Yes, the market (capitalism?) is to blame about the oil prices. But there are other factors in it that i'd like to add to the discussion:

- US petroleum companies likes high prices. With Arab countries and sheiks, it's them who get more money with it, and most of the time they're both connected (isn't former president Bush, father of G. W. Bush a public relations of a petroleum company? Can't be more precise, but you can see what I mean if you saw "911 Fahrenheit").

- With the above factor, US president say they want to help Iraq, but after a 10 year s embargo to Iraq and 4 years "Vietnam" war in there, Iraq still don't produces oil, why?

- Oil is a finite resource. Every day there are less and less petroleum available and every day it cost more and more to extract it.

- Aggressive US politic towards Arab nations and flaming them with controversial and non-peaceful policies every day to be an interest of US (yes, I don't like Iran bomb, but I don't see US/UE doing anything right to change Iran regime or to help Iran people to change it, and invasion will not be a solution, only a continuation of the Iraq example).

All together, I find only natural the rise of oil price. By Christmas we'll have $100 dollars per barrel, and now I can't see anything to make it stop.

A few things might help a bit:

- US change its president (2009?)

- Active enforcement of ecological energy production and fighting pollution produced by oil (who spends more oil and pollutes more should pay more taxes?).

Of course, all this is a severe attack to US economy (and others). US spends billions of dollars in Defence just to be sure they get the oil they need (other countries have their economy based on oil, but only US have this imperialistic atitude to defend their interest and have profit with it).

Can you see the billion dollars US oil and auto industry accept an ecological solution without any lobby interest and without taking any actions not to apply this solution (including corruption)?

At the moment I don't see US taking good actions in this, and they were the first ones to introduce cleaner cars back in the '70s, but now they don't even want to accept Kyoto treaty.