There was a theme throughout the movie "I-Robot" Where the detective "Will Smith" was often encouraged  to "Ask the right Questions." And the Doctor would say in conclusion, "That, Detective, is the right Question." We need our elected officials in Washington, Our defenders in truth, right and the American Way to ask the right questions to the  Captains Petroleum Industry and hold them to the laws and proper Free market  business  Etiquette. What are the right questions? I do not know all of them but we can start with these.

1) How much Bin Laden Money is invested in Exxon/Mobil? Indeed, What percent of American oil companies are owned by foreign oil interests? and how does that effect the price of Gas at the pump?

2) What is the reason that the Oil companies are permitted to act as one big company, a virtual Monopoly, working with instead of competing against each other for the business and patronage of the common American?  Were not Anti-trust laws established because a free market economy only works when members of like industry compete against each other  for the a share of the market? When did it become O.K. for all the gas stations in a given town, state or district to raise prices at the same time by the same amount?
   Well Timmy, That's called price fixing. It is an Anti-Trust Violation and the oil companies have been doing it for so many years (about 30) that nobody remembers that it is wrong. 
    Gee whiz Dad, If I had an oil company I would sell my Gasoline for a quarter less then everybody else. Then everybody would come to my filling stations and buy their gas from me. I would make more money because I would sell more Gasoline.
    Well Timmy, That is a Good Idea and That is how a free Enterprise is supposed to work. and in order to compete with you other oil companies would have to bring their prices down until they could arrange to have you killed. Then your former vice president would take your place and raise your prices back up so he would not get killed too.

       The price of oil is $136 per barrel. the new bad guy is the commodities speculator, Wall Street, Well, Wall Street is looting America and oil is just the tip of the Ice berg but oil has been speculated upon for a hundred years now so we can set Wall Street aside for the time being.
3) If Oil is $136 a barrel, Just who pays that much for it?
    Presumably the American oil companies do. (NOT)They used to call it the price of foreign oil until one day Timmy asked,
   Dad, Why do they talk about the price of Foreign oil so much. What does a Barrel of our oil cost anyways?
   That's a good question Timmy. You see, in other countries much of the oil is owned by the Government and they can charge what ever they want to for their oil. But here in the Good Old U.S. of A. Things are different. After World War II,... That was before you were born Timmy, just a little more than 60 years ago, The American oil companies began buying up the mineral rights from the farmers and ranchers who owned the land they wanted to drill on,This practice continues to this day,  so in large part, The American oil companies already own the oil they are pumping out of the ground in this country, or in other cases the U.S. Government owns the land they are drilling on and they pay some of the oil they drill to the Government and the rest they keep for free.  So sometimes American oil companies only buy enough foreign oil to hide all the free oil they are pumping out of ground that they already own the mineral rights to or the low cost oil they pump off of government land. But they set the gas prices just as though they pay $136 a barrel for all of the oil they have to refine. I Guess what I am trying to say Timmy, is that there is a river of unclaimed profits and dirty money in the way the American oil Companies are allowed to operate and that river flows all the way from Texas to Washington D.C. Now Timmy, Can you tell me why nobody does anything about this river of dirty money?
    Gee Dad, I guess it is because the don't want to get killed. Like me if I had an oil Company.
    That's right Timmy. We are supposed to just play along and not say anything so we don't get killed.
    O.K. Dad. That sound like good advice.

    In the 1970s we were told that the world was running out of oil. Before we were told this, Gas at the pump was 34.9 cents a gallon. There were lines of cars at the gas stations and you could only pump 10 gallons at a time and everybody was worried.  When gas hit 78 cents a gallon a miracle happened. They found more oil. The world was not running out after all. They found the oil in many scores of tankers heavy laden with their decks a wash anchored off the coast of Florida. Waiting for greed to be satisfied. That is when the American Oil Companies all started playing ball on the same team. When The fixed the oil crisis of the 1970s The price at the pump did not go back down. Everybody was so glad that we were not running out of oil. The oil industry still cries shortage. to make us back away as they fiercely guard more money than they can spend in a hundred life times. Of course I don't know because I just an ordinary guy but thirty years ago they were pumping a lot of oil out of Iran, Iraq and all the other opec countries. The don't seem to be too worried about running out and they don't have access to vast new reserves. Near a hundred years ago we were pumping oil out of the ground in Texas and here we are to this day, pumping oil out of the ground in Texas. Dependence on Foreign oil is a myth. American Oil companies sell their gas to Europe for more money. and then they bring in the expensive opec oil to sell to us. The price of a gallon of gad in Tehran Iran is 40 cents... 40 cents a gallon. In Washington D.C. Ordinary Blue Collar Americans are paying 10 X that.  The cost of a Gallon of Gas is NOT $4.00 a gallon. The price of a gallon of gas is whatever  the market will bare. And that is not a bad thing If  Member companies  of like industry Compete against each other for the market share. In the American oil industry they don't.
     When  The Oil company execs were on Capitol hill last week one of the questions posed to them was How Much money do you personally make in a year? Not one of them knew an answer to that question. (I can tell you how much I make because, like you, I need every penny.) Simple question, They didn't know. When Adlai Stevenson was JFK's  Representative to the U.N General assembly During the Cuban Missal crisis When he asked the soviet rep if the USSR had ICBMs in Cuba. And the Soviet Rep, responded that he was nor ready to respond to that question at this time. Adlai Stevenson Responded  By saying "Sir I am prepared to Wait here until Hell Freezes Over for your response."   I will Cast my Vote for anyone from Hillary Clinton to Rush Limbaugh if just one person has the Stones to take that tack with The American Oil Monopoly. By Executive order. Fix the price of Gas at the pump at $1.40 a gallon until well after they start competing against each other for the market share again.
    Now those are some of the right questions.
   Dad, Why won't any politician ask those questions?
   Well, Timmy, I think you know the answer to that question already. I will tell you this Timmy. This is how you can measure the Greatness of The George "W" Bush Presidency. Just compare the price of Gas at the pump on the day he took office and the price of Gas at the pump the day he leaves office.
   Gee Dad, He must be a Great President!
  Well, Son. He is a great Something, Remember, the family fortunes of both he and the Vice President come from Oil.