Daniel J. Weiss, Jackie Weidman: Is Big Oil rigging gasoline prices?

  Cable news may be distracted by the latest presidential candidate gaffe or celebrity gossip, but gasoline prices are at the top of many Americans’ minds. To better understand their concerns, the Center for American Progress Action Fund commissioned a poll by Hart Research Associates in March 2012. It found that 59 percent of Americans experience financial hardship because of high gas prices, with large majorities of the public assigning a significant share of the blame to the major oil companies and Wall Street speculators.

  Gasoline prices have increased by 63 cents per gallon—or 19 percent—since the beginning of the year, hitting the highest price ever recorded in any March. The factors driving prices, however, are much less clear. The fact is that domestic production is at an eight-year high, domestic demand for oil and oil products is down, and yet gas prices continue to rise.