Good point, Rob.  The gasoline is expensive, but least we HAVE gasoline.  I'm old enough to remember President Nixon's wage and price control debacle which resulted in shortages, rationing and turned a three month interruption in supply (the Arab Oil Embargo) into an "oil crisis" that lasted almost ten years.

What people need to understand is that the oil companies don't set the price of oil or gasoline.  Oil and fuel are commodities, just like corn, wheat or porkbellies.  The prices are determined by Wall Street speculators trying to anticipate supply and demand on the world market.  The oil companies have to go out and find the oil, drill for it, pump it out of the ground, ship it to the refinery where it is separated into its various components and ultimately trucked to your friendly neighborhood "fillin' station", which nets the oil company a profit of roughly .03 cents per gallon.

By comparison, all the taxes imposed by the federal and state legislatures add about .46 to .50 cents to the price of a gallon of gasoline...and all they had to do was pass a law.  Think about that the next time a politician tries to convince you that it's "Big Oil" that's gouging the American consumer.

I'm Scott Perry and I approved this message.