Well, with the 5 big major oil companies posting PROFITS of $143 Billion(!) in the last quarter, of last year..how do you say it is US that is driving the cost up???....The economic stimulus package was $200 billion, ....wow, what a co-incidence again!..We are headed for a depression, as this country had before(but worse)...and a depression is not that there is no money....its just shifting into fewer hands, with the bulk going to the wealthier, and both you and I know this to be true. Leading the pack, are the oil companies...and if anyone thinks that the oil companies are more interested in THIS country, than the are about their global profit economics, they must be asleep at the wheel. The boundries that make up sovereign countries(ours included) are meaningless to international predatory 'investors'...wouldn't you say??...unless they have a military that can help them achieve their goals!...and thats about all they support us for....America, where you can rent a military, and profit while doing that too!..Its sad, truly sad, that it has gone this way.