What to do about the oil companies

As a conservative, particularly leaning toward the libertarian side of things (in the classic sense of that term, not in the sense that the libertarians I hear about have taken a hard left turn) ... I am at a quandary about what to do with the oil companies. Obviously I do not agree with the knee-jerk liberal response of beating them down with taxes ... more big government.

However, in this situation it really seems like you have a hardcore monopoly, or "psuedo-monopoly", where there really is no way to say that the oil companies are being limited by any sense of competition. You are also unable to make the "luxury" argument ... if the price gets too high, consumers don't have to use their products ... since we "must" use the products everyday ... either directly or indirectly (*everything* you touch was somehow affected by oil). I have heard some claims about the "hits" they have taken by the weather, war, or whatever; but that pales in comparison with the "hits" they have treated themselves to ... namely that their profits are not only setting records, but obscene records in the 10s/100s of billions.

Basically, I believe in a relatively pure capitalist system ... but when I say that, I mean a REAL capitalist system ... one with unlimited competition so that there is always another challenger down the pipe, even with ever-more-massive takeovers. The fight makes everybody stronger and better (if not, the competitor dies), and by definition the competition limits the prices. Using this view of capitalism, I draw a huge difference between big businesses and capitalism ... in fact I can see "big" businesses as potentially anathema to what I define as real capitalism.

It would be naive to argue that there is any real competition in the world of oil ... we're talking a commodity here that has very little play in terms of innovation (it all gets to you the same way, and despite the ads one gas is about the same as any other). Worse yet, it would be naive to argue that there is not at least the chance that these guys are conspiring to escalate prices ... I mean that you can start a bad rumour upwind of an oil refinery and cause a 25 cent increase in the price of gasoline at every station.

Now would be a great time to put together a REAL energy plan ... one that not only includes new options and new exploration, but also includes figuring out what to do with the old line businesses that seem to be raping us without restraint. I know ... I know ... FantasyLand is in Orlando.

But you know ... Bush was an oil man, from an oil state. He would probably be in the best position as a president to sit these boys down and broker a deal. Now think about this ... the oil companies are screwing us over in terms of prices, and the democrats are screwing us over in terms of exploration. Seems to me we can set up an extraordinary Win-Win-Lose deal ... the oil companies win by securing the new supplies (for the $4 a barrel it takes to get it out of the ground, not the $80 it takes to buy it from the Saudis), we win by getting lower gas prices (not sure how this is negotiated, but they can figure it out), and the democraps lose by being dumb enough to fight this as a ONE-ON-ONE issue (vs. buried in all the other garbage surrounding an election) that is FRONT and CENTER.

Let's see if the Republicans are smart enough to take this on.