The Matthias Chronicles

Thursday, May 29, 2008, 2:22 PM

The price of oil, revisited

by Mar Matthias Darin

In my first posting on this topic, I blasted gas chuggers. I have since realized that, although the gas chuggers do have an impact, they are not responsible for the oil crisis. By the way, today's market puts oil at approximately $126 a barrel.

Well, who is responsible for the obscene prices we are paying at the pump? Congress has spent the better part of the week questioning the oil company executives making them justify their $10 billion in record profits.

Congressional finger wagging at the oil companies this last week is nothing more than a cheap Dog and Pony show. All their ridiculous tongue lapping and finger wagging can not change the simple and concrete fact that they are responsible for this crisis.

Thats right, you just read that Congress is responsible for the obscene prices we pay at the pumps. Congress is responsible for the price of food sky rocketing. I will even go so far as so say Congress is responsible for the price per barrel of oil and outlandishly obscene profits the oil companies are making.

How, you ask? How many people remember 1975 and all those boring speeches on the "we need a change" soapbox? Sounds just like Obama's political platform, doesn't it? Need a little proof, here's some information on Jimmy Carter.

I'll come back to this area shortly, for now back to slapping Congress for the irresponsible behavior and being responsible for our current economic dilemma. In 1975, when all those, now clearly worthless, speeches were being made on putting large amount of money into renewable energy research and "How America will never go through this again" were the pivoting points of the 1976 election, people thought we might actually see a real change.

Its thirty some odd years later and guess what, Congress is making the same noise it make in 1976. As soon as the oil prices dropped in the late 70s, Congress went back to sitting on their asses taking monolithic handouts from the oil companies to block federal funding for renewable energy research. Thirty some odd years later we have the same political backdrop of "Change". Thirty some odd years later, the oil companies are making profits at the expense of the hard working American. Thirty some odd years later, food prices, gas prices, truckers threatening to strike, and low and behold the candidate for "Change" has risen from the bowels of American Dream - Barack Obama. In 1975, it was Jimmy Carter.

We've been through the "Clinton Years", McCain is a third term Bush and we need a change. Wake up people, Obama is a repeat as well and worse the the first two combined. The only change is the Carter repeat has been renamed the "Obama Years" and new filters have been put over the lens of the American Camera. Some may say Comparing Obama to Carter is like comparing Black and White. Ironically, politically speaking, Carter and Obama are both the same color. The great classic "The Wizard of OZ" didn't change when it went from black and white to color did it? No it didn't and neither will the "Obama Years" remake be any different from the "Carter Years"

The "Carter Years" were a failure and the "Obama remake" is going to be just as bad, if not worse. I can't speak for anyone else, but for me, the late 70s were absolutely horrendous. This is one repeat I don't want to see replayed.