It seems as if everybody has their own theory on what is behind the explosion of gas prices. I believe that there are only two reasons and they are really quite simple. Oil company interests are one part of the problem that simply will not go away anytime soon. These companies are raking in record profits and contribute to politicians across the board, so nobody in Washington is going to stop it. Secondly, it is time for us to realize that the U.S.is no longer as economically powerful on the world stage as we once were. Combine that with the fact that most of the oil markets have their prices set to the dollar and it becomes relatively obvious why the prices have skyrocketed.