Gas Prices on the way up again

From The International Herald Tribune:

Gasoline prices, which for months lagged the big run-up in the price of oil, are suddenly rising quickly, with some experts fearing they could hit $4 a gallon by spring. Diesel is hitting new records daily and oil closed at an all-time high on Tuesday of $100.88 a barrel.

Some politicians want to tax us more at the pump too. Isn’t that something. For the record, you already pay 18.4 cents per gallon to the Feds and another 18 cents per gallon to the state. The IHT continues,

The increases could not come at a worse time for the economy. With growth slowing, high energy prices that were once easily absorbed by consumers are now more likely to act as a drag on household budgets, leaving people with less money to spend elsewhere. These costs could exacerbate the nation’s economic woes, piling a fresh energy shock on top of the turmoil in credit and housing.

If I had a dollar for every time a news organization tried to scare me about the economy.

Then you have Steve Zell, chairman of Equity Investments Group and owner of the Chicago Cubs, Chicago Tribune, L.A. Times. He said this on CNBC:

“Obviously what we have going on is an attempt to create a self-fulfilling prophecy, We have two Democratic candidates who are vying with each other to describe the economic situation worse.”

So which is it?