by Jeremy Schaber

Created on: October 14, 2008   Last Updated: October 19, 2008

All too often in this day and age when the American people suffer with higher prices such as the high price of gasoline they want a villain to blame and the media has no problem serving one up while failing to point out who are the real people behind the problems. We can hear about the record profits that these oil companies are making but we always seem to forget that those profits get taxed by the government which makes one wonder what it does with all that money.

At the same time these companies do have to reinvest some of that money to improve equipment and such so that they can keep working. Yet while we're complaining about these high gas prices why aren't we asking ourselves the question of why the oil in Alaska remains untapped along with all the oil that is very close to our shores. Of course we can point out that Congress has allowed for the drilling of oil close to our shores though they put the limit of 100 hundred miles while a large portion of the oil is 50 miles from shore. However we also need to remember that these oil companies won't rush out to explore and drill since Congress does have this nasty habit of changing its mind for the sake of the American people, like they will probably do if Barack Obama becomes president, who have to spend more for gas and necessities as we have to send our diminishing dollar overseas to countries that might one day decide to cut us off because they don't like us or because of possible war.

At the same time let's make sure to remember our crusading environmentalists with their armies of lawyers who hold up those evil oil companies in court for years while at the same time giving us no realistic solutions or alternatives short of riding of bike or walking miles to work and to every other place we need to go. Let no one get me wrong I do believe that the environment should be protected but at the same time American oil companies have come a long way and they know how to drill for oil without damaging the environment like past examples such has the Exxon Valdez though it was a tanker instead of an oil drilling platform.

At the same time that this great debate is going on let's not forget that there are other countries out there searching and drilling for oil some of which their checking out that is very close to our shores who don't necessarily have to abide by all the regulations we have to. So if for example because of shoddy construction and terrible mismanagement a large amount of oil is released into the oceans along with who knows whatever other environmental impacts what does that matter to us so long as we keep our big oil companies in check. Again don't get me wrong I do believe that other countries should be allowed to drill for oil to help their citizens but we have at the time seen how some countries such as China have allowed sub-par work to be passed on by inspectors. At the same time we the people need to ask our elected leaders why they might be willing to allow foreign countries and their oil companies who may not have the best environmental records to drill close to our shores while banning our American oil companies that are under constant watch of the EPA from drilling.

Consumers should not boycott big oil companies instead they should be demanding that Congress should keep its word along with letting these companies drill where real sufficient amounts of oil are located. Second the court cases that many of these companies are tied up in should be pushed along and settled so that progress can move forward and the Amercian people don't have to decide which is more important fill up my gas tank or feed my family.

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