The crisis is down right greed,followed by manipulation.
The US and Brazil have more oil then the Saudis.
The crisis is fuel for profits.
Bush is in the oil business,do you think the Nation is going to leave that oil in the ground when the profit potential is in the billions.
So go ahead and keep crying crisis.
Lies and manipulation.

the fuel prices are the fault of nancy pelosi and the democrats in congress!!!!time to vote them out

There's no reason for government to change how fossil fuels are consumed....That's the whole purpose of a market price.

-Prices go up, you ration more and consume less.

-Prices drop, you consume more.

The market price is the perfect solution...Arbitrary government decisions can only make things worse by falsifying reality.

Over the years I have found products that reduce consumption of fuel, but engine manufacturers (car companies and truck companies)have always told their customers not to use such products even though I have sold some of these same companies these products. So we have a long history of making decisions to use more fuel. I have found that an energy saving idea gets very political because of envy. This one product saved a fleet of trucks in Ohio over 18 % in fuel and even though it was acknowledged, they did not persue it any further, another bad decision.

George Prescott Bush was the first american to drill for oil in Saudi Arabia. George Prescott Bush owned the largest produce distributorship on the planet in the 50's. American has a "hemp" phobia perpetrated by our government (oil and chemical companies). When oil rises in price, so do food prices. Consequently, we have fueled the Bush empire with oil and food prices, not to mention the war machine they've built since the 50's also. If hemp was legal, we wouldn't need oil. Anything made from oil can be made from hemp, except it is environmentally friendly, produces 4 times more ethanol than corn or soy bean, does not require extensive fertilizer or pesticides, and most important - would not cross pollinate with our food chain. Does everyone understand now that it was not demand in China and India that created our high oil prices, it was part of the plan. How come you bloggers believe the media "demand" crap that has been pushed down our throats by the Bush admin? Hemp also oxygenates more than any other plant on the planet, it has the best combination of omega 3,6 & 9 than any other oil on the planet, it is the second highest protien food on the planet, the U.S. government imported over 200,000 pounds of hemp seeds during world war II so they can feed and clothe the army. Our tents were made from hemp, all of the army's rope was made from hemp, we ran our airplanes on hemp seed ethanol and hemp seed oil, we fed the slaves gruel (crushed hemp seed and water), every piece of paper in the Vatican is made from hemp. Now - do you still believe that this has something to do with demand?!!!!! Currently they are genetically modifying our food to produce "ethanol" not nutritional value. Why? Why should our kids and grandchildren eat food that was grown to maximize fuel production and not nutritional value? Soon you will not be able to buy vine rip, hot house and heritage tomatoes. You'll be buying tomatoes by DuPont, Monsanto and Union Carbide - the people that control the gene. Let's start to think logically. Call your congressman and give him an earfull about hemp. That's if you can get past the money in his wallet from the oil industry that has destroyed our country with the Bush regime.

The real problem is oil is still cheap.
http://theinvestingspeculator.typepad.com/investing/2008/06/oil-is-cheap.html

Get a grip! Oil is at all time highs thanks to the US Federal Reserve, and it failed monetary policy. Consumer and lender greed is also to blame. You can't expect to buy a barrel of oil on the world market with todays devalued dollar for the same price as just a year or two ago when the dollar was worth twice as much. So don't blame the cartels, or anyone other than good old uncle Sam and the person you see in the mirror.

How about we put the blame in the right place. I don't believe for one minute that Bush has anything to do with the current situation. I think that 90% of this country will agree with "he is to dumb to create it". The 10% that don't are dumber than he is. The problem lies in very basic economics. If it were not for sub-prime and the resulting credit mess, oil would not be at 100.00 a barrel. Although it would be approaching that figure it would not be there yet and gas would be around 3.00 and diesel 3.25 a gal. This would be a pain in the ass, but would not be breaking the economic structure of the entire world. It's also about money. I read in today's paper about an executive mortgage broker from the now defunct pinnacle. He was proud that he obtained a 500,000 note for a man making 35,000 per year. He was proud that he obtained a 250,000 note for man and woman, not married, and the man was released from jail on the day of signing. In both cases there was no equity, no income check, no nothing, not even a down payment. Since oil is traded in dollars and the subsequent action of the Federal reserve was to bail out this type of financial activity there is little need to think about who is responsible. Now, all of this greed has moved into the commodity market and it is not just oil that is effected. In the very near future all in the U.S. can expect higher energy bills across the board right down to your water bill. You can also expect food products to continue upward. You can expect all imports to rise and even Wal-Mart will have to raise prices. If you really wish to pin point blame, please put the House Finance Committee at the top of the list. It's bi-partisan so you can get both the Dems and the Republicans. That was the only group that Could have put the brakes on the bankers.
Needless to say, they didn't.
If anyone remembers "what to do in case of atomic attack", the near future is going to be pretty close, at least on the economic front.

The article overlooks a few "inconvenient facts". Yes the US does cosume more oil per capita than other countries... it also produces a lot more per capita than other countries. Second, the laws of supply and demand do not apply to monopolies or near monoplies such as OPEC. Has world demand tripled in the last year? NO. So Supply/demand has nothing to do with the recent upswingin the price of oil.
Second, oil is consumed not just as energy, but as raw material in chemicals, paints, fertilizers, asphalt, drugs,tires, and much much more. So reducing demand is not feasible by legislation.
Third, oil speculation in the futures commodities markets is driving a very large portion of Oil prices. OPEC has not demanded more in payment, but they wont refuse to accept what is offered. Finally, those oppossed to domestic drilling are frauds. They do so on what they claim are ecological grounds. If that were true, they would have oppose drilling in every country to maintain any legitimacy. I guess its OK for Canada, Mexico, Russia, Chain, Kuwait, Iran, Venezuala to suffer the environmental consequences of oil driling.
And to those who say domestic drilling wont be effective for 10 years, consider this... within 2 years of Peral Harbor, our industry was turning out tanks and planse by the tens of thousands. With sufficient effort, domestic oil and gas could get the US independent of foreign sources in 3 years.
Wind, Solar, etc? Well, look to the so-called enviromentalists who say NIMBY when it comes times to actually build a wind farm, or layout a field of solar panels