By Felicia Steik, Reporter
Gas prices are predicted to skyrocket to over $5 a gallon this summer due to instability in the Middle East and growing demand from other countries—and it’s hitting Kaneland students hard.
“It’s almost $80 to fill my car,” junior Austin Hukle said.
Prices are rising because sanctions against Iran prevent the United States from importing oil from that country due to concerns over their nuclear weapons program, and because demand from China and India is increasing.
Despite Gallup polls showing that 65 percent of Americans think the president and Congress can control rising gas prices, experts say that the prices are largely out of the government’s control and driven by international and economic factors.
“I feel like there is little the government can do to get gas prices down significantly at this point,” senior Nick McCarney said.
Business teacher Andrew Igras also agrees that gas prices are out of citizens’ hands, but he doesn’t think that the prices will go over $5.
According to a press release from the International Energy Agency, rising prices could plunge the economy back into a recession. A rise in oil prices has preceded every recession since the 1970s.
“When gas prices go up, it hurts everybody—everybody who owns a car, everybody who owns a business, it means you’ve got to stretch a paycheck even further. It means you’ve got find even more room in a budget that was already really tight. And some folks have no choice but to drive a long way to work, and high gas prices are like a tax straight out of your paycheck,” President Barack Obama said.