Price Gouging Hearings, The Sequel: Will Oil Executives Swear To Tell The Truth?
Price Gouging Hearings, The Sequel: Will Oil Executives Swear To Tell The Truth?
Today, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) released a joint letter with House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) calling for congressional investigations into possible price gouging by oil companies:
We believe that protecting American consumers in these unprecedented market conditions is of paramount importance. […] Consistent with our constitutional authority, we will ask the committees of jurisdiction to conduct oversight of these important questions.
Congress should investigate gasoline price gouging, but it is unclear whether Frist will follow through. Frist called for similar oversight last year in the wake of rising post-Katrina gas prices:
If there are those who abuse the free enterprise system to advantage themselves and their businesses at the expense of all Americans, they ought to be exposed, and they ought to be ashamed. […] So today, I am asking the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee to hold a joint hearing to examine the reasons behind today’s high energy prices.
The Senate Energy and Commerce held hearings in which executives from Exxon and Chevron tried to defend their companies’ record profits. Yet committee chairman Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) refused to swear them in, and in the end, nothing was accomplished.
The American people deserve better this time around. If hearings do occur, these oil CEOs should be called in as witnesses, but they should be required to tell Americans the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about their business practices.
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I’ll believe it when I see it. And I won’t be holding my breath this time either…
April 24th, 2006 at 5:58 pmThey will tell the truth as well as Bush and Cheney did before the run up to the Iraqi invasion….and will get as much congressional investigations if they are caught…. like Bush and Cheney’s statements have been disproven…..
April 24th, 2006 at 6:01 pmThey will tell the truth just like Alberto Gonzales on the NSA wiretapping program.
Oh yeah, he didn’t get sworn in and didn’t tell the truth.
Can you say lip service to try and get back some votes? I know I can.
April 24th, 2006 at 6:03 pmSpudge I think Clinton actually got nmore out of the lip service he went after than Bush will get out of the lip service he is going after(I also think Clinton enjoyed his more too)
April 24th, 2006 at 6:06 pmI wish Bush would get some lip service. Then we could impeach him. You know how bad blow jobs are.
April 24th, 2006 at 6:08 pmYou know how bad blow jobs are.
Comment by Spudge_Boy — April 24, 2006 @ 6:08 pm
That is something I never thought I’d hear a guy say!
Sorry… I know, out of context… an insane need to make jokes. :)
April 24th, 2006 at 6:11 pm#5 – Who do you think we could get to do it?
April 24th, 2006 at 6:12 pm#6 orry… I know, out of context… an insane need to make jokes. :)
It’s cause I wasn’t in this thread to fill that need yet.
So what about their profit margins being comparable over the past 1-2 years?
April 24th, 2006 at 6:14 pmRice did refer to Bush as her husband once. Now that would be great. Not only would bush be cheating on his wife, but the closet racist side of the republican party would be might pissed off. The only better candidate I could think of would Clarence Thomas. Then you are rid of Bush and a whacko supreme court justice.
April 24th, 2006 at 6:15 pmunbelievable,
Yes, I forgot the /sarcasm switch.
April 24th, 2006 at 6:16 pmWhat about it? They have been gouging us for at least that long if not longer.
April 24th, 2006 at 6:18 pmIt’s cause I wasn’t in this thread to fill that need yet.
Comment by squegeeboo — April 24, 2006 @ 6:14 pm
How do you think I understand that about you? Same need. For me it was a by-product of a dysfunctional family.
April 24th, 2006 at 6:19 pmNovember’s getting closer, let’s make them think we really care. Look, we’ll swear them in… We just won’t ask any meaningful questions. And then we’ll all agree that there is just nothing we can do about it… HEA,HEA,HEA
April 24th, 2006 at 6:20 pmYes, I forgot the /sarcasm switch.
Comment by Spudge_Boy — April 24, 2006 @ 6:16 pm
Probably wouldn’t have detered me if you had ; )
April 24th, 2006 at 6:20 pmThen you are rid of Bush and a whacko supreme court justice.
