Why it's probably good

that I am not an oil company CEO:

Given:

1.) The cynical and hypocritical probings of professional politicians on both sides of the aisle purely for populist election-year soundbites and short-term political advantage,
2.) A profound ignorance of basic economics on the part of the American public and their leaders,
3.) A profound ignorance of basic constitutional concepts on the part of the same public and leaders,
4.) Successful implementation of class warfare on the part of the mass media,
5.) The free-market system will still be around for a short period of time, and
6.) An oil company CEO most likely has a comfortable cushion to weather a short-term lapse in employment.....

As an oil company CEO I would begin laying off workers, selling off equipment and assets (as scrap if necessary), and demonstrate to the world and Americans in particular what happens when Atlas Shrugs.

You think gas prices are high now? You think the occasional beginning-of-summer supply problems are bad now?

Just imagine what happens if a major oil company simply refuses to play anymore. What would they care? They already have more money than they can ever spend, and by simply getting out of the business of apparently unfairly gouging their customers and artificially inflating prices for their own devious ends, the consumer would in very short order be greeted with shortages, lines, higher-than-ever prices, and absolutely no relief. The remaining companies would profit even more, Congress would bloviate even more, and more regulations would ensue.

This would, no doubt, inspire other free-market-minded gentlemen to follow my lead. The cycle would become ever more vicious, and the system would collapse in on itself.

I'm not necessarily in favor of chaos, but my inner schadenfraude would be cackling with glee as I sip Mai Tais on a beach somewhere and check out the US news blogs on a laptop.

Gas prices are NOT terribly high, and they are entirely the result of over-environmentalizing, over-regulation, over-taxation, under-production domestically, under-refining domestically, short-term gaps due to hurricanes and old refineries not meeting new demand, and the entrance of China into the modern oil-using world.

If the people of this nation don't get a grip on this, we are going to see some very dark times indeed.

In 1990 I did not have email. I didn't miss it. But let my internet connection be down for a day, and I'm a raging fool. So too you, admit it.

It will be worse with oil -- not even about driving our cars; petroleum is in every aspect of our lives, and until this nation gets serious about increasing domestic production from our own sources and refineries (including building/upgrading), we are going to continue on the roller coaster, controlled by those who wish us dead and sold to us by those who want only what we want - to make a buck.