WHY do Americans continue to allow oil companies to rape them of every dollar they have?

Well if this is rape by oil then I don' like it.

All I know to do is keep on cutting down my families supply of food and other necessities.

They sure won't find me out their buying any new electronics so I guess that slowdown on consumer spending where electronics is involved is true.

The price of oil is set by the futures market, and right now, it's being driven by investors.

There's nothing to be done about it. There's nothing that can be done about it. There's nothing the Democrats can do about it.

The oil companies are not making that big of profits, for those economic illiterates out there. A 10% profit margin is NOT excessive by any account. Heck, that used to be the standard rate for profit in a government Cost Plus contract.

[add:] Some economic observers even think the price will come back down to under $50 / barrel in a few short years (see ref).

Last point - calling political opponents childish names like "repukes" is not indicative of a mature thought pattern.

You don't know of which you speak.

But let's for a moment assume that it is the oil companies that are controlling prices...what viable alternative do you propose that can come online within 1 year, 3 years, 10 years?

Let's hear it.

BTW: before you complain about oil company profits, try reading their annual reports....you will find that most, if not all, of their profits are put right back into r&d and exploration....in the case of Exxon-Mobil, everyone's favorite whipping boys, they have invested more in the last 15 years than they have earned...by several billion dollars. If these companies were actually paying out the earnings they report, the stock prices would be in the Google range. Instead, oil stocks have underperformed the market in the last few years, precisely because of the extensive reinvestment.

That said, I agree that getting off the oil habit is vital. but the best solution is one no politician is willing to seriously talk about. That is nuclear. It is safe, reliable, relatively cheap, and fuel is plentiful.....but it's a political nightmare. Besides, the only...I mean ONLY company that makes the containment vessels for commercial nuclear reactors is a Japanese company and they have a 4-year backlog on orders. It's time that US Steel fabricators, perhaps with government subsidies, began building these containment vessels so that the US Nuclear industry can get back on track. But even if the go ahead were given today, the first new power plant would take some 3-4 years to build and get online and it would take some 25 years before enough could be built to meet all the electricity needs of the country....and each day we wait is a day wasted. In the mean time, we should be drilling and pumping in Texas and ANWaR and offshore, the Canadian shale field should be developed to the maximum potential and, if necessary, rid the world of a$$wipes like Chavez in Venezuela who is trying to choke off the US economy.

If you don't like the cost of gasoline, then stop buying gasoline. Find some other way to get to school or work. Or drive a more cost efficient car. I use public transportation to get to work every day and I have a Hyundai Accent with excellent gas mileage for the weekends. I don't know why people don't apply the rules of economics to products and services that they think they need. If you can't afford an iPod, then you don't buy an iPod. If you can't afford a pair of shoes, you don't buy the shoes. If you can't afford gasoline, then you don't buy the gasoline!

P.S. Two major reasons why gas is so expensive are 1) government regulation and 2) the gasoline tax. Which party do you think supports those two policies? The Democrats. Also, the government in some cases forbids gas station owners from selling gas under a certain price.

Until the environmentalists go away, then we can drill for oil in the U.S. We need oil and the Arabs have us by the b.............lls. But this could change. If people just conserve a little. Maybe walk to the store. Maybe boycotting traveling by car for the summer vacation; or call a one day strike for all consumers not to buy gas, you will see the price go down. Our only hope would be for us to bombard our Senators, Congressmen and the President with letters of protest on the price of gas and heating oil. Can you imagine you would ever see a $700 bill for filling up your heating oil tank to keep warm? I didn't. It is totally rediculous. The Oil companies are super rich and getting richer and laughing all the way to the bank. They do not care about the consumer, so we have to care about ourselves. It is very difficult because people have to get to work..but just a little conservation by each American will have an effect on the price of the oil.

Prices for gasoline are much higher in Europe but you don't hear them whining about it! Stop complaining and do something about it. Cut back on your own use of energy, especially oil, and then you can lecture people about not doing anything. The federal reserve's cutting of interest rates and printing more money has led to a decrease in the value of the dollar, which directly led to higher oil prices (since oil is valued in dollars).

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How will the Democrats put a stop to it?

Retask the military in Iraq to make the talking point "war for oil" a reality?

What in the hell can the average citizen possibly do about it, when you realize we have a president when asked about the price of gas gong to 4 dollars a gal.said he had no idea that was the case.

OPEC has more to do with the price of oil than the Govt. or the oil companies.

...another liberal misconception spurned from a lack of education.