Hidden costs of gasoline

For some reason, the press seems to be failing to analyze gasoline prices properly. The data is available on the web for anyone to analyze.

The DOE Gasoline Prices Primer [1] lists some of the percentages of gasoline costs going to each bucket. For clarity I'm going to rename the buckets as follows:

Distribution/Marketing Costs & Profits -- The Little Guys
Refining Costs & Profits -- Big Oil Companies
State & Federal Taxes -- The Government
Crude Oil -- The Middle East


According to this site [1], in 2004 the percentage break-down was as follows:

12% to The Little Guys
18% to Big Oil Companies
23% to The Government
47% to The Middle East

Analyzing 2008 data published by California [2], the breakdown is now:

3% to The Little Guys
12% to Big Oil Companies
18% to The Government
67% to The Middle East

The average cost of gasoline was roughly $2 in 2004 and is $3.60 [2] in 2008. In 2005 the average household consumed 1143 gallons [3].

In real dollars, this means you each household in America is paying this much *ADDITIONAL* per year to each of these groups in 2008 than you were in 2004:

$-121.73 to The Little Guys
$130.30 to Big Oil Companies
$277.75 to The Government
$1,828.23 to The Middle East

So much for the Bush tax break!

[1] http://www.eia.doe.gov/bookshelf/brochures/gasolinepricesprimer/eia1_2005primerM.html

[2] http://www.energy.ca.gov/gasoline/margins/index.html

[3] http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:JWTd6BrD4OMJ:www.consumerfed.org/pdfs/CFA_REPORT_The_Impact_of_Rising_Prices_on_Household%2520Gasoline_Expenditures.pdf+average+household+gasoline+consumption+per+year&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us