By Sam Pridey

I was watching one of the afternoon reality filler shows, Springer I believe, and they had a question of the day that was a real thinker.

The question of the day was “Should the government regulate gas prices?”  My immediate thought was no, and I stand behind that. However, there is a group that should be regulated.

The oil speculators.

God forbid they let a world disruption go unprofited upon. For example, Egypt produces 3 percent of the worlds oil and Libya produces 2 percent, and you see where the price per barrel has gone and the screwing the american people are taking.

According to the current regime, the oil companies are bad, because of their hefty profits. All the while they cast a blind eye at the exact cause for the price per barrel, and the math involved in the oil companies expenses.  Lets look at the oil companies math quickly.

The oil companies make 6 to 8 cents profit per gallon.  After they pay very high taxes, research and development, oil field test drilling, processing and shipping of the final product, upkeep on pipelines, and all the personnel expenses, etc.  They have no choice but to pass the high prices onto the consuming public.

From what I understand, the oil field inspectors submit their reports on oil field quantity to both the speculators and the oil companies.

Instead of submitting their reports to the oil companies first, thereby allowing them to figure out the price per gallon needed to cover their expenses, the speculators take that report, the news from around the world and off to the races the speculators go.

The ones that need regulating are the oil speculators.  Like I said, I don’t believe in regulation. I believe what President Reagan believed; “Government isn’t the solution, Government is the problem.” But something needs to be done.