Gas prices, which lately have been at the lowest levels in history, are due to scoot up by as much as 10 cents a gallon soon, and it's not because the game is being played according to Hoyle.Rather, it's because the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, subverting free-market principles, is artificially reducing supply through an agreement to cut crude oil production by more than 2 million barrels daily.
Some may shiver at the news, recalling, for instance, how the Arab oil embargo created so much havoc in this country in the mid-1970s. They might also recall that that cartel eventually came apart, as cartels inevitably do. Sooner or later, someone gets greedy and slips from the pack. OPEC will make life somewhat harder for those relying on its exports for a while, but only for a while.