[PureEnjoyment]

Originally Posted by kevenj

Ok once again.... the freedoms that made this country great are not the cause of our current problems or high gas prices. How could they be, since very few of those freedoms still exist?

Oil is expensive because the value of the dollar has been destroyed. The dollar is a fiat currency (not backed by anything tangible such as silver or gold) and all fiat currencies eventually collapse. There is nothing to stop the federal reserve from printing unlimited dollars to fund our ridiculous foreign policy and social programs that we cannot afford. Since the dollar is not tied to silver or gold, the Fed doesn't have any constraint on how many dollars it can print. What happens to anything if you flood the market with it? it's value decreases. That's what is happening to the dollar, and the Federal Reserve (which is not Federal at all; it's a privately owned bank) is to blame, not private enterprise or what's left of our freedoms.

Obviously that is not the ONLY factor in higher oil prices (general turmoil in the middle east and increased demand from China factor in too) but it is intersting that since 2001 the price of a barrel of oil has risen 319% in dollars but only 92% in Euros.

Oh and ExxonMobil's record profits? Yes they made a lot of money; but that is because they sold a lot of gasoline. Their profit margin was only 9%, which means if they made no profit at all gas would only be about 9% cheaper; almost every other business I know of (certainly the company I work for) operates on a much higher profit margin than 9%.

Great point Kevin.....

-Joe