Where's the beano?

...because we've got gas. Serious gas. Oil spiked hardcore yesterday, sending prices upwards and the markets downward in a hurry on that news- and an unemployment spike. I wish I was more of an economist that way I could actually think of a sensible solution to all this mess. Obama has proposed a tax on windfall oil profits, but I'm not sure that'll do much- I tend to prefer the model of grassroots capitalistic change from within (see: the investor revolt at Exxon a few weeks back that failed.)

It's easy to trash capitalism, but at the end of the day, business has to worry about its bottom line and the power is totally in the hands of the people, the consumers. It blew my mind a few weeks ago to actually find Fair Trade Certified coffee in Wal-Mart of all places- evil corporate giant, Wal-Mart. OK, that may be a drop in the bucket when it comes to Wal-Mart, but at the end of the day, the customers said they wanted Fair Trade and Wal-Mart answered.

That's the way I'd prefer it to work with oil and energy. The investor revolt at Exxon (led by the Rockafellows) failed in no small part because everyone and their mother out there has 401 Ks, a lot of which are invested in solid, reliable money making companies like Exxon. (Oil companies always make money, so it's fairly safe bet, which makes sense.) But at the end of the day, governmental prodding (not necessarily taxation) has to promote business changes so that oil companies can take the lead in developing green technology that doesn't use oil, so us piss-poor college students (and other similarly disadvantaged people) can actually afford a tank of gas to get from point A to point B.)