The crisis in Libya - from the first stirrings to the current ongoing civil war - has been used as an excuse to gouge Americans (and other countries) at the gas pump. Anyone that drives a car knows what I'm talking about. Prices were already artificially high before the unrest started, and since then have gone up 40 cents a gallon. Is there really a shortage? Or is it only a perception of a shortage?

We've long been told that the price of gas is the result of supply & demand. As supply goes down, the price goes up. When the supply comes back up, the price goes... well - we all know if it goes down at all, it's only half as much as it went up. That's how the oil companies have maintained record-breaking profits year after year (while paying no taxes and getting government subsidies).

Airlines have hiked prices and tacked on fuel surcharges. President Obama is talking about tapping the Strategic Reserve, and the Republicans are looking for another excuse to "drill baby, drill". On the plus side, this could breathe new life into an energy bill that's been on life-support for months.

The problem with all of this is that there isn't actually a shortage, it's merely the perception of a shortage (or the perception of possibly an impending shortage). The United States gets a negligible amount of oil from Libya. Besides domestic drilling, we get most of ours from Canada, Saudi Arabia, Colombia, Nigeria, Angola, and Iraq (see a basic chart here). Several weeks ago, the oil markets were told not to worry about any shortages, that Saudi Arabia can simply bump up it's pumping levels, which are running below capacity.

Of course, the key phrase here is "oil markets". Oil is a commodity that is bought and sold on a market not unlike the stock market. This means that the price is not determined by the supply and demand of oil, but by the supply and demand of oil futures (essentially - stocks, like the stock market). It was the perception of a shortage - not an actual shortage - that caused the prices to go up. Is this really any way to manage such a vital natural resource?

Fortunately, the prices are easing back down, based on assurances from Saudi Arabia. Will that translate into prices lowering at the gas pump? We'll see how long it takes, but I doubt they'll return to where they were. Gas companies will blame it on "ongoing unrest in the Middle East", while raking in record profits yet again.

Drill here, drill now? That will have no effect other than to give oil companies another revenue stream. Domestically-produced oil is already sold to other countries. It's obvious that supply and demand for gas play no part in the price of it. I'm tired of getting drilled in the ass every time I fill up.

My next car will be electric (or at least a plug-in hybrid). I will strive to take trains and mass transit as much as possible. Enough is enough.