Capitalism

Apparently some of capitalism's biggest fans don't understand how it works. The United States is "energy independent" in the sense that we export more fossil fuels than we import. If OPEC decides to do another embargo, we can produce all the energy we need right here in the good old U S of A.

However, when the price of oil goes up globally, it goes up here too, even though we're "energy independent" in the above sense. The reason for that is that U.S. oil producers are for-profit corporations, and they will sell their product to the highest bidder. If foreigners are willing to pay more, we have to pay more too, or they won't sell their products to us. 

The only way for that not to happen would be for the government to own all the oil companies. Then the government could decide to sell to Americans for less than the global market price. But that would be socialism. I trust this clears up any confusion.