The Washington Post had an article celebrating the fact that the
public is confused about the causes of higher oil prices. This
is sort of like a fourth grade teacher being delighted that his
students don't know arithmetic.   Undoubtedly much of the public
is confused about the cause of higher oil prices because of
articles like this one. It treats the issue as a he said/she
said dispute, at one point quoting President Obama:  "the amount
of oil we drill at home doesn’t set the price of gas on its own.
That’s because oil is bought and sold in a world market. And
just like last year, the biggest thing that’s causing the price
of oil to rise right now is instability in the Middle East —
this time in Iran."  This is not just something that President
Obama says, this is true. The price of oil is determined in the
world market. If the price of oil plummeted in the U.S. because
we drilled everywhere, all the time, then we would lose supply
from the rest of the world, because no one will sell us oil at
below the wor