by Jimmy Thiel

Created on: June 01, 2008   Last Updated: June 14, 2008

With recent gas prices jumping to record highs not only across America, but completely across the globe, consumers are nearing a point of economic uncertainty which the majority of us have never seen. The rising gas prices have now influenced the cost of shipping and producing most of the products we require to survive. We are paying more for transportation, food, heating, cooking, and anything that requires fuel as a source for consumption or delivery to its final destination: the consumer. It has come to the point that we as a people must decide what we can do about it.

In order to decide what we can do we must first get to the root cause of the problem. It is obvious that with government officials being waist deep in the profit taking of the big oil companies that we should expect little help from them. The rising prices are a direct result from the laws of supply and demand. The demand is obvious; it is the supply which should be completely understood. If there is a shortage of crude oil then obviously the price for the product will increase. There is a shortage. It is the reason for the shortage that should outrage consumers' world wide. The product is there for the taking. The companies that produce the product have intentionally decreased the production so that supply would be limited thereby raising the demand and ultimately the prices. Without competition they will have no problem increasing their profits to record levels at the expense of the consumer.

Who competes with OPEC? The answer is nobody. This people, is called a monopoly and if it were an American company would be maliciously prosecuted to the fullest extent possible. It is not an American company. It is a global organization which has monopolized the production of crude oil world wide, and there is no governing body that can stop them. Therefore it is up to us, the consumers and the end users of their product which must take action! What action to take and when to take it are the only variables left to consider.

The big oil companies have hit the consumers where it hurts the most: their finances. The old adage goes "fight fire with fire". The only way to fight these companies is to hit them where it hurts the most: their bottom line. This requires a commitment and accumulative and simultaneous effort from consumers' world wide. We must boycott these companies and impact their profitability. This is not a new concept as it has been tried before. Consumers in America have united in the past

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