Rising gasoline prices are causing financial hardship for a majority of North Americans and are increasingly being seen by global economists as a potential threat to the durability of an economic recovery (albeit, a ‘jobless economic recovery’) that is just underway.
According to this article in Public Citizen “gas prices are rising because of uncompetitive actions by a handful of mega-companies …”.
“If it is so clear that America’s gasoline markets are uncompetitive, then why haven’t these companies been investigated?” said Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook. “We believe that millions of dollars in campaign contributions have purchased immunity from … scrutiny.”
Meanwhile, according to environmental scientist and President of the Foundation on Economic Trends, Jeremy Rifkin, in an article published yesterday in The Guardian, we should all be getting ready for “what might become the economy’s version of the perfect storm later this summer” as steady gas price increases become a harbinger for economic devastation that could result in “dire consequences for the global economy.”
