Newswire:

High Gas Prices Create Criminals

More and more Americans have the answer to skyrocketing gas prices: Just steal it. [Reuters]

According to the Petroleum Marketers Association of America, gasoline theft is becoming a huge issue across the country. Motorists drive up, pump their gas, then speed away without paying.

It’s gotten so bad in some areas that gas stations may revert back to the old “pay-before-you-pump” rules of the 1970s.

Last year, for example, gasoline theft cost the gas industry $134 million. (Experts say it would have been a lot more, but many stations went to pay-before-you-pump rules after the post-Katrina gas-price spike. [NACS Online]

Before you stick it to the man and rip off your gas station, know this: It’s not their fault. In fact, motorists in New York were asked how much profit they thought their gas stations were making off them filling up their tanks. One person guessed $1.25 a gallon. Another guessed $.65. The reality? Less than a dime. [CNN]

Here’s the breakdown: For every gallon of gas, 72% goes to the big gas companies (like Exxon and ConocoPhillips), 13% goes to taxes, 8% goes to refiners, and 8% is split between marketing, distribution and the gas stations.

Stealing from your friendly neighborhood gas pumps isn’t the only crime fed by recent gas price hikes. Now the mob’s involved. [Reuters]

According to Attorney General Mike Mukasey, international organized crime has decided it wants a “taste” of all that money generated by high oil prices.

Mukasey said a new Justice Department investigation found the global mafia groups “control significant positions in the global energy and strategic materials markets.”

Mukasey: “They are expanding their holdings in these sectors, which corrupts the normal functioning of these markets and may have a destabilizing effect on U.S. geopolitical interests.”

Interesting fact: Gas thefts go up not when prices are high, but when they are first raised, showing it’s more a crime of anger than anything else.

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Comments

1. See how much the big oil gnags make?? and if mukasey knows mafia groups are doing that he should have them prosecuted and arrested, but they probably pay him off as well..

   — Justice Seeker - May 13, 05:46 PM - #
   
   

2. Sorry, but situations don’t “make” criminals. People make choices to commit crimes. It doesn’t matter if you can’t “afford” gas; stealing is illegal and rightly so. I have no tolerance or pity for people who make a choice to steal gas and then blame others. This is yet another instance of too many Americans being unwilling to take responsibility for their actions. You make adjustments and lobby the gas companies to come up with new solutions. Stealing gas is NOT the answer. I highly encourage all gas stations to enact a “pay before you pump” policy, to which I would gladly adhere. I already pay before I pump by putting my BP card into the pump station first, but this nonsense is ridiculous. You ought to retitle this article to say: “Stupid, Selfish, Irresponsible Fools Refuse to Pay for Their Gas”.

   — SmickChick - May 21, 11:38 AM - #