Gas price pain is good for you  By ROBERT J. SAMUELSON
Washington Post Writers Group Published May 30, 2007    Perish
the thought.  In late May, gasoline prices hit a national
average of $3.22 a gallon which, after correcting for inflation,
is roughly as high as in early 1981, the recent peak. This
elicited the usual expressions of outrage. Sen. Charles Schumer,
D-N.Y., suggested breaking up big oil companies that he says may
be to blame for "the sky-high gas prices." By a 284-141 vote,
the House passed the Federal Price Gouging Prevention Act, which
would make it illegal during an "energy emergency" (to be
declared by the president) to sell gasoline at a price that is
"unconscionably excessive."  It's always fun to blame unpopular
occurrences on corporate greed. Schumer's notion, for example,
is that the recent wave of giant oil mergers has so concentrated
U.S. refinery capacity that companies can constrict supply and
create artificial scarcities by refusing to build new
refineries. It's a plausible-sounding