"A person is smart; people are stupid."

Case in point - the lynch mob being assembled by Congress (note the date on this article - some things just never change, do they?) and citizens calling for the boycott of certain oil companies.

It's not the oil companies who are responsible. Futures traders and your government are the responsible parties here.

The energy companies don't set the price of oil or of gasoline. The prices you pay for heating oil or gasoline aren't set in boardrooms in Texas but in trading rooms at commodities markets all over the world.
Gas prices aren't set in shadowy conferences in shooting lodges, but in rooms of people shouting or punching computer keys in London, New York, and Tokyo. Oil is a world commodity like tin or copper or rubber or coffee. The price is set by traders anticipating supply and demand.

Read the rest of what Ben Stein has to say on the matter here.

TaxProf Blog offers some perspective on who's really getting the profits from gasoline. To tweak your curiosity and urge you to read what he has to say, look closely at this chart