The issue no one is paying any attention to - oil refinery strikes!

I heard about that yesterday. There was a little blurb about it on yahoo news. In my area of course it's not really on everybody's radar right now because of the ice storm and such. And for the news it's still overly important what Obama does. I guess, if they would have gone on strike, it would have moved up on the news radar as an explanation as to why gas prices went up...

Holy crap, that REALLY does seem like something that the incompetent media should be telling us about! Thanks for letting us know, too bad even the article you found is just a little blurb but it's more than we're getting anywhere else these days. We should engineer our cars to run on excrement, since there is an abundance of THAT coming from our elected officials and the delusional press.

Stikes are happening everywhere in an alarming way and I really don't get it because I would just be happy to have a job if I was any of them. But this is not what is affecting the cost of gas as much as the fact of Obama being in the presidency and due to his willy washy opinions on drilling and adding supply the investors are feeling that it's a safe bet that Obama will not raise the supply of oil. Since they have a ability to hire nonunion members to take their place as they strike it shouldn't slow down production much and actually it should help a lot of people who need jobs right now. So hey let them strike. The oil companies will continue to pay their employees and their taxes amounting in over 40% of there take in taxes alone.

Hello Newtondak, This is a rather complex issue. The failure of Congress to open up domestic oil drilling (do we remember "Drill Here/Drill Now") has stalled the profitability of the refining industry, as the consumer is dependent on foreign oil, and its wild price swings between OPEC and commodities traders, thereby causing consumers to rein in their use of the product. In case anyone has forgotten, this is the heart and soul of our current recession -- $4 per gallon oil! Decreased demand = increased supply, increased supply = decreased prices, decreased prices = increased union worker lay-offs! This is exactly what happened in the 80s (when oil was $10/barrel), and it resulted in the majority of small refineries going out of business. Which, of course, positioned the big oil companies to take over the refining industry, thereby monopolizing the market and pricing the product based on limited competition models. The only solution is to stabilize the bleeding that $4/gallon gasoline caused by removing the regulations and restrictions currently imposed on domestic drilling by Congress. Specifically, by it's members who are beholden to the environmetal extremists, as well as the investors who have sunk personal fortunes into gov't subsidized 'alternative' energy sources -- like Nancy Pelosi who has acknowledged having invested at least 100,000.00 into T. Boone Pickens proposal! I suspect that the timing of a refining strike has more to do with unionized labor sending a message to Obama, Pelosi, & Reid that their alternative energy lovefest is cutting into their union profitability. Of course, I believe that this is a terrible time for the union to try to force Washington's hand. Why? Because of the elevating unemployment numbers. If the union thinks that the refineries won't be able to easily get 'scab' labor, then they are out of their minds. Worse still is the prospect of the many illegals who have returned south of the border returning to capitalize on those high paying scab oil jobs. If they strike, it will give the big oil companies an excuse to raise the price at the pump. Heck, the price has already been rising disproportional to the price per barrel. The fact that the per barrel price isn't fluctuating nearly as wildly indicates that speculators are not impacting the pump price -- meaning that this is all about the oil companies. I do not like giving the oil companies any excuse to artificially inflate their prices, but it is not in union's interests to give a hoot how their proposed strike will affect the overall economy. It's all about them, and their immediate need for immediate gratification. Thanks, United Steel Workers! You're spot on in pointing out that this is an extremely important issue that is being completely ignored by the media. Geesh, look at the link that you directed us to -- a couple of paragraphs that do nothing to dissect or explain the ramifications of a strike. Another Pulitzer moment for the Main Street media!!!