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Sorry, "free" market principles don't fully apply when a commodity is subsidized to the tune of billions of dollars, like energy or transportation. I always hear conservatives or dewy eyed "libertarians" whining about subsidies for such things as AMTRAK, but I never hear them complaining about how much taxpayers subsidize energy companies, roads, etc.
And easy for someone who doesn't hold down a low-wage job to say people shouldn't be complaining about gasoline prices. Ah, too bad you can't join those who can't afford the prices because their salaries have been going down in value while everything else important goes up in price. I can hear the screeching now!
On straight economics, Mario is right. (Bet you never thought you'd hear a progressive like me say that 
I disagree that food and transportation aren't needs, but they are also wants. And the best combination for driving down energy consumption, imo, would be a combination of higher fuel prices AND a more adequate mass transit system. That would most likely yield the best cost-benefit ratio for society as a whole.
This "free enterprise" you speak of generally affects only the lower classes. Socialism for the rich has been increasingly common since at least WWII.
Surely there are some things (e.g., water) that you would agree are needs rather than wants. Should a strict capitalistic system rule the distribution of these needs? The USA apparently thinks that it should, not only here but all over the world.
Many people think that capitalism leads to prosperity for more people worldwide. I think that capitalism leads to increasing poverty for more people worldwide.
Capitalism isn't the most effective economic system, and our perverted form of capitalism is even worse. Space doesn't permit a full discussion of this situation (sigh), but I will note that I agree with Mario about the fact that, once we've accepted some form of laissez-faire capitalism (a la Ludwig von Mises) as our economic touchstone, letting corporations charge whatever the market will bear for anything is actually how the system is supposed to work. Under capitalism, there is no such thing as price gouging, only smart businesspeople exploiting markets as adroitly as they exploit workers. "Exploit" isn't a bad word in this context. Getting more out of your workers than you're paying them for and taking advantage of, even manipulating, market conditions is what makes profit and is therefore good.
I don't think that sort of system can work in the long run. Of course, as Keynes pointed out, in the long run we're all dead.
LIFE'S A BITCH...THEN YOU DIE...
Commenting by HaloScan
