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I keep hearing that gas is going up at the pump, averaging about a dime increase every week. Never mind that wholesale prices are low and supplies are high, the price per gallon continues to increase.

And, every time I hear a news report about the bulging prices, a caveat is always added at the end. “Prices are still considerably less that they were a year ago.” I suppose that’s supposed to make the less money we have in our wallets more palatable. To me, it sounds more like dribble for the masses.

No, we are not paying what we did for gasoline last year. Fact is, prices were so inflated and the oil companies recorded such huge profits last year, it was unsustainable.

Many economists theorize the huge profits (greed) of the oil companies was a major factor in the economy’s collapse. Simply put, the American economy will not support $4-plus a gallon gasoline.

But, somehow I get the sneaky feeling the big oil companies couldn’t bear to see us paying $2 a gallon. They envisioned huge profit margins fleeing with families’ additional disposable income for things like, say, health care, school supplies, that sort of thing.

Once the price goes up a few more dimes, we’ll witness what has become a right of Congress. A member will stand up and say he is appalled at the unrealistic and unjustified rise in gas prices and he’ll recommend Congress investigate the oil companies.

It doesn’t take an historian to predict not one thing will come from that investigation. You won’t hear about the speculators, many of them U.S. based firms, who are making billions in the fuel business.

So, expect when the price hits $3 a gallon, and it won’t be long, that we’ll be told we’re actually saving a buck from last year’s prices. Do you feel lucky?

While the government spends billions of dollars of taxpayer money on banks and other Wall Street disasters, it seems there is little concern for the money that comes directly out of our pockets for gasoline.

In a time of belt tightening for most Americans, expect record profits again from the major oil companies. I get the feeling those prices at the pump will keep going up as long as we purchase the product, with little regard for the national economy, or security for that matter.

It’s all a powerful argument for energy independence, and that will take a combined effort from government and private industry. It also might be a good time for our elected officials to learn lessons of the recent past.

Nothing has more negative impact on the economy than skyrocketing fuel costs. All the stimulus money in the world won’t change that fact. While we can’t affect economic policy in the Middle East, a little control at home doesn’t seem so outlandish.