is shrinking, because:

A.  Oil discovery peaked in 1964;

B.  Oil consumption has outpaced discovery since 1985;

C.  All of the world's most productive oilfields are now declining in output.

Demand has increased because of the economic rise of China and India.

These factors are sufficient to explain the surge in crude oil prices, and thus motor-fuel prices.  If anything, those parts of "they" who work in government appear to have been caught by surprise.

Answer 4

OPEC -- the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries -- is deliberately restricting the production of oil in the face of growing world demand, in order to drive the world into a recession.

The United States is importing five billion barrels of oil a year,  it's not a question of walling ourselves off ... and letting OPEC loot the rest of the world. If they do that, they'll still have the power to collapse our economy. If they can collapse Japan, they can send us into a depression that way.