Consumers In The News

The price at the pump is going up and so are the sales of cars. People are starting to put their money where their mouth is when it comes to high gas prices, and are moving to smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles, a new report suggests.

Scotiabank economist Carlos Gomes issued a report that suggested pump prices are having enough of an impact on consumers' bottom lines that they are basing their buying decisions on how much fuel they'll need."Canadian and American households have started to increasingly buy smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles, a trend that emerged once oil prices surpassed $100 US per barrel in March," Gomes said in his Global Auto Report.

These higher gas prices are not only driving car sales for smaller more fuel efficient care but they are sparking a central question that no can seem to find the answer to. How the oil companies set price levels and how prices have come to their current levels. No one can understand why last year, when oil per barrel was around $140 or $150, we were paying $.963 per litre, when this year oil is south of $98 a barrel and yet we're paying more (around $1.3). We as consumers need to start demanding answers as well as our government needs to start getting those answers for us. Consumers shouldn't be gouged at the pump because big corporations have monopoly in an industry.

Should this be regarded as a serious problem most people would say yes but then why is that not the evidence. People in fact are showing a lack of concern maybe due to other priorities in life or has it become accepted that the oil companies will continue to raise gas prices. Either way consumers deserve an answer to having to pay more at the pump when prices per barrel have actually decreased.

Click to read the CBC Report by Carlos Gomes