Entity Aaron Pearson spoke thus:

> of course profit drives the oil industry, it drives every industry in a
> capitalist economy.  there's no reason a company should charge any less
> for its product than the maximum consumers are willing to spend.

But what we are seeing now is the result of unrestrained consolidation,
which at one time would have been prohibited under the Sherman Antitrust
Act.

Add this monopoly to the intentional sabotage of alternative fuel programs
and it looks like we didn't learn the lesson of 1973. Those who are too
young to remember can read or listen to Jimmy Carter's speech:
http://americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jimmycartercrisisofconfidence.htm

Of course, Ronald Reagan's (elected on Big Oil cash I might add) first
official act as President was to remove the solar panels Jimmy Carter had
put on top of the White House.

I have heard those Libertarian (AKA Corporatist) talk radio wingnuts blame
this on government overregulation, but it just ignores history. Their
statements simply underscore their ultimate agenda of eliminating Government
in all forms and handing our economy over to Corporations.

The bottom line IMHO? It's virtually impossible to pricefix when the raw
material is coming from corn and soybean farmers, windmill and solar farms
and cottage industry refiners.

-- Gnarlie