For all you oil alarmists and fern fondlers...

[AchilleLauro]

http://www.opinionjournal.com/weekend/hottopic/?id=110007377

 

[sstearns2]

First off, the editorial page of the WSJ is a propoganda arm of the GOP and is not known for being factually accurate.

http://mediamatters.org/archives/search.html?string=wsj

We will assess at another time the many dreadful ideas--price controls and "windfall profit" taxes--that Congress is considering to deal with the energy crisis. But for today it is sufficient to note that the free market will deliver oil, electricity and other forms of energy at declining prices in the future, if only the government will let the market's benign and productive forces work their magic.

The 'free market' is what allows the oil companies to raise prices with impunity and make huge profits. The 'free market' is what allowed the Enron and other companies to manipulate the electricity market and make huge profits. The 'free market' is transferring a huge amount of wealth from the vast majority of the country to the top 0.1%.

Who would price controls and 'windfall profit' taxes on gasoline be 'dreadful' for? Certainly not you or I. It would be 'dreadful' for the oil company executive and their shareholders. That's who the GOP is working for, not you or I.


Scott

 

[AchilleLauro]

First off, the editorial page of the WSJ is a propoganda arm of the GOP and is not known for being factually accurate.
Scott

Hmmm, that's funny. Here's was AccuracyInMedia has to say about the WSJ...

"Unlike the editorial pages of most newspapers, they publish editorials and columns that provide both good factual information and analysis of serious subjects solidly based on facts."

 

[semperfido]

WSJ is the only paper i subscribe to. it is kinda like IMUS--an acquired taste

 

[Dangerkitty]

First off, the editorial page of the WSJ is a propoganda arm of the GOP and is not known for being factually accurate.

http://mediamatters.org/archives/search.html?string=wsj



The 'free market' is what allows the oil companies to raise prices with impunity and make huge profits. The 'free market' is what allowed the Enron and other companies to manipulate the electricity market and make huge profits. The 'free market' is transferring a huge amount of wealth from the vast majority of the country to the top 0.1%.

Who would price controls and 'windfall profit' taxes on gasoline be 'dreadful' for? Certainly not you or I. It would be 'dreadful' for the oil company executive and their shareholders. That's who the GOP is working for, not you or I.


Scott

Great quotes direct from the Liberal Handbook of Socialist Ideas.

I guess simple economics is a foreign concept to you.

Supply and demand couldn't be the reason that Gas is $3.00 a gallon could it?

 

[TonyC]

Supply and demand couldn't be the reason that Gas is $3.00 a gallon could it?

The gas companies are using a different version of that theory these days. They supply the gas and demand 3 bucks in return.







.

 

[semperfido]

there does seem to be some price gouging going on. glad i don't have a H2

 

[Dangerkitty]

The gas companies are using a different version of that theory these days. They supply the gas and demand 3 bucks in return.







.

Uhhhhh, wha?

 

[Tarzan]

The 'free market' is what allows the oil companies to raise prices with impunity and make huge profits.

Free market? Is that why the gas companies can't build new refineries? Free market? We're here again thanks to government restricting the amount of oil that can be refined.

While the oil companies are making a bunch right now, they will have to spend vast sums on building and maintaining new refineries as well as repairing and maintaining what they have now. Don't buy everything you hear from you Democratic Underground buddies. Don't believe everything you hear from Rush. Somwhere in the middle lies the truth but there is an oil "bubble" right now. No shortage oil but a percieved shortage of it and the knowledge that refineries are operating at about 95% capacity before the hurricanes happened.

Government ain't helping here, only getting in the way. At least they approved the bill to make it easier to build some more refineries.

 

[Dangerkitty]

Free market? Is that why the gas companies can't build new refineries? Free market? We're here again thanks to government restricting the amount of oil that can be refined.

While the oil companies are making a bunch right now, they will have to spend vast sums on building and maintaining new refineries as well as repairing and maintaining what they have now. Don't buy everything you hear from you Democratic Underground buddies. Don't believe everything you hear from Rush. Somwhere in the middle lies the truth but there is an oil "bubble" right now. No shortage oil but a percieved shortage of it and the knowledge that refineries are operating at about 95% capacity before the hurricanes happened.

Government ain't helping here, only getting in the way. At least they approved the bill to make it easier to build some more refineries.

Yeah, what he said.

 

[V-1]

The gas companies are using a different version of that theory these days. They supply the gas and demand 3 bucks in return.
.

No oil company forced Americans to rush out and buy Ford Expeditions, Cadillac Escalades, and Hummers en masse so they could qualify for a tax break created by the present administration.

I suspect no oil company executive forced any soccer moms to drive Grand Cherokees and Yukons around grocery shopping.

I respectfully submit that most of those who don't like paying $3.00/gallon can choose to significantly reduce their consumption. Certainly 12 m.p.g. vehicles are not necessary for the majority of people driving them. Thirty minute commutes to and from work may need to be reevaluated as well.

