OPEC decision could lead to recession

In its most recent meeting, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) decided to again decrease production of crude oil, this time by 1 million barrels per day. OPEC hopes this move will stabilize the weakening international economy, especially because demand for oil typically decreases in summer months.\n But in light of skyrocketing gas prices and petroleum shortages in the United States, this move will only hurt consumers. OPEC promised in a press release that if prices continued to rise outside of "acceptable levels," it would increase supply to correct the market.\n But no matter how closely OPEC monitors the market, this will hurt the individual gas consumer, as well as the economy. \n The laws of supply and demand are simple: when there is little supply and a large demand, the suppliers can charge exorbitant prices and reap large profits. This is essentially what OPEC is doing. The oil barons who control OPEC are merely flexing their economic muscles, proving once again that as long as they have a stronghold on most of the world's oil supply, they can keep prices in their favor.\n While the need for heating oil decreases in the summer, Americans tend to compensate for this by the gas they use while driving. As the summer vacation driving season approaches, American consumers will be using more and more gas from the pump, and it is more than possible that this demand will not be met by the shortened supplies.\nPresident George W. Bush is already assembling a task force to address the nation's energy needs -- both electric and petroleum. \nSupplies must be stabilized, if not increased. Decreasing them will harm everyone on the consumption side of the equation, to the benefit of a very few oil barons.