Current Event: Oil Tops $100 a Barrel

Record high oil prices are influencing almost every aspect of the American life. However, many of those affected are not given an accurate explanation of the cause of the rapid inflation of the cost of oil. This issue is being purposefully misreported in order for political gain. Many politicians would have their constituents believe that the rise in the price of oil is due solely to the nefarious machinations of the oil companies, and they cite the historically high profit margins of "Big Oil" as evidence of market manipulation. However, the increased profit of oil companies has much more to do with streamlining their operations, increasing efficiency, and lowering the cost of extracting and refining oil than it does with price gouging. That is not to say that the prices are artificially high, as OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) is still pursuing their policy of purposefully underestimating their own supplies of fossil , and producing much less oil then they ideally could, to keep supplies artificially low, thus giving them an excuse to charge exorbitant amounts of money for the product. Additionally, a massive increase of demand from the booming economies of China and India, couples with unrest and violence in the oil fields of Nigeria have ensured that the price of oil would do nothing but increase.
http://economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10311266