Big Oil's Recent Massive Profits

This just in... while you and I have been struggling to pay at the pump, the oil industry's profits are up 50%.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20051025-122641-3933r.htm

A month's supply of heating oil in my Boston-area home is going from slightly more than $300 to about $600 in the space of a year. Filling up my Honda Civic, which gets better than 40 gallons to the mile on the highway, is starting to eat up on my college budget. $10 used to fill half the tank, now less than 1/3rd.

Republicans want the oil industry to invest these profits into more refining. While that makes economic sense for America, it probably doesn't for the oil industry. Why spend money to devalue a product when people are willing to pay through the roof in order to buy it now?

Ideally, we'd have politicians stepping up and spending money for new sources of energy. Heck, Brazil doesn't even use oil to fuel their vehicles. If Brazil can do it, so can America. It would help thousands of working class farmers, such as the corn producers of this country. Alternatives exist now; it would be worth the effort and potential costs to switch from oil just to eliminate foreign influences over this country.