My energy plan.

NEWS ARTICLE REFERENCED - US appears to have built its last refinery

So, this piece, written back in 2001, says it costs around $2-4B to build a new refinery and ALOT of redtape. I imagine it would. But let's take this into perspective. Congress earlier this year passed a bipartisan stimulus package worth around $152B for American citizens. From my calculations, we could build 38 new oil refineries with that same money. Despite it taking many years for a new refinery to begin processing oil, Wall Street and it's investors would likely ditch the oil commodity as hedge for inflation, as speculation is usually what drives the markets and if there's going to be less profit in oil in the future, investors usually run quickly.

So, gas prices come down. Investors will likely find companies and other such things to invest their dollars in. Average citizens will be able to afford the gas they need, allowing extra money for purchases and money to potentially go to into savings accounts (capital for big banks, anyone?), allowing the banks to loan more for large purchases (Ford and GM need some sales?), and allowing the economy to kick back into healthy status.

Ok... Who am I kidding? My plan will most likely never happen. It was a nice thought, though.