Gas always goes up fast and down slow, no matter what's happening the market. They're always in a big hurry to raise the price to decrease losses, but they're never in a big hurry to lower the price to decrease profits.

Why are so many people so poorly informed about how these things work?

The crude oil that people are paying less than $69 today will not be delivered to refineries until December and will not start being sold as gasoline until January; which is the (primary) reason why gas prices seem to take so long to drop. The reason why it seems like gas prices rise so quickly is people (rarely) pay attention to rising oil prices until they have been rising for some time.

There are a couple of reasons oil prices have been falling so quickly lately, there has been a drop off in demad due to higher gas prices and a slowing ecconomy, and speculators have been pushed out of the market because of low availability of credit and the increased risk of lower priced oil.

It's not that simple... Demand is lower than expected, due to the economic crisis. That doesn't mean there was necessarily a bubble.

If OPEC cuts production on Friday, the price will probably rise a bit.

This is actually true. A friend of mine, a veteran economist in NYC explained just this to me. The oil purchased at a set cost many months ago is just being delivered now. So the curent PPB won't likely reflect until the winter.

Same reason as we are still paying £4.67 / $7.50 a gallon in UK!!!

GREED!!

although they have lowered it by about 30p / 50C a gallon recently...whoopy shit!!

Actually the main reason for higher fuel costs in Europe is fuel taxes (used by many countries to develop public transportation and/or maintain the roads usable).

Contrast this with the US where public transportation almost doesn't exist and the highway fund ran out of money, having to resort to taxpayer money anyway:

http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080912/NEWS01/809120355/1007/NEWS01

Hehe, it never reached $4 a gallon here. It got close; to $3.93, but we've always had lower gas prices. Right now it's at $2.73 a gallon.

I agee and no one is really arguing against this.

However, when the oil prices go up, it is reflected at the pumps right away.  That's the problem. 

they should lower it fast as well.

$2.40 now in Houston.
And we just had a hurricane. I'm hoping it gets close to 2.00.

that's a whole $1 a gallon cheaper than so. cal.