It all started many years ago. Big business said, "Let's create a monopoly. We'll put the mom-and-pop stores out of business; then we can charge what we want."

I bet every time drivers put gasoline in their vehicles they think of how they are getting ripped off.

But then they go into the big business-owned store near the pumps to pay their bill. They buy a couple of other items and leave, not realizing what they have just done.

They not only gave the big company money for gasoline; they gave it more money for the other items they bought. They just took a double hit.

Here's the fix: Oil companies don't rely on gasoline alone for profit; they rely on the items in their stores for most of their profit.

Therefore, buy only their gasoline and nothing else.

If people would cut their gasoline usage 20 percent for one month, the oil companies' storage tanks would overflow, and they would not know what to do with it.