Who's got Gas?

So, if you missed it, like I did, last nights 60 Minutes went over the fuel crisis we all felt over the last couple of years with an expert, and the Consumerist expounded upon it. Now its MY TURN!

I live outside of the contiguous United States. Most people you talk to don't know that Alaska is actually a state. Or, at least that used to be true. When Governor Palin was selected by Senator McCain as the Republican Vice Presidential nominee people started the Google-monster and discovered Alaska. Well, after two tours I've discovered enough, thank you very much!

On to the subject at hand. Don't worry, I mentioned Alaska for a reason. People complained quite a bit about the price of fuel when the national average was over $4/gal. Those people make me sick, but mostly because people where I live were paying $5 and more! I know I didn't post about it (mostly because of my being on patrol when most of the news was raging about the cost of fuel), but I was telling people about the reasons behind their thinner pocketbooks. The people who have access to or the control of STUPID amounts of money (see the link, the difference between $13B and $300B) and greed enough to make King Midas turn green with envy artificially manipulated unregulated market variables that allowed them to change the way the actual customers of the fuel commodities market actually consume the commodity.

Well, now it seems a news magazine with an invested viewership has actually seen the light of the matter. We'll see if anything is done about this, and about the problems with our lending industry. I think its about time we stop people who can't afford to buy things they can't afford from buying them. I also think its about time we stop the richest of us from manipulating markets that affect the poorest of us in the worst way.