The REAL cause for high gas prices

The WSJ has it right:

"In 1981, there were 325 refineries in the U.S. with a capacity of 18.6 million barrels per day. Today, there are 148, with a capacity of about 17 million barrels -- though U.S. demand for gasoline has increased more than 20%. From 1993 to 2002, the average return on investment in the refining industry was 5.5%, or less than half the S&P industrials average of 12.7%."

But we're not listening.

As a colleague of mine reminds us: "We didn't move out of the Stone Age, because we ran out of stones. We developed something better to replace them!"

This, too, will happen with fossil fuels. We have plenty of fossil fuels - oil, natural gas, coal, etc - and they will still be around (like stones) when we move on to "something better". Scaring people with unfounded science (global warming) and predictions of gloom (running out of oil in 30 years) benefits the few, more than the masses.

In the meantime, let the market work and we'll all be fine.