Americans Know Who To Blame For Gas Prices

If you drive very much these days then you know that the price of gasoline is getting pretty outrageous. The picture above is a joke, but sometimes it feels like it is true. The Republicans would like for the public to believe these abnormally high prices are because of President Obama and the Democrats. They say all our problems could be solved if we just allowed more drilling -- and lower tax on the poor corporations.

The problem with that argument is that there is currently more drilling going on now than in the Bush administration, but that drilling has not brought us cheaper prices. And it won't. The experts agree that even if drilling was substantially increased in the United States it wouldn't have much of an effect on gas prices -- that's because the U.S. just doesn't produce a truly significant amount of the total world production (and doesn't have the capacity to do so).

But while ordinary Americans are paying more at the pump, there are some entities doing very well off the price of oil and gas these days. They are the oil speculators and the big oil companies. These two groups are making record profits. For instance, Exxon made about $5 million an hour in profit for the first quarter of this year. And Goldman Sachs, a leading commodities speculator, topped all estimates for its profits in the first quarter of this year -- by a large margin.

This brings up the question of who do the ordinary people blame for these ridiculous gas prices? Are they swallowing the Republican lies about how we need to help out Big Oil and Wall Street? Or do they put the blame where it belongs -- on Wall Street and Big Oil?

CNN/Opinion Research conducted a survey of 1,034 adult Americans between April 29th and May 1st (with a 3 point margin of error). Here's who the people think had a "great deal" to do with the increase in gas prices:

Oil Companies...............61%
(some blame.....27%)

Wall Street Speculators...............59%
(some blame.....31%)

Foreign Oil Producers...............42%
(some blame.....39%)

Violence in the Middle East...............40%
(some blame.....40%)

President Obama's Policies...............25%
(some blame.....36%)

Republican Policies...............24%
(some blame.....42%)

Environmental Regulations...............24%
(some blame.....37%)

American Driving Habits...............21%
(some blame.....41%)

It looks like a clear majority of Americans know where the responsibility lies for the high gas prices. And this is brought home even more by the final question of the survey:

Are Oil Companies Making Too Much Profit, A Reasonable Profit, Or Not Enough Profit?
Too Much Profit...............77%
Reasonable Profit...............22%
Not Enough Profit...............1%

Obviously the American people don't think the oil companies need any more tax cuts (or subsidies) since they're already making too much profit. Maybe it's time to make the oil companies pay their fair share in taxes (and get rid of their subsidies). With this kind of numbers it would certainly be politically viable.