All of us know how the rising cost of gasoline is affecting our lives. Many people are not able to do the things that they have been able to do in the past. Some examples are going to the movies or eating out at a good restaurant. Most people have a limited amount of money for those luxuries. All of us have payments to make and those obligations have a priority. In the past when gas prices have risen we all have scaled back for a while and waited for the prices to go down, then we could resume the lifestyle that we had become accustomed to. I fear that this time we may not have that option.

The average U.S. retail price of unleaded, regular gasoline has jumped $1 just since the beginning of February. It has hit an all-time record high of $3.27 per gallon. And it's threatening to breach $4 per gallon this year. The demand in this country is still increasing. During the Memorial Day holiday 32 million Americans hit the highways, more than ever before in history. They're pumping hundreds of millions of gallons of gas. And they're helping to drive prices still higher. The laws of supply and demand have always been the major factor in determining what any commodity is worth, and gasoline is no exception.

In most years past, the major U.S. gas companies easily covered spikes in demand by drawing from stockpiles. Gasoline inventories across the country were abundant, or at least adequate. So during most peak driving seasons, although Americans felt some pain in the pocket book, we would get over it. Today America's gasoline stockpiles are at their lowest levels in half a century. The facts: thirteen years ago, on January 14, 1994, we had over 190 million barrels of gasoline stored in the United States. On April 25 of this year, we had less than 102 million barrels. And that's with a larger population and having more automobiles on the road. So, relative to demand, the U.S. conventional gasoline stockpile is the lowest in half a century.