But it's hard to see what Gore's villains have done to deserve being strung up. Faulting their alleged sins without acknowledging their contributions to our welfare and happiness is like visiting the beach and noticing only the sunburns, not the sand or the water. Big Oil's crime has been to provide American motorists with an abundance of cheap fuel for decades. Even with this year's high prices on the world market, gasoline is still about the cheapest liquid you can buy, available at prices that, in real terms, are more than a third lower than they were in 1981. And Big Oil's profits during the last two decades have lagged well behind the average for U.S. companies.
Pharmaceutical manufacturers do indeed make better profits than most other industries.
Partly because our patent laws are designed to assure good returns to people who come up with important inventions and discoveries. If Ford makes an SUV, there is nothing to stop General Motors from offering its own version. But as long as its patent is in effect, only Pfizer can sell the impotence drug Viagra or the anti-cholesterol medicine Lipitor. We arrange things this way on purpose, to promote a continuing stream of new drugs. Another reason the industry is doing well is that many illnesses and ailments that used to be treated through surgery, if at all, can now be remedied with a pill.