I wonder how much the U.S. oil companies, whose profits and executive bonuses continue to skyrocket, regardless of the price of oil...or the options traders who run the price up by trading oil futures and other exotic financial products...have to do with the price of oil?

Or China or India, who buy as much oil as they can get, regardless of price. Or Russia or the Saudis, who quietly turn the spigot on or off to maintain the price of oil at a high level...how much do they effect the price of gas at the pump here in the U.S.?

For that matter, how about our spendthrift Congress? The national debt has increased by three trillion dollars or so since Obama was inaugurated. But it's increased by a trillion dollars in the year or so since the Republicans took control of the House and the country's purse strings. Remember, oil is paid for worldwide in U.S. dollars. To the extent that the dollar has lost value--and it's decline in recent years has been dramatic--the value of the dollars used to buy oil is a lot less than it was last year, or the year before that or the year before that. With the dollar declining in value, the only way the countries that sell us oil can keep making the same real profits is to increase the price.

Do you really think President Obama controls all this? Really?

The president's move against Iran is a smart one. And a whole helluva lot better than a regional war that will result if Israel attacks Iran. And guess what, he doesn't 't control what Israel is going to do either.