Think of your happy place...think of your happy place...

Apparently, the worst thing imaginable for most Americans -- or at least the worst thing that the media and politicians can imagine for most Americans -- is the rising price of gasoline. In a way, they're right, since we've built a cultural mythology around the automobile (think "Little Deuce Coupe," "Little Red Corvette," "Thunder Road" or even Kerouac's On the Road), but in another way the emphasis makes the US seem like spoiled ignorant kids who can't quite understand that the world doesn't actually revolve around them.

Anyone ever read The House of Mirth? Near the beginning of the novel, Lily's father comes home and Lily is cajoling him to buy some fresh flowers, because really the house simply isn't proper without fresh flowers, and Lily's father breaks down at that moment and announces they are ruined. It's an earth-shattering moment for Lily and should lead to more practical changes, but Lily cannot adjust and her eventual demise is linked directly to her (or Wharton's) inability to imagine a life somewhere below the highest level of privilege.

Our Energy Secretary Sam Bodman seems like Lily Bart (but far less subtle and interesting a character) when he opines that it may "take three years" for gas prices to come down. Apparently, Bodman initially attributes the rising prices to the rising cost of a barrel of oil, but then he cryptically announces:

"The suppliers have lost control of the market and therefore, demand exceeds supply," Bodman said.
"Clearly we're going to have a number of years -- two or three years -- before suppliers are going to be in a position to meet the demands of those who are consuming this product."

Suppliers have lost control of the market in what way? Is he talking about the actual supply of oil and the countries that control it? Is he talking about the suppliers of gasoline, like ExxonMobil, Chevron, etc.? I'm not sure that reaping record profits is the same as losing control of a market, but if that's so, then I'd like to be out of control for just a little while, please.

However, the bit I'm really unclear on is what will allow suppliers to get back in position to meet the demands of the consumers, since the supply isn't exactly going up and the demand is skyrocketing.

But I'm really getting tired of talking about oil. I wish our politician friends would get it through their heads that we won't magically be saved by ANWR or oil shale or drilling off the coast of Florida.