Comment by Krazny — April 24, 2006 @ 6:15 pm
Hey, I have photoshop on my home computer… Perhaps we can use some neocon tactics to make that suggestion of yours a reality? :)
April 24th, 2006 at 6:21 pmWho gives advise to these guys? What profession is utilized to direct anyone not to take an oath? When is the ABA going to step in and say covering your ass in front of the public is bad precedent?
April 24th, 2006 at 6:25 pmWonder why the President and the V.P. didn’t take an oath before the 911 commision? I don’t. Because they were advised by council. Bill Clinton took an oath and look where it got him. BDF, you out there? Anyone an attorney care to comment?
#8 – So what about their profit margins being comparable over the past 1-2 years?
Comment by squegeeboo
So they’ve been sticking it to us for years, that makes it ok?
April 24th, 2006 at 6:25 pm#5 – Who do you think we could get to do it?
Comment by Zookeeper — April 24, 2006 @ 6:12 pm
Jeff Gannon, of course.
April 24th, 2006 at 6:25 pmBefore I go, I just have more more thing to add.
God damn that’s one ugly son of a bitch in that picture!
April 24th, 2006 at 6:25 pmLook at that guy’s picture.
April 24th, 2006 at 6:27 pmAnother candidate for jowlbangers.com
-Stolen from Jon Stewart
Another reason not to post pictures of oneself in your ThinkProgress/DailyKos diary……
Can we photshop a few of chimpy though?
April 24th, 2006 at 6:28 pmGod damn that’s one ugly son of a bitch in that picture!
Comment by Spudge_Boy — April 24, 2006 @ 6:25 pm
You beat me to it…!!
And just in time for dinner. Later.
April 24th, 2006 at 6:28 pmThis is just more RepubliCon BS. They want to pretend they’re doing something about Americans’ suffering with high gas prices while not actually doing anything.
April 24th, 2006 at 6:31 pmHa! Frist and Hastert calling for hearings — what a laugh! Didn’t we have hearings less than a year ago and no one took the oath.
April 24th, 2006 at 6:34 pmThese are the guys who had secret meetings with Cheney in 2001, and the call for hearings comes from Frist and Hastert, both up for re-election this year — this is a joke. A political move and nothing more.
#23 Dana
I agree, this whole thing is a lot of grandstanding on the part of our elected representatives to make it appear to John Q. Public that they give a rats ass about the price of gasoline. A true test, would be if they actually did anything to lower gas prices, or started funding research etc. for the time being this is all hot air.
April 24th, 2006 at 6:34 pm#17 So they’ve been sticking it to us for years, that makes it ok?
Their profit margins aren’t that high, lower then some major industries, higher then others, roughly .3 cents higher then the average over the past 5 years. Check it out
April 24th, 2006 at 6:34 pmGod damn that’s one ugly son of a bitch in that picture!
Comment by Spudge_Boy
Yeah, but he’s one rich ugly son of a bitch.
April 24th, 2006 at 6:35 pm#19 HELL YEAH!!! he looks like one of those fat things from HITCHHIKER”S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY… LMAO
April 24th, 2006 at 6:38 pmLee Raymond and his $400 million dollar chins.
-GSD
April 24th, 2006 at 6:38 pm#26 – Squeegy, you sent me to an oil company’s website to get *honest* information about their profits? You got some nerve, boy.
April 24th, 2006 at 6:38 pmGod damn that’s one ugly son of a bitch in that picture!
