This time last year I got an up close and personal lesson in market economics. My children had finally reached their goal of saving their money to buy the latest Nintendo game system. So on that exciting day, off we went to buy the new game for the family. Except that we couldn't find one. Every store was sold out.

The only way we could acquire one of these golden eggs from Nintendo was through ebay, but only if we were willing to pay about three times the retail value. This was a lesson in supply and demand. When demand exceeds supply, the value of whatever is in demand goes up proportionately. If we want lower prices, we have to reduce demand and/or increase supply.

Street-smart people know this. For Pete's sake, even drug dealers and comic book collectors know this. Somebody needs to tell the Democrats this. Based on New York Senator Chuck Schumer's response to President Bush's speech on energy policy last Wednesday, they seem ill informed on this basic economic premise regarding the relationship between oil prices and supply and demand of oil products.

Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna recently completed an investigation on "price gouging" by the oil companies and found that no such phenomenon exists. Oil companies are making record-breaking profits for the simple reason that...

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