Both, to varying degrees.

Some of the taxes we pay on petrol may be dedicated to alternative energy and other "green" projects, but a much larger part goes to infrastructure construction and maintenance (some of which, like roads, makes good sense), or are simply used for general purposes. In most of Europe, at least, you can always use the argument that more taxes on petrol are a good thing, because they also serve to curb fuel consumption, which is good for the environment, right? Can't argue against doing well to the environment. Except that demand for fuel is terribly un-elastic, in the short term at least. Which is to say that if prices rise sharply, demand does not plunge accordingly, and vice versa. (Just ask fett how much less he used his car after the price increased by 50% within 3 months.) So that argument is dodgy at best, but people buy it, or at least grudgingly accept it.

So car owners have become cash-cows for the governments in Europe, to a larger degree than in the USA because a) voters there are much more tax-averse generally, b) environmental (if somewhat phony) arguments don't count as much there, and c) you do have a different geography, after all.

As for the oil price: Oil is easily the most important commodity in the world, and the most politicized. Oil is the one thing that everything else in our economy depends on. As it happens, most of the world's oil is consumed by Western or westernised industrial countries while at the same time most of it is sold by countries that have few other valuable exports, and are also politically volatile. So many of these countries joined OPEC for more bargaining power, only they can never agree on how much they think a barrel of oil should cost, because there's always too much politics involved. Some of the biggest oil exporters aren't members either, so OPEC can't freely dictate the oil prices, anyway. In recent years, China has been increasing its demand for oil vastly, so everyone is extracting on max capacity now and they still can't satisfy the worldwide demand. Iraq is in a complete chaos, Iran is being threatend with embargo, Nigeria is troubled by political unrest directly related to the distribution of oil revenues, etc.

In short, the markets are jittery as hell. The oil price has been fluctuating for decades, petrol prices have been swinging accordingly, and the oil companies have been making money anyway. Only they'd prefer it if the price would remain predictable and stable on a high level. Of course they're making more money than you can shake a stick at, and everyone in the business are riding the gravy train. But when you're saying they're "getting rich off the rest of the nation" you seem to imply a degree of sinister manipulation and control which isn't there.

Anyway, what do you guys call gas over there - the sort that comes down a pipeline and allows ovens to run, I mean?

For one, fuck you very much for generalizing.

Gas costs me enough to keep me from getting my car fixed -- and it's no guzzler, but it could be a lot better. IF I COULD AFFORD TO GET IT FIXED. It's a goddamn Neon, for Christ's sake. I give the finger every time I see a Hummer driving around. It's not a matter of "yanks" being all cowboys who run around shooting their guns in the air and smoking gasoline-doped cigars and bathing in gasoline and having gasoline spending parties.

Yeah, we have our share of dumbfucks. You have CHAVS. Not sure what's worse...

Coopers are goddamn ugly. All the fuel efficiency in the world wouldn't get me behind the wheel of one of those.