Oil Profiteering

The latest from David Sirota:

According to a new study today by the Consumer Federation of America, gas prices could be reduced by 8 cents a gallon if oil companies used lower-priced ethanol as a fuel additive rather than higher-priced petroleum ingredients. But as the Kansas City Star reports, the report notes that "oil companies are keeping gas supplies tight and prices high even though ethanol is plentiful and available at prices that have dropped 40 cents a gallon or more since the beginning of the year."

Why would the oil companies resist using ethanol? Because the Bush administration refuses to force them to use ethanol, and, in the absence of a serious government mandate, they can continue price gouging Americans and raking in record-breaking profits.

Related to this is the reluctance of either Democrats or Republicans -- beholden as they are to Big Oil and Big Auto -- to embrace higher auto fuel efficiency standards. But having the freedom to drive a Hummer2 is worth a few foreign wars and melting glaciers, no?