Recently, the GOOD website printed up GOOD Sheet #4, a nice graph of where the money given to gas stations goes. (GOOD defies description, but it's pretty good. Check it out.) Hard-copies of the sheet are available at Starbucks, but interested viewers can find an online copy here.

It's worth checking out: in a clear, easy-to-read manner, GOOD shows how the profit on gas is distributed and outlines the major factors that drive price. What it doesn't cover, however, is the ways that oil-producing companies actually use this money. Unfortunately, this is also the most important aspect of the oil market.

Oil is, perhaps, the most effective tool for wealth consolidation in the history of the world. Whether through technological innovation, conflict, or the luck of the draw, certain areas and people have ended up with large amounts of crude petroleum at their disposal.

Want to save money on gas and protest President Bush's policy at the same time? Some say the way to go is Citgo gas. That's because it's a wholly owned subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil company. Yes, that would be the Venezuela currently being run by that nutjob Hugo Chavez, who calls our president "the devil." But still, he is hated by Bush and he is probably the only president who is said to be elected on a platform of using his country's oil revenue to benefit the poor. That's something.

Finding a Citgo gas station isn't hard, since there are about 14,000 of them across the country. According to CommonDreams.org, a left-leaning website, buying your gas at Citgo means you are helping to provide health care, literacy and education to the poor in Venezuela, rather than merely subsidizing rich, fatcat oil companies. One report said that President Chavez is offering gas and heating fuel at low prices this winter to help the poor and needy in this country.

Not everyone is a fan. Check out Citgo Boycott Headquarters for the opposing view. They say Chavez's allies are pro-Communist, and that he sponsors worldwide terrorism. So is Citgo gas really cheaper? And if it is, is it worth buying it? Decide for yourself.