Gas Prices/ Health Care?

I am skeptical to answer a question posed by someone using your pic, or that of the first response. It could be a trap, and most likely is, but I will voice my opinion.

The United States is a capitalist country, for the most part. The reason there are "few" oil companies is costs associated with starting/running these companies. Most have been in business for half a century or more. The same goes for healthcare. Insurance uses large amounts of invested capital to fund and offset the costs of paying claims. Therefore, it would take a huge sum of money to start an insurance company from scratch and be able to keep premiums affordable.

Neither of these industries are monopolies; far from it. There are numerous players in these fields. If any companies would be blamed for the so-called "high... prices", they would be Big Pharma and SWF's. If you are in the United States and have access to a television, I encourage you to watch daytime tv commercials. Most (around 75%) are for some form of life or health insurance, or products that exploit that insurance, specifically "home delivery" items, antidepressents, and other drugs which carry amazing side effects. The Sovereign Wealth Funds wreak havoc on oil prices in this way: These are essentially the family holdings of monarchs, etc, around the world (read Ibn Saud). This money was accumulated very rapidly (post WWII for the most part) and is involved in large transactions. When oil ppb drops significantly, these billion-dollar investments (think of them like wholly-owned mutual funds) retreat or stand still. When large amounts of cash are pulled out of the economy, the economy slows down, sending the price of oil back up. It is a cycle that is made worse by the BRIC countries' booming economies and the demand for oil worldwide spiking (especially in China).

Health care.

both very important, U.S. can't get it right