With the way the price of gas is going and the way the American people are viewing the gas crisis, the lack of action from Washington on a long lasting remedy cannot go on. The Presidential candidates have their plans for short term help, but they are just not enough.

Take a look at the situation the way it is right now. The price of oil right now is about $124 a barrel and by the time you read this it will probably be higher. Why? Because the market does not believe that the US will be able to produce enough gasoline to meet the summer demand. As a matter of fact, the Department of Energy released figures showing that US production was only at 85% of capacity last week when the week before it was at 89%. The only thing that stopped it from going higher was the fact that the Energy Department also said that we actually increased out supplies of crude oil a bit last week. That statement actually made the price go down, before it went up again. However, the crude that we are importing is not being turned into gasoline because the profit margin is less than it was last year.

It is a long and complicated process that has gotten to this point and it shows just how important it is for us to break our dependence on oil and the oil by products, that is unless we want to start using horse and buggies again. Don’t forget, there are many things that are made from oil besides gasoline. The plastic that is in so many of our everyday products and the rubber for the tires our cars run on just to mention two of them.

First of all, China, India and the Middle East all have had an increased demand for oil and nations that are not in OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, are actually putting out less oil than they have been, Second, there was a strike in Nigeria at plants affiliated with Exxon Mobile which is reported to be settled now . It will take time to get them back to full operation, but at least that part of the problem looks like it will be solved to the tune of about 800,000 barrels a day.

Now the oil companies are saying that there is not enough of a margin to convert the crude to gasoline, but the oil companies are experiencing unprecedented profits. Lets take a look at one company, Chevron. Now their profits for last year hit $40.6 billion, but most of that came in the first half of the year. There was plenty of gas to go around the last half of last year, which made it impossible for them to raise the prices, which should be a good thing. However, at the same time, the price of crude went up. So Chevron has forecast less production this year.

We have had gas crisis in the past. But we have not learned from them. As soon as things ease up and prices stop rising, we go back to our old ways. We need to stop being so dependent on one commodity for so many things in our life. This time we need to focus on alternative energy, recycle plastic products so we do not need to make so much new plastic. We have made attempts in the past, but they have all gone by the wayside. This time, we have to stick to our guns.