Get it Straight - It Is NOT ABOUT SUPPLY

High gas and oil prices are not a problem of supply and demand. I get a bit riled when I see Democrats try to explain this problem as if it were all about supply. Supply is certainly a component, since demand has increased dramatically in the last ten years. But the high prices we have been experiencing for the last four years - are not about supply.

If it is a supply problem, then explain how it is that in 2000, Exxon profited around $5 billion for the year, while the last four years or so, they've profited $35 - $40 billion a year. They made an extra $100 billion over the last four years - and there is a supply problem?

If it were a supply problem, then Exxon's profits would not have gone up 800%.

If it were a supply problem, then Exxon's profits would have stayed at or close to their 2000 level profits, for THEY would be paying out the same amount more that we consumers are paying out.

If it were a supply problem, then there would be lines at the gas station like there were in the 70's, when war caused an ACTUAL supply problem.

If it were a supply problem, then why is natural gas, of which the US has supplies in excess of 11 trillion cubic feet, gone up in price right alongside oil?

If it were a supply problem, then why does the price of oil rise $5, $10, even $15 dollars in a single day - with absolutely no interruption or limiting of gas at the pump at the same time?

The fact that ALL of the oil companies have seen outrageously huge profits adding up to HUNDRED OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS should tell you it is NOT a supply problem - just extraordinary greed in action.

In fact, weren't they telling us that refinery capacity was the problem over the last few years? So if we don't seem to have enough refineries at present, then how can, for instance, off-shore drilling possibly help? It seems the reasons for why we are suffering high prices change as rapidly as Bush's justifications for the Iraq war. So wherein lies the truth, if justifications keep mutating to meet the moment?

Stop believing the oil company, Republican, and White House propaganda about high gas prices, and start looking at the FACTS before you agree with THEM. For when you agree with them, you justify and legitimize their greed.

UPDATE: Exxon just posted their quarterly profits - they earned $1,485.55 - every second - or $11.68 billion dollars profit - in just three months.