Gas Prices: Down, Now Up Again

     If you blinked your eyes, you missed the bounce of gas prices.   Seems just last week they were under $2/gals.   Then I started to read that big oil and gas producers were not happy: their stock prices were dropping.  Tsk,tsk.  They started to send messages to their friends in Washington that they didn't anticipate the drop.  They must now lay off workers, close drilling operations, slash R&D budgets.   Woe, woe, woe is me.
       So, in the course of 5 days, we've been witness to a rebound.  Prices at the pump soared over the weekend.  They went up as much as 20% in some Bay Area locations.  Pundits and Pols say consumers don't understand economics.  That's right.  We don't.   When prices go down, they trickle down.  When they go up, they leap up overnight.   Whose economics don't we understand?  Monopoly economics.   Maybe Washington needed some action in the Middle East, or maybe they're sending a message to Mad Vlad that we now control oil prices, not OPEC, or Russya, or Dubai, or Venezuela.   It seems that once stable pricing is cast adrift, it's hard for governments to predict the future.   That's not good for the people; it creates difficulties; causes anxieties and fear.  
       So, if you just bought an SUV or a new 3/4 ton pickup truck, take it back.   All the money you thought you would save on gas just evaporated.  Tsk, tsk.