Everything you said awsure is logically sound and accurate about the oil market. The fact is if oil was artifically being inflated, Wal-Mart would undersell the competition out of business. The problem is that China and India are using more oil than they used to and that is naturally going to cause prices to go hirer and cause the oil companies to make profits because they are international businesses who are selling more of their product all the time.

I agree with you that there is no "Big Oil" conspiracy, that is just media brainwashing. The simple fact is if all the oil companies were doing this because of the election season, then why would Citgo do this as well. Hugo Chavez has influence over Citgo and he hates the Republicans. He could cut the supply and that would cause prices to jump.

I'm trying to stay independent in politics on this forum since I'm the moderator, at least for a while, so I'm going to avoid getting too deep into the political discussion.