OIL AND THEORIES DON'T MIX

This past summer when oil hit $147.00 a barrel, and gas was over $4.50 a gallon, pundits on both the Left and Right pointed their fingers at the oil companies as the culprits. The theory was that the greedy oil barons controlled the market and manipulated the price so as to reap outrageous and obscene profits at the expense of us downtrodden car owners.

Well, the last time I looked, the price of oil was hovering close to $50.00 a barrel, and I recently filled up for $1.63 a gallon. Have those greedy and ruthless oil barons suddenly gone soft in the head? Someone please tell me how the price of oil can drop more than 60% within a few months if the oil companies control the market and manipulate prices. Did they all take a vow of altruism over the autumn months?

The plummeting prices should end the crackpot notion that the oil companies run the world. Price is determined by supply and demand. The problem is, there is always an ample supply of ridiculous theories demanded by people who have no conception of how the dynamic engine of free markets operates.

BARACKING MY BRAIN

The election of Barack Obama should lay to rest for all time the dated notion that the United States is a racist nation. Even though 95% of black voters cast their ballot for Obama, they are only 12% of the population, meaning that Obama could not have been elected without the support of white voters. And what racists are going to vote as their leader someone of a different color? Speaking of racism, anytime the issue has been raised, particularly by Black leaders, the assumption has always been that the only racism in this country is white racism. How many times have we heard or read about white racism, white supremists, white bigots, skinheads? You would have to be an utter fool to think there are no Black or Hispanic racists, no Black or Hispanic supremists, no Black or Hispanic bigots. The race industry led by its two primary CEO'S, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, is on its last legs, like analog television. This is one industry that does not deserve any bailout.