It's just a simple model of supply and demand, not the politicians. America's energy consumption is extremely high, and now other countries, mainly China, are increasing their energy consumption. Couple this with the fact that most of the world's oil reserviors are starting to receed. Even Saudia Arabia, which promised to always have enoughoil, as long as we paid for it, is seeing most of their major wells receed. Case in point, the world is running out of oil, and it's not being resupplied. Quite frankly, it's somewhat to blame on America's standard of living. Even though we complain about gas prices, it hasn't changedmost people's driving habits. I'm a college student andhave friendswho complain about gas prices and then drive to class, when it's only a mile away. At one point oil wasn't even an option, now it's a necessity.