Oil Prices

I wrote the following post three years ago. It seems to me that nothing much has changed.

To wit:


Most of us are saying, “not again.” We've had rise, after rise, after rise in the cost of gasoline to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars in profit for the top five oil companies and they are arrogantly defiant before a congressional committee that the profits are in line with other industries.

Come on, we know, that they have to say what they have to say, because they are employees of their companies, but do they think we are that stupid? Apparently we are for we have yet to collectively stand up to giants of greed. Do they think that congress is that stupid, apparently they do or they know that some of our elected representatives are in the pocket of the big five oil companies via campaign contributions.

Oil industry explanations include the old law of supply and demand saying gasoline is in short supply and demand is high. Industry executives cite all sorts of reasons to justify the gouging of the American gas consumer.

Hogwash comes to mind. Nothing in the law of economics can justify four dollars or more a gallon of gas. The current gouging has nothing to do with the pristine science of economics or even the mundane yin yang of supply and demand. It has do to with a far older human condition: Greed!

Greed is an attack on the decency of common living. Until fairness is the rule, fairness in profit, fairness in value, the consumer both here and abroad will continue to be ripped off by the insensitivity and unadulterated greed of the oil companies.

The gas consumer sits back with a hose in the gas tank and says "woe is me".

Want to do something?

Boycott one company! Pick Exxon/Mobil for instance. They import Arab oil so that's a reasonable start. If all of us stopped going to Exxon/Mobil for one month and bought our gas elsewhere, what do you think Exxon/Mobile will do? LOWER their prices. When they do, the others will have to follow suit to compete. In a small, but exponential way, we the consumer have a way to fight back. Try it! I am!