Comment by Spudge_Boy — April 24, 2006 @ 6:25 pm
Funny, Ernest Borgnine said the same thing. :)
April 24th, 2006 at 6:39 pmEven Christ didn’t think sexual based sins were that bad…John 8:3 The experts in the law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught committing adultery. They made her stand in front of them 8:4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of adultery. 8:5 In the law Moses commanded us to stone to death such women. What then do you say?†8:6 (Now they were asking this in an attempt to trap him, so that they could bring charges against him.) Jesus bent down and wrote on the ground with his finger. 8:7 When they persisted in asking him, he stood up straight and replied,“Whoever among you is guiltless may be the first to throw a stone at her.†8:8 Then he bent over again and wrote on the ground.
8:9 Now when they heard this, they began to drift away one at a time, starting with the older ones, until Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 8:10 Jesus stood up straight and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?†8:11 She replied, “No one, Lord.†And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you either. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.â€]]
Too bad they modern loud mouths who pretend they follow Christ don’t actually do as he said. And follow his example…….however cheating the poor and being greedy was something Christ warned against many times
April 24th, 2006 at 6:41 pmAnd no, Frist will not follow through on the hearings or swearing them in, because that’s who he is — Ballfree Kitty Killer Frist.
April 24th, 2006 at 6:44 pmOil Cartel CEOs are always extremely fat and ugly as sin LOL. Perhaps they eat or drink the crude, or just buy so much caviar that it makes them blimps? I do not know how or why they get hired > nobody else would hire someone who looks like the guy in this thread pic!
April 24th, 2006 at 6:44 pmOne of my in-laws worked for an oil company in the 70s, when the Oil crisis was happening , suposedly there was a shortage of gas. He told me and other family members that the company was hoarding gas, storing it in hidden storage tanks, artificially making the crisis worst, in order to raise prices higher. I suspect we have more of the same going on now, but he quit working for big oil back then, out of disgust with what they were doing.
April 24th, 2006 at 6:47 pm#30 “Squeegy, you sent me to an oil company’s website to get *honest* information about their profits? You got some nerve, boy.”
Well who else knows their money then the company itself :)
But most googling turns up, depending on the company 7-9% over the past year, so its up a bit from the numbers they gave on their own website, but still much lower then banking, software, pharm, and a whole bunch of others.
April 24th, 2006 at 6:50 pmWait, I know what’s gonna happen…
Frist is going to see a video of Oil Companies exorbidant profits. He’ll proclaim that they are still clinically alive, and refuse to pull the plug!!!!
April 24th, 2006 at 6:52 pmgood points Spudge_Boy … but please update your blog already lol
April 24th, 2006 at 7:05 pmRead My Lips, or Cheneys, or Rices, or Rummy’s, or Wolfowitz, or Powell, or Libby, or Addington, or George.
I think that their will be many more lies yet to come.
April 24th, 2006 at 7:07 pmI wonder how much of the “record profits” came from selling fuel for the war machine?
Look (smirk) Billions and Billions for me and my Oily friends! (smirk) Tee Hee, Thanks Americuh!
April 24th, 2006 at 7:10 pmAll I know is I want to rub that fat bald (looks like a toupe) mans head, reminds me of Bulldog #1 Art, and Bulldog #2 Ghuckert…and those ears! Why they need a good tugging on towards my manly swagger, hes FaaaBaullouussss!!!
And much prettier than my Ms piggy and Pooty Poot.
April 24th, 2006 at 7:13 pm#30
Anywhere else you go would be a outright lie…so where do we go? Stockholders tend to side with the quarterly reports.
April 24th, 2006 at 7:21 pmI sorry Brien. I have been real busy with work lately, getting ready for InterOp. The other technical person left the company, so I am having to do double duty. There are a lot of topics I want to blog on. I will do something soon. Thanks for reading.
April 24th, 2006 at 7:29 pmI remember when the Oil boys were questioned last year, Gary Ruppert said “leave these guys alone and let them do thier jobs” Where is Gary now?
April 24th, 2006 at 7:37 pmFor Truth,
Please, the NSA is watching. You say the name, they call downstairs and Gary Rupert will be on here in minutes, defending the righteous oil barrons.
