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Oil company margins are far from the biggest: why should they be expected to exercise social responsibility that - for example - drug companies are not? Come to that, what right do we have to complain about the cost of gas, so long as many of us are driving around with inefficiently designed engines, twice the size they need to be?
Rising gas prices are simply chickens coming home to roost and were it not for our support of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, they would already be much higher. As our influence in the Middle East wanes and assuming the demand from countries like China (in particular) continues to increase, gas prices aren't going anywhere except up.
More refining capacity and even government intervention are possible, although unlikely. In any case we are at the stage now such that any drop in price will be temporary. Like it or not, we are finally going to have to decide our priorities and if handing a major part of our incomes to gas stations isn't up there, we shall either have to reduce our mileage and/or switch to more economical vehicles.
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