The Balancing Act

There is a great discussion going on over at Jeff's blog about the recent profits posted by the large oil companies in America. It is clear that they are taking advantage of the situation in the Middle East and America's desperate thirst for gasoline by keeping prices high.

One poster over there works for Elizabeth Dole and presents the cool Capitalistic voice of reason. I tend to think that we got ourselves into this mess and now we want the government to bail us out of it. We decided that it was a good idea to drive these enormous vehicles that get terrible mileage. We decided that we need to have the air in our cars highly refrigerated. We drive everywhere because we live in the 'burbs and things are too far apart for walking or bicycling. Public transportation is tedious at best, even in cities like San Francisco.

So what to do? I really believe that we can stick it to the man if we all work on how much gas we use. Yes, there are some people who are forced to use it. But many of us can cut out trips if we really want. We can drive more efficient vehicles. We can not use the AC in our cars so much.

But it's sure a lot easier to shake our collective fists at the "fatcats in Washington" who let all this happen.