April 24th, 2006 at 7:49 pmSqueegy also the OIL companies cherry picked the dates to make their comparisons like using 82-84 to 2005 for the comparison for price rises. simply peak to peak in prices but using 2000-2005 as an average in average profits comparison not the last three years where the have basically skyrocketed, up over 100%, nothing else has risen like that.
April 24th, 2006 at 8:06 pmWhen is the price of Astroglide going up?
-GSD
April 24th, 2006 at 8:19 pm#46
If they used a 5 year reference period it would not be a historic comparison. Oil projects generally have at least that long until they start producing…
You can create any ’start date’ you wish to in order to make the price seem ‘high’ but the truth is that the whining about the price of gas is more emotional than anything. Every company should make money or it should stop operating. Connoco’s web site is accurate, the info is culled from their annual reports, and their industry comparisons are as well.
Also, ‘big oil’ does not control the price of oil. ‘big oil’ is actually very small. Exxon, the largest, accounts for 1% of world production. They are a price taker, not a maker.
The lovely people that have the pricing power are OPEC + Russia.
And finally…the ultimate decision on the price of a standardized barrel of oil is made not by a company but my the market. Yes, what a thought. A market based economy uses a commodities market and their traders to price oil.
So there’s a fear component for sure. Go blame George for that. If he’d start getting real with Iran oil would go back below 70.
April 24th, 2006 at 8:28 pmRIDICULOUS. I’m effing sick and tired of these gas prices. No one should have to pay 80.00 a week to commute to a job that’s 20 min to and from home. I’m cutting into grocery money. Time to start protesting at gas pumps again. It seemed to work the last time.
April 24th, 2006 at 8:43 pmJames my complaint is simply each comparison to prove they are not making extra large profits are using different start dates to minimise the statistical difference, the 82-84 period was the end of the 1979 second OPEC embargo period right before prices fell and the economy picked up. If instead they had used 92-94 the results would have been very different. thus quoting their cherry-picked stats is as dishonest as they are being
April 24th, 2006 at 8:45 pmAnd no, Frist will not follow through on the hearings or swearing them in, because that’s who he is — Ballfree Kitty Killer Frist.
Comment by Zookeeper — April 24, 2006 @ 6:44 pm
Frist will just view a video of some guy filling up his Chevy Suburban at $3.50/gal and say, “He certainly seems to be unaffected by the high gas prices.”
April 24th, 2006 at 8:48 pmIrony: The man who became president illegally, who has been proven to be incompetent, ignorant and arrogant, who has lied us into an illegal war, who has brought us record deficits, who has cut all social programs designed to help the less fortunate (old, young,sick, poor), who has enriched his friends, who has appointed his cronies to high positions to the detriment of Americans — may be brought down by the price of gas at the pump — the oil man being brought down by an oil crisis.
April 24th, 2006 at 8:54 pmEverybody complains and rightfully so. We all have a reason to be concerned and should be heard, but does everyone know WHY NOTHING HAPPENS? The reason is because the corruption system is so vast and powerful we are always going to be overruled. Frankly, if anyone becomes a pain to these people, they have ways of dealing with you, I can certainly vouch for that! Also, some of the OpEdNews people have explained their problems with the Administration threatening them too. But there are other ways they deal with you and this is expected to surface in the future.
But if you become more than a pain to then a serious threat, better run for cover as your life is in danger. I can tell many stories about that too. I also know others who can and some who sadly never made it.
The problem isn’t about hearings and gouging as it’s really about Controlled Organized Corruption ruling and ruining our democratic lives.
April 24th, 2006 at 8:57 pm#46 as an average in average profits comparison not the last three years where the have basically skyrocketed, up over 100%, nothing else has risen like that.
Sure, I get all that Clif, but their profit margins themselves are still only up between 1-4 cents a dollar depending on the numbers you look at, that was really my whole point on this one. That they may be rolling in it, but compared to other big name industries, per dollar earned they make less, and compared to all industry profit margins their barely above the curve.
