Okay, I'll be the cranky economist.
1. There are people willing to pay more for gas. Why the heck if I'm an oil company would I not charge all the market could bear?
2. If I'm an oil company shareholder, I want more profits rather than less. Why the heck shouldn't I reward very, very generously the management who finds a way to profit from higher and higher prices?
3. If you think oil should be cheaper, find a way to get it cheaper and stop buying as much from the people who charge so much.
4. If you think oil company execs get paid too much, buy less oil --if you buy less oil, oil company profits will go down. And oil company shareholders, being unhappy at same, will give less salaries to their executives.
There's not one of us who couldn't, if we wanted to, cut back on the amount of petroleum products we use. We could drive a little bit less, car pool a little more, use a bit less paint, check our tires more frequently, run our cars another 100 miles without an oil change, etc etc etc. And if we cut back a little bit, all of us, the oil companies would feel it. 300 million people each buying one less gallon of gas is over a billion dollars.
Of course, we don't. Instead we've found new ways to use more gas. Drive down the street. Count the SUVs. Count the number of two- and three- and four-car families. Count the number of cars with one person in them. Count the number of air conditioners. Count the number of bathrooms in houses. Etc. Etc. etc.
The price of gas gets higher because we keep increasing our demand for it.
So quit complaining about the damn oil companies and their rich execs. They're just scumbag drug dealers.
We're the damn addicts that enable them.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Romans 12:2 (NKJV)