The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Los Angeles County rose two-tenths of a cent Tuesday, a "pretty clear" indication that "prices are topping out," according to a representative of the Automobile Club of Southern California.
The increase was the smallest during a seven-day span that has seen the average price rise 50.4 cents to a record $4.705, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service.
The average price is 52.8 cents higher than one month ago and 89.3 cents above one year ago.
A sharp decrease of the wholesale gasoline price on Monday makes it seem "hopeful we will get some big drops soon, if not in the next few days, certainly in the coming weeks," Marie Montgomery Nordhues of the Automobile Club of Southern California told City News Service.
Nordhues credited the sharp decrease of the wholesale gasoline price to Gov. Jerry Brown's Sunday directive to the California Air Resources Board to immediately allow oil refineries to make an early transition to winter-blend gasoline, which isn't typically sold until Nov. 1.
"That announcement seemed to immediately resolve the supply concerns that had caused the panic on the spot market last week," Nordhues said.
I'm pretty sure the middle, which got banged in the wallet here, better start looking at the far left (environmentalists) and the far right (corporate greed) and start banging on them both. They are both laughing at us in the middle right now.