San Jose, CA – The price of gasoline has risen 65% from only one year ago, topping $3 dollars a gallon in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. This has forced many working families to cut back on spending or go deeper in to debt. The big energy companies and the corporate media have been blaming this year’s spike in gasoline prices, and the spike in heating bills to come, on hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which have shut down much of the gasoline refining and natural gas infrastructure along the coasts of Texas and Louisiana. However, just as the disaster that took place in Louisiana and Mississippi was as much manmade as an act of nature, so too is the rise in energy prices.