Where is Our Freakin' Government?

How much higher can gas prices go? I suspect $4.00 per gallon by mid-summer. Our federal government is so interested in the next election that we cannot go out and prop up the dollar. Our president is so weak (if for no other reason than he's perceived to be ineffective) that he cannot pressure OPEC and/or the Saudis to increase production (as it is, unless there's evidence of a shortage, OPEC has no intention of increasing production until 2012).

This is an aisle-crossing issue. We're getting our ass kicked on the world stage, and our government just clicks blindly along, as if things can be reversed by opening the strategic reserves. Give me a break. Our last oil refinery was finished in 1976. In 2005, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah remarked that he'd send us more oil but we lack the refining capacity. Duh. If there was one area to allow buhzillion tax incentives, this is it. Incentives for doing the right way--an environmentally responsible way. If gas gets to $4.00, it's gonna be bad. Prices at Wal-Mart will go up. C-stores will struggle. Recreation will suffer. I mean, it's a downhill slide. Middle-class and lower-class Amercians will suffer while Congress piddles.

Piddles.