A supposedly "very smart" person that I know is always going off on how dastardly and greedy the oil companies are when the price of gas is high. I remarked yesterday (tongue in cheek) that since oil companies are such "greedy bastards", I didn't understand why they were allowing prices to go so low. I was met with a blank stare.
They are trying to get people to go back to gas-guzzling cars and trucks by lowering gas prices. Then after people are a year or two into the vehicle financing and it becomes too costly to trade in the big cars, BAM! Prices go back up again. You really need to acquire a healthy mixture of paranoia, ignorance, and envy to think like a populist lefty.