Sustaining Our $1.2 Billion Daily Gasoline Habit

Oil now tops $110 barrel – and there are dire consequences not readily apparent.

"Right now we're spending more than $1.2 billion a day on gasoline alone in the United States. And about five years ago, we were spending less than half that. So now we're spending $600 million or $700 million a day on getting no more than what we were getting in 2003."

"We're paying for it on credit cards. We're changing the way we shop at the grocery store, selecting cheaper products, yet we're barely taking our foot off the gas pedal."

So who benefits from the dramatic price increases?

"No very much of it goes to your local gas station, that's for sure. Those guys make about three cents a gallon."

Is the additional revenue benefiting the big oil producing countries?

The money has "contributed to kind of a cycle of corruption and poverty. It doesn't really grow a real economy...Recent studies have shown that in both Venezuela and Iran, people are feeling that they have kind of a falling standard of living, even after five years of dramatically rising oil prices."

"Worse yet, the price increases has led to a black market, where oil is stolen from pipelines, or even tankers themselves, and much of it goes to guns", leading to violence and instability.

[Editor's note: Written transcript, RealAudio, Download and streaming video available.]