Today’s oil profits aren’t price gouging — but Big Oil needs an ultimatum

Today’s surge in oil company profits amid the Iran-driven energy shock has understandably generated accusations of profiteering and price gouging. I spent the first half of my career in the oil industry, so I recognize my own industry sympathies. I am also a committed free-market capitalist. But I have a gut-level discomfort with the juxtaposition of record corporate profits with American consumers struggling to pay at the pump for reasons entirely beyond their control.

Still, there is an important distinction between “windfall profits” and “price gouging” — and understanding it starts with recognizing that today’s problem is increasingly one of refining capacity and product availability rather than simply a shortage of crude oil.