April 24th, 2006 at 8:59 pmOn NBC news tonight: Reporter Kerry Sanders took a ~600 mile trip from NC to FL to check prices and paid around $2.70 to $2.80/gal each time he filled up. He passed a station selling E85. The price? About $2.30/gal. They were sold out.
April 24th, 2006 at 9:05 pmThe GOP congressional leadership is acting “shocked” at the huge profits about to be announced by the oil cos. after 1st quarter of 06 ended. They we not so shocked 3 months ago or so when they had their first “hearings”. I believe they are “shocked”, not by profits, but by BushCo’s sinking poll numbers, which have fallen to around 32%, and their chances for re-election suddenly do not appear so automatic.
So in true GOP fashion we lok to hang our energy problems on somebody, anybody but the Government. Couln’t be our energy policy…naw…didn’t think so.
April 24th, 2006 at 9:09 pmForgot to mention that if you’ve been reading the news, you should remember that Frist has had a few problems and Dennis Hastert is alleged to be involved in corruption too. (I’m not going to talk about what I know about Hastert, so we’ll have to wait on this.) So when the Republicans are looking really bad, as they are now. It’s always a good idea to go after big money especially when it’s been so obvious to us all. Gee, could it be that maybe this was a setup from the beginning? Where Corrupt Oil groups along with Corrupt Politicians decided to create something, so a big stir could happen leaving those involved (Republicans) looking good?
April 24th, 2006 at 9:11 pmWell, I think you guys are too harsh on the big oil companies.
After all, if they’re going to pension off their departing CEOs with
a $400 million severance package, like Exxon/Mobil did this month,
the money has to come from somewhere. Paying more at the pump
helps cover that legitimate cost, right?
I pulled together some information about the sweetheart relationship
Exxon/Mobil has with powerful incumbents, thanks to political donations.
I posted that on an ActBlue page at :
http://www.actblue.com/page/Defeat+Exxon+PAC%27s+incumbents
You might want to have a look at it. It might explain
why the big oil companies may feel they have little to fear from
a toothless window-dressing Congressional hearing on price-gouging.
They keep key members of Congress paid off, by siphoning off
the spare change from excess profits, and dumping it
into the re-election troughs of congressvarmints.
The info, by the way, is drawn from FEC filings by Exxon/Mobil’s political PAC.
April 24th, 2006 at 9:11 pmIt’s not leftist ravings. It’s disclosure by Exxon’s own PAC.
#54 Their reporting of 1-4 cents increase of reported profits on a stock statement leaves out the 400 million severance package for an out going CEO which on a stock statement is a “cost”, thus lowers the “profit” (except for the stock holding CEO), there are many other ways to manupliate the Numbers on accounting statements to make large like cherry picking where and when to apply charges, etc. The website is pure propoganda…..
April 24th, 2006 at 9:25 pmSpoken like a union man Clif,there are no financial statements produced by any company which aren’t propaganda,right?
April 24th, 2006 at 9:38 pmWow! They must be worried about Midterm elections if they actually want to pretend to investigate their constituents…
April 24th, 2006 at 9:38 pmTJM, have you never met a CPA? How about a tx attourney?
The entire purpose of ANY financial report is to try to paint the best possible picture to the stockholders, while at the same time painting the bleakest possible picture for the governments & specifically the IRS’s purposes.
Welcome to this world. I’m surprised you aren’t already familiar with these things.
April 24th, 2006 at 10:22 pmNever been in any Union cept the US Army, but the web site is very biased with cherry picked facts and comparisons….if distorting the facts is common practice no wonder the “leaders” of industry have such a hard time understanding the Americann people they think that the only way to get much from the man on the street is distortion and manipulation…kinda like faux news corp.
April 24th, 2006 at 10:32 pmI know you meant that as a joke, right?
