My favorite one is when the Chicago area runs into high gas prices once a year. Next thing you know the media is making out like we are making a fortune. The oil industry comes out a tells them same story. "There is not enough pipeline capacity to ship the oil from Texas to the Chicago area and what refineries are up there are old, and too few." If a large refinery breaks during peek demand periods, the prices go up until that broken refinery comes back on line. While it's broken, they are not making or selling product, so the broken refinery is not happy either. Chance are he has to go out and buy from another guy at a high price to cover his obligations. It's not a 'win-win.' The media says we are scum and screwing everone. Well, in reality that pipeline, called the Explorer Pipeline can only pump so much fluid give its diameter, its pumps and associated friction in moving product. In reality we would put the gas on our backs and walk it up there just to have the ability to sell the higher price. If people in Chicago are willing to pay me .20 cents a gallon more than any other location, I will do everyting I can to get what gas I have to the highest bidder. I would be fired if I shiped to New York if I could go to Chicagoand make more money. That is easy to understand. The media makes it look like we sit in a meeting and say, lets spend money shipping to the location that gets us the lowest price and ignore the huge prices we can get in the Chicago area. In reality we are all killing each other to get the gas to the highest buyer first. Efficiency is built into the system. Our greed and effieciency eventually get the price down and the broken refinery is trying his best to get back on line because he is out millions a day when he is down. In reality, the spikes in price that have happened in the past don't last long, maybe a month of two. This one is different since speculators see guys trying to blow up Saudi Oil Systems. Every Tom, Dick and Harry from Tokyo to Tin-Buck-To is bidding up oil futures out of fear that one day an attack will be more effective. Well, fine, its a free country to speculate on what you want, but the oil industry still gets blamed, ivestigations have to be set up because Barbara Boxer has never heard of the Futures Market and speculation which is going on between Democrat, Republican, Commie Pinko's and rich third world types who like to roll the dice. I can answer Barbar's questions but she will have to make my 90 300-E lifters stop clicking on early morning start ups before I answer her questions.