Quote Originally Posted by The GECCO
Can anyone name an industry that got better after the government got involved AND explain how such involvement would produce similar benefits from the oil and gas industry?
Requiring seat belts in every vehicle has significantly reduced fatalities per mile drive
Requiring mandatory attendance in school up to 16 has all but banished illiteracy
Requiring infant vaccination has decreased infant and child mortality tremendously
The Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act have drastically reduced pollutants even with increased economic activity
...All productive results of increased regulation.

As I pointed out above the only step that can be taken now to have both a significant and immediate impact on energy prices is greater regulation on the trade of oil and who is licensed to buy/sell it.

"In 2001 the percentage of speculators (those that don't use the oil they buy) that had a license to bid on oil commodities was only 27%. After deregulation of the licensing procedures by Republicans in Congress in 2003 this percentage began to rise sharply, and speculators now make up 81% of the oil commodities market. The rise in the price of a barrel of oil has tracked the rise in speculators in the commodities market. Reimplementing tighter controls would significantly reduce the price of oil."

Recent heightened scrutiny of the trading of oil has already produced proof of manipulation: http://money.cnn.com/2008/07/24/mark...ex.htm?cnn=yes

Defending the profits of Big Oil in comparison to different industries is disingenuous. There are few industries that have such a significant impact on our economy and national security as the energy industry. Just as we regulate certain research companies and defense contractors in what they can disclose and the contracts they can make Big Oil should also be open to regulation becuase they too have a significant impact beyond their industry that the pharmaceutical or insurance industries don't have.