April 24th, 2006 at 10:38 pmSorry James OPEC controls 40% of the oil the rest is controled by the big oil companys (Exxon, Shell, Total etc) and they are verticaly structure so they have the control on the exploration, the raffining and the pump. Also the speculators are having a large say about the price you pay.
April 24th, 2006 at 11:15 pmIf Bush wanted to he could lower the price of gasoline with a few phones calls to his Oil Cartel CEO buddies, but that would mean less profits for his daddy who has tons of oil stocks himself!
April 24th, 2006 at 11:32 pmBush clan makes money from Big Oil, so they could care less if average Americans starve to death from paying high prices at the pumps! America is controlled by the Big 5 Oil companies
and they even get our government to invade nations like Iraq to steal petroleum for them!
Is it just me or is this the ultimate in Elitism? Oaths what a joke. Now the leaders of Corporations are held to an insulated standard, not just the corporations themselves. This administration has made a mockery of the rule of law. Why aren’t attorneys complaining about this ridicule of the publics right to transparency in government? The cynical public has every right to be. I guess the management of the people’s business is just too complex these days for decorum and precedent to be maintained. We are all players in consumption, but I guess when it comes to open government let’s not leave it to the public, it just gets too messy. Oh, that’s right , we’re not a democracy were a republic. Let’s see if oversight by this congress really is an oxymoron.I guess the stock market trumps smaller government and the rule of law any day huh? To para phrase John Goodman in Raising Arizona, “Those are some mighty fine principles you got there Miss Mcdounha”
April 24th, 2006 at 11:34 pmOh, Tracy, now you know why so many investors get screwed. As an accountant there is no way I would trust accountants to tell the truth about profit margins!!!
April 24th, 2006 at 11:39 pmWith gasoline prices skyrocketing around the country, a spate of opinion polls show that President Bush is running on empty with the American people. The new CNN/Gallup/USA Today survey puts Bush’s approval rating at a dismal 32%. Perhaps even more glaring, a staggering 69% of respondents claimed that gas prices constituted a financial hardship.
But if Bush is being punished for high energy costs, he has only himself to blame. This May 7, 2001 response by then press secretary Ari Fleischer captures the malign neglect that is the Bush energy policy:
For the full story, see:
April 25th, 2006 at 1:15 am“That’s a Big No: Bush, Gas Prices and the Polls.”
Spoken like a union man Clif,there are no financial statements produced by any company which aren’t propaganda,right?
Comment by TJM — April 24, 2006 @ 9:38 pm
Enron. Next question?
April 25th, 2006 at 3:40 am”They get together, reduce the supply of oil, and that drives up prices.”
– Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., calling for a windfall profits tax on oil companies via aol
This is one of the few times I can agree with Arlen Rubber Stamp Specter.
This is exactly why gas prices has shot through the roof. These Big Oil boys are part of OPEC .They slow down production to a dribble and profits go into Orbit.
I don’t believe bush/cheney is going to do anything as they are also profiting from the squeeze of eveyone on the global market.
April 25th, 2006 at 7:31 amBush orders gasoline price probe
Spokesman: ‘We’re acting to ensure there’s no price gouging’
Tuesday, April 25, 2006; Posted: 7:44 a.m. EDT (11:44 GMT)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush, under pressure about high gasoline prices, has ordered an investigation into possible cheating in the markets.
During the last few days, Bush asked his Energy and Justice departments to open inquiries into whether the price of gasoline has been illegally manipulated, said White House press secretary Scott McClellan. Bush planned to announce the action Tuesday during a speech in Washington at 10:05 a.m. ET.
It’s unclear what impact, if any, Bush’s investigation would have on prices that are near $3 a gallon. Asked whether Bush had any reason to suspect market manipulation, McClellan responded, “Well, gas prices are high right now, and that’s why you want to make sure there’s not.”
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/25/bush.ap/index.html
April 25th, 2006 at 8:06 am[...] Don’t hold your breath. They would rather act as if the oil companies set the prices even to the point of investigating oil company price gouging. Umm, correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure oil prices are set by the market. [...]
