You are confusing Oil companies with gas stations owners.

That is a big difference there my friend, Oil companies with all the record profits they make they can afford to give incentives to gas stations to be able to have gas prices lower.

Oil companies are greedy and they do not required to give away any of their profits for incentives so they keep it all in their CEOs pockets.

The gas station owner are just the littler guys.

Okay but oil companies are reporting record profits in what is already a highly profitable industry around the globe.

As for station owners I have no idea if they are doing better or worse but there never seems to be many gas stations going out of business either. Compare them to your average retailed or restauranteur for example.

But I do agree that governments are doing the best in this deal since it is a windfall which costs them nothing except for votes if even that. WE all know that government will find a way to spend the extra money anyways.

What I fear most in this orgy of profiteering (and I didn't even mention the stock markets and banks and financials houses either making reams of cash off the price of oil and related stocks...), is that no money will be set aside to find a solution to the inevitable problem of us running out of reasonably priced oil. The hey days of cheap energy are likely behind us forever in the americas and other parts of the world.

It confuses me that gasoline is still so cheap in third world producing countries though.

Thats because those third world countries don't have that many social programs which require taxes to fund. That's one reason why 3rd world countries are 3rd world countries

Isn't it obvious that the Oil Companies are making a heck of a lot of money with the prices? I mean come on it was a major topic of Congressional debate not long ago.

Heck even Bill O'Reilly recently came out on his show and said that the Oil companies were goughing the populus. I couldn't believe he said something like that. I would have figured him to be in bed with the oil corps.

Lets not forget to mention the retirement package a CEO recieved recently. Ridiculously large.

Here's the thing. With all the oil that has been taken from Iraq gas prices should be cheaper in the US but they aren't.

Anyone who thinks the oil companies aren't taking us for a ride is an idiot. It's greed plain and simple.

The current situation with oil was planned this way. They allowed things to come this way because thats what they want. The rising price of gas is now a control factor against the people.

Don't blame the environmentalists either. They are trying to push for more earth friendly fuel sources which under normal circumstances would be easy to do.THe oil corps have a bad habbit of suppressing technology that can give you 150 MPG.

The oil corps haven't built refineries for about 30 years and that should come as no big surprise.