Supply and demand = unfettered profits for oil magnates
The free market principle of supply and demand allows sellers to set the price for their products based on the willingness of the consumer to pay. But what of the willingness principle? When the product sold is one necessary to the society's survival doesn't some greater responsiblity accrue to the seller? Doesn't a moral principle come into play? The principle of fairness, equal rising of all "boats" when the tide rises? Or is supply and demand the all and everything of this life and this world, giving free rein to sellers to impose any price on products they wish? Can it be moral to make 400 percent profit, 1,000 percent profit, 10,000 percent profit when the vast majority of consumers suffer under the burden of those profits? Can it be fair for oil companies to reap staggering profits in a time of war, inflation and a social fabric already torn by the international and national political climate? Is it right that those who've the money to invest in this enterprise – drilling the earth for oil and refining the natural product into fuel – to create for themselves enormous wealth at the expense of 95 percent of the population? Must all sink beneath the greed of a few? Is it, as a film about Wall Street once stated, that "greed is good." That greed will make this country prosper? If so, then our national motto should be F#(# You, I've Got Mine, and our Pledge of Allegiance should read, "I shall crush all competitors in the name of my name, and for my own gain I will strip all and any of their monies for my betterment, the rest be damned!"
Let's just call ourselves who we are and what we've become. Greedy, insatiable cretins. And may the wealthiest win and poor shall inherit the dust.