Boy, was I stupid...

Here's what I wrote in March 2005:

[link] ...Everyone is willing to accept the jacked up prices because they think it has something to do with the War in Iraq and that sooner or later it will get back to normal. Guess again. The prices have nothing to do with Iraq, and they are never coming down again. Once this country is conditioned to $2 gas, there is no reason the oil companies are going to bring it back down again. Maybe the $1.90s, just as a dupe, because it'll seem cheap compared to the $2.30 we'll be paying by May.

We're loonnng past that now. This country has now gotten conditioned to $3 a gallon. In fact in my trip back East last week, I twice payed over $3.25. (NY, CT, MA and my native MI being the worst, OH and PA were both still under $3)

When President Bush took office, I think gas was about a buck and a quarter. It has now more than doubled—in fact, I'd be happy to pay double—and in some places I am sure they've tripled that number.

Do you think a White house full of oil thugs and this (below) is mere coincidence?

Exxon Mobil earns $10.4 billion in 2Q
By STEVE QUINN, AP Business Writer 30 minutes ago
DALLAS - Exxon Mobil Corp. said Thursday it earned $10.36 billion in the April-June period, the second largest quarterly profit ever recorded by a publicly traded U.S. company.

The earnings figure was 36 percent above the profit it reported a year ago. High oil prices and the growing global appetite for fuel helped boost the company's revenue by 12 percent to a level just short of a quarterly record. Its shares briefly rose to a new high.

Oh, and what is the quarterly profit record? $10.7 billion. Held by Exxon Mobil from last year's 4th quarter.

While researching the price of gas from years past, I found this gem. Tom Delay moaning about gas prices going (gasp) over a dollar...

"REP. TOM DeLAY, Majority Whip: This administration has done nothing to eliminate the problem. In fact, the Clinton and Gore policies are hurling us all back to the Jimmy Carter days, when this great nation was at the mercy of OPEC and their extortion scheme. "

Those were the days, Tommy. Now we're at the mercy of somebody else's extortion scheme and it makes that look like a damn joke.