April 25th, 2006 at 8:08 am#72
If memory serves, in a debate for presidential candidates in 2000, Steve Forbes asked G.W. if he were president, what he would do to lower high gasoline prices at the time. W’s answer? Drill for more natural gas.
April 25th, 2006 at 9:04 amOnly in America can the Elephant Man retire with 400 million dollars of stolen money comfortably. Ahh, what a country.
April 25th, 2006 at 9:36 am#68
Again, where do you go to get accurate reports on profit margins for a company like Exxon/Mobile, if not from their forecasters?
April 25th, 2006 at 9:38 amWe all know that it is price gouging, dont we?
On CNN early this morning there was a report that about 3 service stations in San Diego were closing down today to protest. The reason – the stations were being asked to pay 40 cents a gallon more for gas than the Exxon station a block away.
So, as far as I am concerned, this is proof that the oil companies are manipulating the prices for profit. This went on several years ago, the pukes called for investigations that never came.
So – dont expect anything from the Frist effort to build up the puke parties supposed interest in the welfare of the amukan consumer.
April 25th, 2006 at 9:42 amGreat article by Neil Cavuto about the real problem with gas prices – the government.
April 25th, 2006 at 9:55 amBush is completely controlled by the Oil Cartels so it’s NOT possible for him to investigate the Oil/Gasoline industry! His so-called probe is just a diversion to claim that he is doing something when actually he will do NOTHING! The Big 5 oil companies in the US might lower the pump prices slightly for a few weeks, so their stooge dummy Dubya can claim he twisted their arms to lower the price! Petroleum CEOs are swindlers and should all be hanged for it!
April 25th, 2006 at 10:09 amLook, it is a combination of things. Some we can influence, some, we can’t.
We can’t influence the worlds consumption. With China and India starting to take more of the demand/supply, the price will rise.
We can look at what has happened out here in CA as an example of what we CAN do. 20 years ago we used to have 35 refineries located around the state, churning out gas for the CA market (and some export to close areas). Now we have about half that number actually producing gas. The others were bought by other oild compainies and mothballed. They all say they did it for “business” reasons, but it’s obvious, they wanted to limit supply & drive up the price.
We can influence price based on that type of scenerio by not allowing businesses to consolidate and mothball essential industries. That’ll also take some of the speculation dollars out of the deal, because there would be less profit associated with higher competition.
My own desire….Get a battery operated car that’ll run 500 miles without having to be re-charged and do away with combustion engines for small vehicles all together. Unfortunately, one of the first things King dumbya did when he took office was to strip that kind of research funding from the budget. Gee, I wonder why he did that? What do you think?
April 25th, 2006 at 10:17 amThe pic of the OIL CEO on this thread reminds of Jubba the Hut from the Star Wars movies > lol. What a fat ugly whale > mirrors in the next room shatter from that guy! No more pics of oil creeps please!
April 25th, 2006 at 10:22 amIf they’re not going to “swear” them in, then don’t even bother! Of course, lying while giving testimony means nothing to them. One of the most cardinal sins in my family was lying. Too bad these people weren’t raised in families with real moral values!
April 25th, 2006 at 1:38 pmI wonder if government would be willing to reduce the taxes on gasoline if it is found that the oil companies are not gouging? We are all aware here that the government makes far more money on a gallon of gas than the oil companies do.
April 25th, 2006 at 2:23 pmLee Raymond has got to be the most evil hairlip in world history!
April 25th, 2006 at 6:44 pm[...] Blog Name: Think Progress Article Title: Price Gouging Hearings, The Sequel: Will Oil Executives Swear To Tell The Truth? Today, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) released a joint letter with House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) calling for congressional investigations into possible price gouging by oil companies: We believe that protecting American consumers in t… [...]
June 14th, 2006 at 10:22 am