Published: May 15, 2008 05:09 pm            

Runaway oil ‘stallion’ needs to be broken

Just how high will gas prices skyrocket before someone in Washington takes enough notice to suggest something be done? I believe we are well past “ridiculous.”

Granted the campaign to ready the nation for the 2008 presidential race takes center stage, but it’s become a kind of political distraction to focus our attention away from the highway robbery that is occurring at the gas pumps. When will someone in power stand up for the American people and unequivocally state we have had it up to the proverbial “here” with under-handed gasoline price-gouging?

Who is behind this conspiracy to force Americans to choose between filling up their automobile tanks or feeding their families? If the OPEC nations are responsible, they need to realize it is not in their best interest to try to cripple America with ever-increasing gasoline costs. If the blame rests on the oil companies like Exxon, for example, they need to rethink their inflated bottom line and resign themselves to accepting less massive profits than they have been earning so far. If the fault lies with this administration because it authorized an invasion of Iraq, claiming that such a “quick” conflict could be paid for with Iraqi oil, it needs to explain to us why this war is bleeding us dry of human life and of megabucks that could be better put to use in our own country. And those politicos in command need to also enlighten us as to why we are allowing black-market sale of stolen oil resources in Iraq?

There is no logical reason for Americans to passively pay up or shut up at the pumps. We need to start tightening our belts as we seek our own solutions: carpooling to work, forgoing that once pleasurable vacation drive and staying home or taking a train instead, cutting down as much as possible so that we can hopefully force the Oil Bosses over a barrel. If we sit quietly watching the gas dollars register higher and higher at the pumps, we can add ourselves to the list of those who are to be blamed for this rising-barrel-price travesty.

Mr. President, U.S. Congress members, presidential candidates, step up to the plate and make some serious attempts to change the course of spiraling oil prices from up-up-up to a down-down-down, comfortably stable enough for us to afford. What we have here is a runaway stallion that needs to be broken. Who will jump on it and cool this oil bronco’s heels?

Salvatore Buttaci

Princeton, W.Va.

        

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