ANSWERING OIL PRICE DEMAGOGY

The oil consuming world embargoes 3-4 million b/d of crude oil from Iraq and Kuwait, and Congress demands to know why U.S. gasoline prices jumped so soon. Amazing. The question of the overheated moment is whether lawmakers want the answer this time. Probably not. Lawmakers probably just want a political punching bag to dissipate heat from the savings and loan scandal. So oil companies have two choices. They can cover up and hope the name calling subsides without generating punitive