The Big Oil Scapegoat

There was quite a bit of press on this week's Senate hearings on the price of gas. I found this article, which had a good take on the whole thing. It also provided some prediction of the next industry that will get dragged in before the sound byte-centric group of bloviating politicians:

"You know you're at the hangover stage in any financial bender when the witch-hunters in Congress begin hauling in the victims for grilling. This is the situation on Capitol Hill this week as Congress vents its spleen on the captains of ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), Chevron (NYSE: CVX), BP (NYSE: BP), and others for the high crimes of financial success...

...It's pretty easy to point out the hypocrisy in Washington. You just need to wait for a senator to start speaking. But the underlying roots of this situation became clearer to me yesterday, after I read a fantastical discussion of the melodrama written by my old friend and fellow Fool Rob Aronen. In it, he asked our Senatorial witch-hunters a rhetorical question. Homebuilders like DR Horton (NYSE: DHI) and Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL) have been making healthy, if not record profits lately. (Banks and other lenders, I might add, have been doing pretty well, too.) His question: Why aren't they being dragged into the Star Chamber for their deeds...?

...Despite the lessons of the '70s and '80s, when gas got cheap in the '90s, we spent money on giant cars. When bank money got cheap in the noughts, we demanded the 4,000-square-foot estate; 50 miles from work.

It's only when the bills start coming in above our expectations that we begin to demand legislative answers. But as always, real solutions are right in front of our eyes for those who are Foolish enough to embrace them. Plan for the unexpected. Assume that your household expenses will rise. Live below your means. Change your behavior to avoid overexposing yourself to violent swings in gas, heating fuel, and interest expense. If you live in the free market through good and bad, then you're not likely to be a victim of its occasional swings."