Re: OT: Gas Prices
As mentioned earlier the previous gas shortage caused by OPEC in the 70's caused a few key events to happen. Most other developed nations implemented measures to reduce their dependance on foreign oil by making more efficient vehicles, improving their mass transportation and other measures along that lines.
The US decided it was going to be the "best" and provide everything for itself and starting looking into providing oil for itself. Thus Europe and the like have had "high" gas prices for sometime, but the price has remained relativly consistent. Presently the bottom is falling out of the US's ability to supply it's own oil and thus we're starting to see the shift in prices towards what Europe has seen for awhile.
So what's my problem with American Oil companies you might ask? Well they're the ones that helped push the move for self-dependance so much that NO alternatives were really ever considered. Now we're reaching the point were the end of the world's oil reserves are within a generation and America isn't even close to making a transition off of oil.
Yes there is supply and demand. My problem comes from the fact that most of the demand is artificially generated by the oil companies. There is some influence by world events and natural disasters to be sure, but these are overhyped and over-publicized to help justify the increased prices. If the oil companies actually cared about the general economy of the nation as opposed to their investors it would be a much different story. It's fine if you want to argue for profit margins in a corporation, my problem comes from corporate utilities that literally hold the nation's status in the palm of their hands and choose to still operate with the shareholders in mind rather than the general public.
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