The price of gasoline has everyone worried.

Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and John McCain want to suspend the federal gas tax during the summer. Clinton wants to pay for it by imposing a windfall profits tax on “Big Oil” while her Democratic rival, Barack Obama, says that would exacerbate the problem. He thinks the tax holiday would encourage evil Big Oil to raise prices even more, which would inflict greater pain on consumers when the holiday expires.

While I welcome any kind of tax relief– however brief – the attempt to blame rising gas prices on windfall profit-taking by the big oil companies is misplaced.

If that were the case, the answer to solving your personal energy crisis would be simple. Buy oil company stocks! Then, any rise in gas prices would be offset by the profits in your portfolio. Continue reading “Blame it on “Big Oil”” →