The short answer is a series of 'wind fall' taxes on the oil and gas companies and the associated businesses making a (completely unearned) killing gouging the customers.

Maybe some personal tax levy's on the bloated and utterly unearned bonuses some of the execs and various goons in the markets have been 'making' would 'encourage' some realism and a sense of the national interest too, hmmmm?

That would put a stop to this madness.

I'd also stop the market operating for as long as they intend to act like frightened school girls over every and any rumour.

The obvious thing would be to set prices on the basis of a formula according to actual supply and demand instead of the current damaging hysteria.

This cannot go on, the markets are clearly intent on pushing oil prices to $100/barrel despite there be no material justification for this whatsoever and they should be stopped and shut down.

We never tollerated this kind of supposedly 'free market at any cost' lunacy during WW2 and if there really is a 'war on' then I see no real reason why the national interest(s) should be ignored or jettisoned in the face of this current crazy situation.

Let's see the oil majors et al 'do their bit', hmmm?

(no doubt they'd try and tell us a reduction in their record profits to more 'normal levels' would be 'ruinous'; it's almost as convincing as that tosh anbout how their margins are so tiny........but they, somehow, just manage to keep on racking up the greatest levels of profit ever seen)

Yeah right.

[edit on 3-5-2006 by sminkeypinkey]

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I really don't know how this actually works...

i heard on the news today that Exxon is producing bbls of "domestic oil"
at $18.00 on the spot market...
i guess thats what the free market(whatever that means) is paying for the tax-advantaged and subsidized oil extracted from American soil reserves.

the OPEC cartel charges $72.00 plus for their same bbl of 'Arabian Sweet Crude'

which means that Exxon, & every other domestic producer is in effect,
buying their own product(oil) at $18.oo then selling the refined product to fellow Americans/Domestic Consumers, at the equivelent of the OPEC cartel price of $72.oo or whatever....

i think that's whats happening, & the resulting outrageous profits realised by the domestic oil producers!!!

i also think the path of oil related price, tax consessions, exemptions, exploratory deductions, depreciations, capital expenditures, venture intrests, holdings to offset retirements & pensions....
are so convoluted that the thought of re-vamping the present system is unthinkable!!