http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051109/ap_on_bi_ge/congress_oil
They will weasle their way out of it, it’s all bullshit
My feeling is this… Gas prices are high, profits are high, there is a descrepency somewhere, who can find it. It’s like playing, “Where’s Waldo” on a deserted island…
Um… their only legal obligation is to make profits for share holders.
Unless I missed something ?
Thank you Jack, finally someone who sees it realisticly. Its a business, they have no obligation to cater to the people in general. Step off of your little pedestals in with you think the world owes you something, believe me, it doesn’t.
You can’t jack up the price of gasoline because your stockholders demand higher profits. It’s not like people have some abundant alternative so that’s why I think it’s bullshit.
So it’s OK for Big Oil to charge whatever the fuck they want for gasoline and crude, huh? You’re not pissed that the oil companies have reach record profits and it’s costing YOU more money? If there was an alternative to gasoline that was readily available, fine, charge as much as you want but getting into Monopoly territory is fucking bullshit.
All I am saying is that if there is a crisis on oil and you are making RECORD PROFITS, something isn’t right man…
I guess I’ll get off my pedestal now and sulk because I really am not going to get that check from “The World” that I think is owed to me… :bloated:
you are 100% right, jack…
only problem is, government and legislators have a responsibility to prevent or mitigate environments that support the formation of trusts and monopolies. right now, there are very few oil companies that supply petroleum products, especially gas, to everyone. therefore, what is the incentive for these companies to undercut eachother with price wars? fact is, the only incentive is for them to keep their prices comparable, that way they all share in the profits…
only problem i see is that regulatory agencies have dropped the ball on this one… there should be some type of fixed profit margin so that companies minimize earnings volatility and maintain profit above a certain percentage of their costs… that way, prices at the pump truly reflect cost fluctuations, and not the systematic increasing of profits for the oil industry…
I agree 100% Without some sort of regulation, these fuckers can get away with murder…
I would have no problem with big oil getting huge profits as long as it was because there was a Hummer in every driveway not because they overpriced things beyond logistical sanity.
The problem with this ‘inquisition’ is that the Oil Companies have as true a monopoly as has ever been seen. I dont forsee the legislature really taking any (serious) corrective measures.
Monopolies are bad… mmmmkay?
Too many politicians cough Bush cough are involved so it wouldn’t be in thier interest to cut them down… Oh well…
I’m the fucking man thats why 
Actually… if your so hurt by the price gouging… boycott it. And tell your friends to boycott it…
oh, thats not gonna work.
its not up to us as individuals to take care of this shit, cause 1 person can’t start a revolution. This is why “we” vote… and have 1 person who stands for many people… but who do we have representing the people? Oh yeah… someone with their hands in oil… great move America… fucking genious.
Why don’t I vote? Cause I’m realistic, in a world full of dreamers.
:bloated:
Is that supposed to be serious?
Yes. It is.
Good thing there isn’t a monopoly on your internet usage or you’d be FUCKED!!!
Maybe…
Yes because its Big Oil your dealing with… can we live without Mexico? Yup. Can we live without gas/oil/plastic? Nope.
Yes because it is not our individual responsibility… the people making the $$ and the decisions for us… they are directly responsible for looking out for us… if they allow gas prices to soar… it is their fault, not ours (by ours I mean people who voted for someone that doesn’t have their hands in the oil money)
No because of course a revolution can be started by one person… it has to start somewhere right?
No because if you, or this whole forum boycotted big oil, not only woould we screw ourselves, but big oil would not feel the effects at all.
so… maybe
Actually there kinda is. My demand > dial up … but DSL is not available in my area.
Just because there isn’t anything ONE person can do, it doesn’t mean it’s not wrong. I am a slave to gasoline prices, but that doesn’t mean that them getting huge profits is right.
I can see both sides of this. It does sting when we’re paying a lot more than we’re used to for gas and seeing that big oil is profiting big time. I don’t fully understand how the price of a barrel of crude is set but it does seem that the slightest bad news causes it to skyrocket while taking much longer to come back down. But on the flip side oil companies are like any other company, charging what the consumer will pay for a product.
If you want to see gas prices go down there are only two variables to work with, supply and demand. In the past couple months we’ve seen a reduction in our demand now that the peak summer usage period has passed and an increase in our supply as refineries come back online. The result? Gas prices have dropped considerably and will continue doing so. Yesterday the station at Main and Youngs was 2.57, today it’s 2.53. It’s a double edged sword though because all those cars that were just barely crawling at 3.50 a gallon fighting for every MPG are hammer down again at 2.50.
Looking out over the vast parking lot of National Fuel I still see a whole lot of large cars, trucks and SUV’s. Most of them will head out at 5pm with one person in each car. So my question is why should big oil lower their prices when the consumer has done basically nothing to lower their demand?
As a single consumer you do have quite a bit of choice, but none of them are as painless as saying, “fuck them, make them lower the price so I don’t have to change anything”. You could get a hybrid, take public transportation, move closer to your work, stop taking pointless joyrides, walk or ride a bike when it’s nice out and carpool. Plan your week out better so you do all your shopping in one trip. At your house you could spend some real money on energy efficient upgrades instead of doing that motor swap for your car. As an individual if you did all these things you’d save a TON on energy, but it requires a lot of change. If everyone did it next year big oil wouldn’t have these record profits and the government wouldn’t have to step in at all.
And the next person that says, “we should make them take those profits and build more capacity” should be kicked in the sack once for every penny a gallon of gas costs. The oil companies have been trying to build new refineries for years but aren’t allowed to because of environmental regulations.
Didn’t we try a windfall profit tax and more of these great new ideas from the Democrats in the past? Oh right, we did, in the 70’s and it led to gas outages and an energy crisis. Oh how quickly we forget the past.
Catchy little jingle can be found here:
http://www.techcentralstation.com/the70sbunch.html
And the next person that says, “we should make them take those profits and build more capacity” should be kicked in the sack once for every penny a gallon of gas costs. 
The oil companies have been trying to build new refineries for years but aren’t allowed to because of environmental regulations.
Didn’t we try a windfall profit tax and more of these great new ideas from the Democrats in the past? Oh right, we did, in the 70’s and it led to gas outages and an energy crisis. Oh how quickly we forget the past.
Catchy little jingle can be found here:
http://www.techcentralstation.com/the70sbunch.html :lol: