There's a reason why the oil companies made record profits and it's because they control the market. We pay what they want, and have no choice. Also the balloon ban isn't banning all balloons it's just the fancy ones that end up in power lines and cause a lot of damage which we pay for in the long run. So what's the problem of getting rid of the balloons? Saving money and the environment, all though the latter might be a problem for someone (oh course not to name names) Finally why can't we blame GWB? The economy has gone to hell in a hand basket over the last 8 yrs! He has one of the LOWEST approval ratings of all time, got us into another pointless never ending war, which has driven up gas prices. So what, maybe GWB hasn't had a little fun behind the desk, at least Clinton didn't tank the economy, if fact he was able to salvage it from GWB's daddy!