The pain at the pump keeps getting worse and worse in California, with gas prices soaring to an average price of $6 per gallon in Los Angeles County. Gas prices have been rising consistently for 57 days now with yesterday being the 52nd time they have gone up. In this case, as goes California, does not go with the nation. 

The average price has risen 52 times in the last 57 days. https://t.co/Qu0tyB0kR0

— FOX 11 Los Angeles (@FOXLA) September 18, 2023

The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Los Angeles County rose 4.8 cents Monday to $5.915, a day after increasing 13.6 cents. The average price has risen 52 times in the last 57 days, increasing 94.3 cents, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service. It is 39.2 cents more than one week ago, 62.5 cents more than one month ago, and 48.6 cents more than one year ago. It has dropped 57.9 cents since rising to a record $6.494 on Oct. 5, 2022.

California has officially surpassed Washington State for having the most expensive gasoline per gallon in the entire Nation, with an average cost per gallon of nearly $6. California residents are not asking, but begging for it to stop going up. Speaking for myself, I can no longer fill up my tank with one pump, as the pump automatically stops at $125, forcing me to pay again to fill up my entire tank. How many other Californians are having the same problem? 

The common theme on X, formerly Twitter, is a resounding majority of people calling out Governor Gavin Newsom and his fellow Democrats in the Assembly and Senate.

Do you know who you can thank for this? @GavinNewsom @RobBonta @CA_Dem https://t.co/n2mdSIxZQv pic.twitter.com/zrMFk4Pyyn

— Cartel California (@Cartel_Cal) September 18, 2023

And anyone with common sense has to agree that while the gas prices have been slightly higher than in the rest of the Country, it was a marginal difference. However, the only reason why that is the case is due to a California law passed in the early 90s that forced changes over the next several years that forced oil refineries in the state to produce different types of fuel and change the way they can refine said fuel blends to make less of an environmental impact. These changes forced two different blends of gasoline to be refined and sold for different seasons. The refining process became more expensive and that cost got carried over to the consumer.

In addition to these laws, over the same time frame and continuing to today, laws and regulations have been passed and put in place to further raise the cost of each gallon of gasoline. Fast forward to the current status of gas prices, California beats the national average cost of gas at $3.88; a difference of $1.88 per gallon. We have reported that Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has, not once but twice, suspended his State's gasoline tax citing poor economic conditions. 

 In his declaration, Kemp said he is temporarily suspending the state’s excise tax on motor and locomotive fuel. The suspension of the tax took effect at midnight this morning and will go through October 12th, 2023. This move will save everyone buying gas in Georgia approximately 29 cents per gallon. Kemp has suspended the state's gas tax before, and that suspension lasted for 10 months when it was in effect from March to December of 2022. 

It should be noted that the one thing Newsom did to address high gas prices, was a move last year to allow refineries to produce the winter blend during the spike in the State's gas prices in the summer of last year due to a shortage of supply caused by damaged refineries. 

Oil industry representatives said it is state regulations that cause higher prices in California than the rest of the country. The summer blend of gasoline that refineries are required by law to produce in the hotter months costs more money to make but is designed to limit pollutants like smog. Most refineries can’t switch to the winter blend until November.

Switching from the summer to winter blend would likely save consumers 15 to 20 cents per gallon, said Doug Shupe, a spokesman for the Southern California Automobile Club, an affiliate of AAA. Gas prices in Los Angeles are close to breaking a record of $6.46 set in June, he said.

“If these prices go up to $7 a gallon, a 15-cent drop is not really going to mean much to drivers,” Shupe said.

Newsom basically admitted that the state had a major role in gas prices due to its influence on refineries' methods of producing gasoline and diesel products. More to the point, state regulations also control the number of refineries in the state as well. this, along with taxing the product, penalizing the oil companies for their "record profits," and making it more difficult to produce and sell them in the state makes it that much more expensive. Should it surprise anyone that oil companies make a huge sum of money in profits? 

No, they are literally drilling, shipping, and refining a product that is literally used in almost everything we use. Anything made out of plastic? Made from oil. Synthetic fabric? Oil. Asphalt roadways? Yup, oil too. From your car dashboards, cell phones, computers, roofing shingles, vinyl fencing, clothing, contact lenses, shoes, and yes, the fuel that powers your cars, all petroleum-based products. The oil companies make billions upon billions of dollars because we literally consume their products every single day. Am I defending the oil companies? Yeah, I guess I am a little bit. Why are they the bad guys for producing a product that is used in almost everything we have? 

Yet knowing all this, California democrats continue to gaslight the oil companies as the boogeyman so they can make more money off of them, and then who gets caught with the bill? The consumer of course. It is only natural for the taxes and fees charged against the companies to get passed onto the consumer, it is basic economics essentially. Every other industry is affected in the same way. 

Yet California democrats continue on this fool's errand of saving the world by changing just our own laws. Our law forcing different blends on consumers during different seasons never carried over to the rest of the Nation, so our refineries can only produce California-approved fuels, thus forbidding them from exporting or importing refined fuel from outside the state was just the start of this madness. Then passing more taxes on gas and diesel causes the prices to go further up. It's a circular firing squad, nobody wins. And until rational thought wins out, we are going to be forced to pay out the rear end for gas. Which further drives up credit card debt, reduces the amount of disposable income residents have, restricts their movements because they cannot afford gas, etc. It's up to the voter to change things and so far, the voter is just making it worse.