The inflation of gas prices in the past decade are do to many reasons. "The increased demand for oil in places like China and India, high gasoline taxes, civil unrest in Venezuela, war in the Middle East, political instability in Nigeria, and too few refineries in the U.S. are the main reason why we have had such an increase of gas/oil prices in the past decade." ( Dart, The Cause and Effects of High Oil Prices).

A catalyst for the rising gas prices in the United States over the past decade would be 9/11. "Most of the oil to make gasoline is produced in the Middle East and North Africa." (Ryabtsev,).
This makes the Arab world very important to the United States. With the new uprisings in the Arab world today, gas prices have shot up 30¢ in the last month because of the (Ryabtsev).


Another very important factor to the inflation of gas prices over the last decade would be disasters, natural or man made. Hurricane Katrina (2005) and the BP oil spill (2010) both rose gas prices up 5¢ in the first week after the disaster. "When the economy plummeted in late 2008 gas prices rose to levels of where they are now, $3.33 per gallon." (Williams,).


Many people have different opinions on why gas prices have risen to what it is over the last decade. Some people will blame the president of the United States for the increase in gas over the past decade. According to the this article (Eden,Gas Prices Have Risen 55% On Obama’s Watch And Continue To Soar) , some people blame the president at the time, George Bush in 2004 and Barack Obama in 2008, for rising gas prices. Others choose blame oil companies for being sinister and wanting the price of oil to rise for their own profitable gain. "But in the end gas prices increase and decrease because of the social and political situation in that the time period, there is no one person to blame." (McMahon).



                                                                                References


Dart, Andrew K., The Causes and Effects of High Gas Prices, 2011, January 1

Eden, Micheal, Gas Prices Have Risen 55% On Obama’s Watch And Continue To Soar 2010, May 13

McMahon, Tim,  Are Oil Companies Ripping us off with Gas Prices? 2005 October 17

Ryabtsev. Mark, Gas Prices Skyrocket, Oil Prices to Blame, 2011, February 27

Schiffman, Betsy, Gas Prices Creep Up After the Spill, Despite Weak Demand,, 2010, May 3

Williams, James L. ,Oil Price History and Analysis, 2007, January 1

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