Price at the Pump

$135 a barrel for oil and $4 a gallon for gasoline. Is that high enough to make the public anger boil over? If it isn't it will be soon because things are only going to get worse.
There is lots of pressure on Congress to do something about high energy prices, even more so because it is an election year. Politician's proposals are sprouting up faster than weeds in a Congressional garden. Both John McCain and Hillary Clinton embrace suspending the 18.4 cent federal gas tax. The only thing that would do is prove that political pandering can be bipartisan. The suspension would at best give most drivers a free tank of gas for the summer and do nothing to address the supply and demand imbalance. It would also eliminate 10 billion dollars from the fund that pays for roads and highways. What good is a free tank of gas if there are no roads or highways to drive on?
So what can be done? Not very much in the short term and the short term is what most people think about. It's the old adage "I don't want the pain, only fast relief and pleasure" The reason for high gas prices are beyond our government's control. Everybody in China and India wants a car and who are we to denie them that pleasure! Hell, some of us own two or three cars!
Does $4 gas hurt me? No not really, I still drive when and where I want. Will $6 gas hurt me? I reserve the right to answer that question until I pull up to that pump. There is really only one defense against the high price of gasoline. I try to think of my tank as being half full instead of half empty and be grateful that I can still read the numbers on the gas pump without having put my reading glasses on.
So who is the blame for these record prices? The Public says Public Enemy #1 is the Oil companies. Everyone loves to point fingers but finger pointing is only a destructive distraction. If your home goes into foreclosure you don't blame the bankruptcy lawyers just as you should not blame the Oil companies for $4 gasoline!
As easy as it is to point fingers we only need to look in the mirror to see the real reason why oil is $135 a barrel. We should be looking into that mirror and demanding energy policies that discourage consumption through higher gas taxes and subsidized alternative energy sources. But that would require us all to accept short term pain for long term gain and that seems to be in shorter supply than the supply of oil.