Gas Prices: Who's to Blame?

[Radar]

Oil companies have been purposely reducing the supply of gas in America by not running their refineries at full capacity. Speculators are jumping on this. The oil producing countries are not to blame. The price of a barrel of oil is the same number of drachmas it's ever been, but the dollar is weaker (thanks to George W. Bush's deficit spending to fund an illegal war), that people think the price per barrel is rising is going up. Increased demand from developing nations like China and India coupled with investors on wall street realizing they get a better return on oil than through stocks is making this price increase spiral out of control.

Every oil exec should be repeatedly kicked in the balls by each and every single person who has to fill up their tanks at these prices. This includes GWB.

I'm all for free markets, but not for market manipulation by artificially reducing the supply when demand is increasing merely to drive up profits. This is not capitalism. Nor are the plethora of government incentives and breaks given to oil companies.

On the news yesterday, they said if the government stopped allowing oil futures to be traded on Wall Street, the price of oil would drop down to $1.50/gallon within 1 month. This would be great, but I'd be against it anyway because I'm for free markets.

Personally, I see the high price of gas, the threat of global warming, and the fighting in the middle-east as the catalyst we need to finally get electric cars back in America and to stop oil companies and car companies from squashing this kind of technology. I see it as a time for us to finally stop using oil for fuel. The technology is already here. In fact if America legalized hemp, we'd have an unlimited, cheap, renewable source of energy that could replace 100% of our fossil fuel needs within 5 years and unlike corn, it doesn't require pesticides, doesn't erode the soil, and doesn't take food away from hungry people. We could save the corn to feed people and livestock.