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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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 - #