Define obscene profit! The return on investment for oil companies is well within the norm for American industries. Too many Americans are whiners. We want everything and we want it for little or nothing and we expect others to sacrifice so we don’t have to. Wa Wa, the oil companies are making money, wa wa the drug companies aren’t giving away drugs they spent billions developing, wa wa the government isn’t giving me everything I want, wa wa I may have to make choices and forego some of my wants so that I can meet my needs. I want everything, I want it now and I want it cheap!

My favorites are the politicians who have spent decades standing in the way of oil drilling and refining, coal mining and nuclear power, going on TV to blame everyone but themselves for the mess we’re in. “We need to sock it to the oil companies,” they scream, as if that will help. That’s it. Let’s increase their taxes, take away incentives to drill and explore, place more areas off limits and not allow new refineries. That will certainly lower the price of gas and fuel oil!

If we’re stupid enough to leave these idiots in charge we deserve $10 gas and they’ll make sure we get it.

We all like to think of ourselves as rugged individualists. But when push comes to shove most of us are sheep who do what we are told. Worst of all, a lot of us become unpaid agents of whoever is controlling the agenda by enforcing the current dogma on the few rugged individualists who actually exist.