Originally Posted by SCUDSBROTHER

If I tell ya some other commodity is too high,then the answer is gunna be either,don't buy it,or sell it yourself(if you think it's such a good business to get into.)In this case,the fact is you can't do the latter in this country.That's why there are so few companies involved here.When they say oil company profits are up,it ain't like when they say hi-tech company profits are up.Hi-Tech companies would mean that a lot of companies are doing well.In this case,what? 4 ,or maybe 5 (at the most) are involved.So,you have a lack of competition involved in the problem right there,and then you have the countries that actually have the oil to pump (out of their ground) openly getting together to control supply(OPEC.)THIS IS NOT A FREE MARKET SYTEM.IT IS NOT CAPITALISM.It's more like when the mob gets together and pays off politicians.As long as countries (getting oil out of the ground) continue to get together and talk about the amount of oil they put up for sale,then it's not a free market.Same with having limited number of oil companies in this country.They don't have to compete.There is no competition involved in any of this.I have no problem with people who want supply and demand to rule.Of course,we should use less,but you're not noticing that it's the supply that is contantly being kept low by those involved (you will never get the supply high if you allow these people to contantly talk, and agree to keep supplies low.)Obviously there is a lot of profit being made in this industry.So there should be a lot of companies competing for that profit(and giving you a fair price.)That would be a free market.What we have now is not a free market system.