What’s behind that $3 A GALLON By Cynthia Dermody

Today’s gas price have a lot of us wondering what behind the cost and who’s making money off our woes.
Amount $1.65
Who get it?
People who drill, transport and sell crude oil (the raw ingredient of gas), including Middle Eastern companies, but also American firm like ExxonMobil and Chevron.
Why?
It cost these folks 12 to24 cents to produce a gallon of gas. So why do they get $1.65? It isn’t because they set the price. They don’t. Oil is traded like any commodity in the financial markets. So oil companies, investment fund managers, banks, airlines – anyone who has an interest in oil – are behind the pricing. “All commodities are up, particularly gold and silver, but we don’t get so fired up about them because they don’t really impact us”. There’s plenty of oil, but not enough refineries to turn it into gas (many were damaged by Hurricane Katrina). This year’s hurricane season and other world events will determine whether prices rise even more.
$0.60
Refineries
It’s what they charge to thermally heat and molecularly crack the oil, turning it into gas.
$0.45
Governments, which tax 30-70 cents a gallon, based on where you live.
The feds get 18.4 cents for every gallon; your state and local government get rest to pay for roads, bridges and clean air initiatives. For instance, California state laws demand only the cleanest gas, so those residents pay more.
$0.14
Gas station owners
Most stations with big names like Mobil are actually owned and run by individual owners, not the companies whose names they bear.
From Reader’s Digest
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Uncertainty on Bernanke vote raises economic fear. By Jeannine Aversa/AP – Washington

A defeat of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s quest for another four-year term could raise the risk of a “double dip” recession if political jousting over a successor were to drag on for months, economists warn. But Bernanke’s prospects appeared to brighten Sunday, with three more senators, including Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, predicting he’ll be confirmed. A vote is expected later this week. Still, the change of Bernanke’s defeat has unsettled Wall Street, contributing to last week’s 4 percent loss by the Dow Jones industrial average, its worst performance in 10 months. If Bernanke ware rejected, uncertainty over a successor would further roil global markets, at least in short run.
Anxiety, along with sagging investments, could cause consumers and businesses to cut spending. Joblessness, already at 10 percent, could worsen. And the recovery might fail. Economists who fear a double-dip recession – regard it as a worst-case scenario. But they don’t rule it out, either. Lynn Reaser, chief economist for the National Association for Business Economics, is among them. She sees the likelihood of double-dip as less than 50 percent. “It will become more acute if there are delays in confirming a successor,” she says, nothing that the economic recovery remains fragile, with spending still weak, credit tight and job creation scarce.
“All the political angst over the confirmation couldn’t have come at a worse time for the economy,” Reaser says. A Bernanke loss would heighten uncertainty about Fed policies on interest rates and stimulus measures. In part, that’s because Bernanke devised the unconventional support for the economy and likely knows how best to safely wind them down, notes Edward Yardeni, chief investment strategist at Yardeni Research. But even more worrisome for the markets and economy would be if Bernanke’s Senate foes are seen as having meddled with the Fed’s independence political reasons. The dollar would likely fall. Higher interest rates and inflation fears would follow, stoked by uncertainty and shaken confidence. And all that would probably unsettle consumers and business, making them less likely to spend, hire or invest. Bernanke’s confirmation, which had seemed assured, was suddenly thrown into doubt last week as resistance grew among some Senate Democrats. And some senators who had supported Bernanke said they were now undecided.
The Fed chief’s term expires Jan.31. If Bernanke isn’t confirmed by then, vice chairman Donald Kohn is expected to step in as chairman and run the central bank temporarily. Bernanke is widely credited with helping to prevent the Great Recession form turning into a second Great Depression. But his support of Wall Street bailouts during the height of the financial crisis has angered Americans struggling with 10 percent unemployment and soaring home foreclosures. Backlash from Democrats over Bernanke’s role in the bailouts intensified after Democrats suffered stunning upset in the Massachusetts senate race. Democrats are eager to appear allied with ordinary American disgusted with Wall Street’s excesses. Higher interest rates that could follow a Bernanke defeat would make it costlier for the government to pay down its record-high debt. Right now, low rates are allowing the Treasury Department to manage its debts. If investors think the White House and congress will choose a successor who would keep the Fed pumping money into the economy and hold interest rates record lows for too long, it would erode trust in the Fed’s overight of the economy.
Continued low rates would please many ordinary Americans. But it would risk creating new speculative bubbles and stoking inflation. Some economists says that long run, they most fear that global investor would see a rejection of Bernanke as setting a precedent for Congress to inrude on “monetary policy.” That refers to the Fed’s decisions on whether and when to adjust rates to influence economic activity, inflation and employment. The Fed’s independence in monetary policy is vital to public confidence in the central bank. If it’s undermined, the Fed could lose its credibility on Wall Street, which would fan inflation pressures and send up interest rates, choking the economic rebound. Speaking on Sunday talk shows, Senate Republican leader McConnell and sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No.2 senate Democrat, predicated the senate would approve Bernanke’s confirmation.
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How to Get Your House in a Movie

Homes like the Los Angeles Victorian used in the TV show Charmed are natural target for location scouts, but producers often need to rent averages homes for film and TV shoot too. “You never know what scripts will want,” says Bill Lindstrom of the Association of Film Commissioners International. Historic homes and those with futuristic architecture have better shot, he says. But New York location scout Mitchell Brozin-sky, who has done work for Law and Order and NYPD Blue, recently found and outdated basement with shag carpet, bar and wood paneling for Xbox commercial.
Homeowners could make up to $8,000 a day. The first step to marketing your property for films is to contact your local film commission (afci.org). Then ask:
• If you can send exterior and interior photograph of your home for their files.
• For the names and addresses of your scout in your area, send photos directly to them
• For the names of licensed location agencies, who will actively market your home to production companies for commission or fee.
Cynthia Dermody, RD
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PLANNING YOUR RETIREMENT CAREER By Marc Myers

Switching from full-time employment to part-time work when you retire requires a year or more of planning. Here’s hot experts suggest folks in their 50s get started: Make sure you’re sure. Many people don’t factor in their dream job’s hardships, says Sandra Kopit Cohen, a New York psychiatrist specializing in career and retirement issues. “Use your hobby time during the week and weekends to sample career choices,” she says. “The experience will provide valuable reality checks.
Start “warm-calling.” The company where you work full-time may be a hidden source of post retirement opportunities. Develop social contacts with people in departments such as marketing and accounting, who outsource tasks, says Anita Lind, a corporate consultant specializing in nonfinancial retirement planning. “I call this “warm-calling,” she says. “Instead of cold-calling, you spend time cultivating people who may be able to send work your way after you leave.
Contact the consultants. Other valuable sources of post-retirement opportunities and guidance are individuals and companies that already do business with your company, says Lands. “They’re in a position to offer you work when you leave, especially if you can help them better serve your current employer,” she says. “They also tell you what it takes to win and hold on to them.”
Upgrade your skills. Once you know what you want to do, improve your skills and qualifications, says Lands. “If you can’t go back to school for degree, the next best thing is certification,” she says. “Organizations in nearly every field, from technical support to art appraisal, offer certificates for levels of training. Continuing education at community colleges can improve your abilities.

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