We must rein in big oil companies

On June 3, a column appeared by John Stossel in which he criticized Democrats for wanting to do something about the gouging American consumers are getting from the insatiably greedy oil companies. In his article, Stossel tries to sell the line of baloney that it's not the oil companies' fault that they charge too much for gasoline, and that if we hit them with a windfall profits tax, the only people who will get hurt are the people who work for and own stock in Big Oil.

Stossel, as usual, omits a number of facts. First, nowhere does he mention the fact that despite the obscene profits Big Oil is making, we, the taxpayers, are giving them billions of dollars in tax breaks, mostly to build more refineries, which Big Oil hasn't kept its end of the bargain on. Second, it only costs Big Oil around $5 dollars a barrel to pump it out of the ground, a barrel being about 55 gallons, while they charge almost that for a gallon of gas. Third, the price of gasoline is based in large part upon mere speculation, which is to say it is based on thin air and the greed of the futures holders with no real reason it should be priced that high.

Stossel has written many columns trying to sell us on the idea of deregulation and the government "getting out of the way." I guess Stossel thinks government interference in the free market is OK as long as it benefits corporate America and not those of us getting gouged.

Eliminating Big Oil's tax breaks and imposing taxes on their excess profits are only part of the solution. We need to place just as much priority on building either a practical electric car or one that gets 200 miles to the gallon as we did in creating the atomic bomb or putting a man on the moon. We also need to get as much of our energy as we possibly can from the wind and the sun. However it's done, Big Oil must never be allowed to own these new energy resources, or we're just going to get gouged again.

Charles E. Crouse

Elgin