Here's what I see during my daily thirty minute commute: 95% of the vehicles on the interstate I use are driving 10 - 30 miles above the speed limit. I did that myself before $3.00/gallon gas, and consistently averaged 21 m.p.g. Now I leave home five minutes earlier, drive the speed limit, and get 27 m.p.g. If I'm doing the math correctly, that's better than a 25% improvement in fuel efficiency...or to apply that further...a 75-cent per gallon reduction in price...effectively making $3.00/gallon fuel $2.25/gallon.

I think many people have forgotten about the national emergency speed limit of 55 m.p.h., and the original reason for it.

While changing vehicles or work/home locations may be undesirable for a number of reasons...just driving the speed limit can produce significant, immediate savings...just think what would happen to gasoline prices if everyone reduced their consumption by 15%-25%.

Because I believe this is unlikely, with the attitude we Americans have that we are entitled...by birthright or diving blessing...to purchase gasoline for $1.00/gallon, I have chosen, as anyone can, to invest in the petroleum industry. If you can't beat them (or more likely are unwilling to)...join them.

I guess with the average savings rate in this country at less than 1% of income...something else might be required for many to take advantage of the idea presented in the above paragraph...

But that's another post entirely.

 

[TonyC]

No oil company forced Americans to rush out and buy Ford Expeditions, Cadillac Escalades, and Hummers en masse so they could qualify for a tax break created by the present administration.

Gasoline did not sell for $3 when the business tax break for business vehicles encouraged some people to buy Hummers. I don't recall that Expeditions and Escalades tipped the scales at the required curb weight. If they did, you missed the Suburbans and Excursions, too.


I don't know of many people who have the luxury of changing vehicles or job locations from week to week. Were this true, we could certainly change our gasoline demands quickly to respond to the changing gas prices. Even so, I doubt we could keep up with prices changing 3 or more times A DAY. The gasoline supplier has the upper hand in this relationship any way you measure it.



Even your efforts to reduce your consumption through driving habits are the result of the gasoline companies' demands for higher dollars per gallon. They are driving the bus, you only decide which stops you use. Yes, I remember the national speed limit, and I recall it being based on politics, and not science. Vehicles that are designed to cruise at 65 mph do not save money by cruising at 55 mph. Why do people think that black numbers on a white sign on the roadside are going to change the physics of combustion in the engine?


Do you check your tire pressures every day? I'll bet not. Do you realize that underinflated tires can decrease your gas mileage significantly? How dare you drive without checking your tire pressures! How wasteful! You DESERVE to pay every penny the gas companies charge you for your shameful excesses.








.

 

[Sig]

While the oil companies are making a bunch right now, they will have to spend vast sums on building and maintaining new refineries as well as repairing and maintaining what they have now.

Uhh, so when gas is 'selling' at an all time high, so go record profits?

Vast sums and other chimaeras are worthless doublespeak. Fact is:

Oil Majors' 1st-Quarter Earnings Shoot Up

Higher Crude Prices Leave Exxon Mobil, Others Awash in Cash

By Justin Blum
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 29, 2005; Page E01
As consumers struggle with high gasoline prices, Exxon Mobil Corp. announced yesterday that its revenue totaled more than $82 billion in the first three months of the year.
The world's largest publicly traded oil company boosted its profit by 44 percent, to $7.86 billion, from the corresponding quarter a year ago. That left Exxon with a cash hoard of $30 billion.


http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/photo/largerPhoto/images/enlarge_tab.gifhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2005/04/28/PH2005042801907.jpgCrude oil prices around $50 a barrel pushed up retail gasoline prices in the first quarter. They also helped Exxon Mobil raise its profit 44 percent. (By Donna Mcwilliam -- Associated Press)

So I guess a 30B cash hoard against a 44 percent profit margin increase isn't enough to improve the devastation Katrina wrought? One GINORMOUS "vast sum" overlooked is the total time Exxon proposed production in the G. o' Mex would be "hampered":

... several days.

Ya know,

eh, nevermind.

 

[V-1]

At least there's one industry out there that knows how to earn a profit...sell a product for more than it costs to produce it.

Perhaps prior to taking the easy way out by filing bankruptcy, these airline C.E.O.'s should be required to do an internship at Exxon, Chevron, etc.

 

[Sig]

At least there's one industry out there that knows how to earn a profit...sell a product for more than it costs to produce it.

Perhaps prior to taking the easy way out by filing bankruptcy, these airline C.E.O.'s should be required to do an internship at Exxon, Chevron, etc.

Mmmokay,

but two things really should kinda, you know, make you... think.

1. This is gouging. Keynes et. al would agree.
2. Ahh, if your airline (or aviation employer) had a history of huge gains yet passed the buck onto the consumer and claimed cost of doing bidness has riz, where would the isostatic balance rejoin this thing we call reality? Bankruptcy is irrelevant. Competition doesn't exist (dontcha dare try to argue this) in the energy sector right now.

ya know,

eh, nevermind (again).