post closed guys....let it go please.
Joeyjoe21_8
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Also, most of these companies are also the producers of the pastics that go into almost everything we buy. The pricing on that plastic follows the price of oil just like gas, but it still has a natural profit margin built in. When companies have to pay too much for their raw materials, they begin looking elsewhere to reduce their costs to stay profitable, like looking at foreign manufacturing, reducing their workforce, decreasing their retirement contributions.
So gas is a great leading indicator, but the affect on our encomony is systemic.
It's not so much price gouging as it is a variety of factors - everything from increasing demand from China and India, to our own Government **** up it's monetary policy. You can also thank the Fed, and Ben Bernanke to a large extent. By keeping interest rates at historic lows, he's contributing to a deflated dollar - which means that a dollar today doesn't buy as much as a dollar yesterday, so we pay even more. Add to that the fact that commodities are rising, food prices are rising, gas is rising, and all Bernanke or Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner can say is "these are just transitory things; they don't count in terms of core inflation". It's real easy to call this crap "transitory" and say it doesn't really matter, when they aren't opening their own wallets to pay for stuff.
The sooner we get rid of our Government that thinks printing money has no consequences, and get one that believes in a strong dollar, the better. Tim Geithner and Bernanke both say "we want a strong dollar", but every action they've taken only pushes the dollar down, making imports more expensive for every taxpayer
EDIT - and $4 bill is nothing - it's not even peanuts - it's eaten, digested, and **** out again peanuts, when we've got a $14 trillion debt, $1.65 trillion deficit for this year alone, and Obama is proposing to increase spendin . . .er, "investments" for next year.
Your so called "privatize" fetish only serves one thing, we have no voice. Yes, how many large corporations really care about us? Sure microsoft and apple make things for consumers but I'm talking about companies that impact our lives, literally. Like oil companies, gas companies, pharmaceuticals, and defense contractors. We are all but lab rats to them. The government is all that we have to stop them and that front line is almost gone. Unless we as a nation wake up and stop voting for people who are shills for their corporate masters.
btw that 4 bill is but that 4 bill could go to help education or construction or other things. There are billions of other dollars out there that could be saved but money cut usually comes from social services and such, not corporate welfare. Hell the GOP stopped bills that were going to end tax cuts for corporations shipping overseas, and give them for staying here hiring American workers. WTF!!! Corporations are doing what they have done for decades in other countries like throughout Asia, Brazil, Mexico - they are destroying our way of life making us poorer and poorer and taking our resources.
the oil company makes about 5 cents or so per gallon. to make that 5 cents they have to spend years looking for oil, drill it, transport that crude oil thousands of miles, refine it, transport it thousands more miles, set up systems to pump it, and get it to you, all while staying within the regulations that the country it is in has set up for the entire system.
on the other hand, the government makes about 50 to 90 cents a gallon off of the same oil and all they have to do is slap a tax on it then sit back and condemn the company for making it so expensive. not to mention the corporate taxes they collect from them as well on the other end.
where is the gouging here?
I do not wonder why gas is so expensive. I wonder why the government is making it worse.
That said, $4 bill is nothing; see my EDIT comment in previous post. Compared to our debt and deficits, that $4 bill is nothing buy a distraction so Obama can make up a straw man villain for his re-election. He can't run on his record, so he's going to make up straw men to knock down
everyone else....As for the 4 billion in subsidies...yes its only 4 bill out of a trillion, but hey, could that 4 billion be put towards better things such as Veteran care for our military, to pay down our deficit, education, etc.....1 penny is a penny at the end of a day, save it up over time, and then see how many pennys u got....in other words, money is money no matter how big or small u look at it.
Like I said, the $4 bill is a distraction by Obama so he can point the finger at "those evil oil companies" and get himself re-elected, even as GE, a multi-billion dollar corp, paid no taxes - and oh yeah, it just so happens GE's CEO is part of Obama's administration.
But pay no attention to the guy behind the curtain, ignore the crony capitalism, ignore the tens of billions being doled out to well-connected friends of the administration, ignore the plummeting dollar, rising food prices, rising commodity prices and reckless Fed monetary policy - those evil oil corporations are the root of all the nations problems; if we only eliminated those $4 bill in subsidies, that'll solve all our nations high gas problems.
EDIT - And let's not forget candidate Obama saying that gas prices will necessarily need to rise to $8/gallon in order to force people to stop buying SUV's and buy more compacts. How Obama has shut down Gulf oil production and barred not only drilling - oil companies aren't even allowed to use seismic mapping of the east coast to find out how much oil is there. No, it's all those evil oil companies, just gouging us with their $0.05 profit margins
We've all been duped.
When Obama points the finger at big oil, three fingers are pointing right back at him. Don't take big oil's money, drill for oil and stop bedding down with ME oil barons...... Then I'll listen to what Obama has to say about the issue.
This is part of the reason the left has had such an easy time demonizing the oil companies with the American people. I've grown up with everyone in my family working in the oil and gas business at every level from the top down. People don't understand that the oil companies DO NOT SET THE PRICE OF OIL. In fact they have very little to do with the price, which is set by investors and commodities speculators. Also the sales of oil is a very complicated process with so much government red tape and B.S. that it is very easy for someone to tell a small portion of the story and make it look like the oil companies are **** everyone. People need to learn what they are talking about before making such insanely false comments.
EDIT - Puro beat me to it
Too many people in this country are jealous that someone else is more successful than them - instead of trying harder to better their own lot in life, they'd rather drag someone else down, and it just ain't right; it's even worse when we get politicians who agree with that sentiment, and instead of trying to lift all boats, they demagogue and try to drag the successful people down until everyone's mediocre.
Nietzsche said it best, "Politicians divide men into two categories - tools and enemies"
And yes the analogy I used was stolen from the late economist Milton Friedman. Not trying to take credit for it, just believe it is very relevant. I just don't see the wealthy as this evil club of people who try to keep everyone else down...
+ 1 on that I have a friend that OWns several Oil and gass companys in Northeast Ohio.. yes they are Filthy Rich ...... But its sure not from the Gas Per Say... and they are regulated and taxed todeath..... this is just the kind of stuff that makes him crazy!
I say just start drilling - offshore, ANWR, etc (for that matter, why the hell are we giving subsidies to Brazil to drill for oil?) and force any oil company that wants to drill to sign a contract that says they'll foot 100% of the bill if anything goes wrong - no caps on damages, no indemnity, or anything like that. If they screw up, they pay for everything. If our politicians had had the political will to drill 5 yrs ago, we'd be seeing the benefits by now
Absent that, natural gas would be much easier to transition to instead of hydrogen - the US has some of the worlds largest reserves.
P.S. Thanks for keeping it mature rather than verbally assaulting people. Classy!