If not for the political damage, uninformed bellyaching about oil prices would be amusing.In the US, where it’s shrill, the complaining started after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita whacked Gulf Coast refining and production in 2005.Oil prices already were rising in a tightening market. They had no way to respond to the supply shock except to jump.But an altogether transparent and reasonable market response made Americans irrational. When the profits of oil and gas companies subsequently rose, as they inevitably would under the circumstances, anger gave way to consummate rage.The political consequences remain painfully in memory: the threats of “windfall profit” taxes, the c...