Discussion: Gas Prices

[Matt]

Sorry for stealing your thread theme, Themarx

The national average reached a record high today. Do you believe our government has an obligation to step in? If so, how? Should they cap costs? Should they open the reserve? Should they allow drilling in Alaska?

Is it disconcerning to anyone else that no politican seems to give a damn about this when prices at the pumps are severely hurting the middle class families?

Politicans say they want to help, but do nothing. Some will argue that it is beyond their control, but I personally think the answer is simple: LOSE THE TARIFF Right now the government is taxing 54 cents per gallon on imported ethanol. That directly effects the cost at the pump. The new national average is 3.22. The highest in our nations history. If you take away the 54 cent tariff, suddenly we are only paying 2.68 a gallon. Pricey? Yes. Still a huge relief. It is the difference between paying 26.80 for 10 gallons of gas and 32.20. Thats nearly 6 extra dollars when you fill up. May not seem like much, but it adds up.

What are your thoughts?

 

[hippie_hunter]

I think we should be investigating into the oil companies because it's blatantly obvious that price gouging is going on here.

 

[Matt]

I think we should be investigating into the oil companies because it's blatantly obvious that price gouging is going on here.

Amen to that, but the politicans are too deep in the pockets of the oil companies. What are your thoughts on the tariff?

 

[The Senator]

Weren't they talking about capping gas prices at $3 a gallon after Hurricane Katrina hit? Apparently that never happened...

 

[bell110]

Like I said before, the only way the American people are going to demand change is if you hit them in the wallet. Getting rid of the tariff would only be a small and probably temporary change.

 

[SuBe]

I'll give you my thoughts, as unpopular as it may be:

1. Oil companies should not be "Investigated". They already were investigated in 2003 I believe, and no foul was found. That would be a waste of Tax Dollars.

2. All Oil Corporate Tax Rates should be lifted, as Oil is a necessity. Corporate Taxes are not paid by the Corporation, ALL Corporate Taxes are passed down to the Consumer. So, it is inflating the prices of the Gas.

3. The reason for High gas prices are the weak dollar, if the dollar was stronger, it would cost less dollars to purchase the same items. Strenghen the Dollar equals lower gas prices.

4. Our Tax Code is to blame, as is our lack of real education in economics. What is the Corporate Profit Margin? The Same as it was 10 years ago. About 20%. But, since we hear about Profit and not Profit Margin, it looks high. But, since the Dollar is weaker, the prices are higher.

It will take the Government to fix this, but the only way to fix it is to alleviate the Tax Burden effectively reducing the prices.

 

[hippie_hunter]

Amen to that, but the politicans are too deep in the pockets of the oil companies. What are your thoughts on the tariff?

On something like oil and gas, I don't think there should be a tariff. I also think that we need to remove the tariff on Brazilian sugar ethanol. We need to do a lot to drop the prices in gas. Lowering or even getting rid of taxes like SupermanBeyond says would bring a lot of help.

 

[Matt]

On something like oil and gas, I don't think there should be a tariff. I also think that we need to remove the tariff on Brazilian sugar ethanol. We need to do a lot to drop the prices in gas. Lowering or even getting rid of taxes like SupermanBeyond says would bring a lot of help.

I think we would need to set a cap though as well as lowering or ending the taxes on oil companies. Otherwise, we have no way to ensure that they will not just pocket the extra profit and keep charging the consumers an arm and a leg.

 

[Excel]

its about 2.90 where i live, its not bad.

 

[SuBe]

Capping prices is also a bad Idea:

Here is the Scenerio:

You have a hotel with only 100 rooms. The City is hit by a hurricane. Do you cap the Cost? Let's see.

You have a family of 5 plus a grandmother. The family hears about the hurricane, yet can't fortify their home. They have to go to the Hotel. If there is a cap so it is affordable, they can rent a room for the Parents, the Kids and the Grandmother. That's 3 rooms. Now the next family comes in guess what, they are all out of rooms, because the government mandated it to remain affordable.

In a Market Driven Economy: The Family plus the Grandmother would be forced to rent only one room, effectively leaving the other rooms to other people. Even though it would be more expensive, more people can enjoy it.

It is the same thing for Gas Prices. If the Government Capped Prices to an affordable amount, that would leave it open for everyone to fill up, and the Gas Station would run out of Gas. But, if the Market decides: Everyone can get a little gas, but at least it is SOME gas.

 

[hippie_hunter]

I think we would need to set a cap though as well as lowering or ending the taxes on oil companies. Otherwise, we have no way to ensure that they will not just pocket the extra profit and keep charging the consumers an arm and a leg.

Price caps tend to hurt the economy more than help it. Personally I think constant investigations, threatening to tax the companies even more, and fining them severely for price gouging unless they lowered prices would be the route to take.

It's downright absurd that Exxon can make a $100 billion profit in one quarter. If the government "persuaded" them to lower the prices, they'd still make billions of dollars and a hell of a lot more than most businesses.

 

[SuBe]

I think we would need to set a cap though as well as lowering or ending the taxes on oil companies. Otherwise, we have no way to ensure that they will not just pocket the extra profit and keep charging the consumers an arm and a leg.

Again, the Market will decide through Competition. All it would take is one company to lower their prices, and the others would be forced to do the same thing to maintain Market Share.

 

[sinewave]

let's invent a car that runs on the blood of rich oil men.

 

[Marx]

Sorry for stealing your thread theme, Themarx

You're forgiven man

I think we should be investigating into the oil companies because it's blatantly obvious that price gouging is going on here.

I couldn't agree with you more Hippie!

Amen to that, but the politicans are too deep in the pockets of the oil companies. What are your thoughts on the tariff?

And therein lies the problem. When the people who can potentially do something are the ones benefitting, nothing will be done.

 

[Morg]

its about 2.90 where i live, its not bad.

3.50 here

 

[Marx]

3.50 here

It jumped from 3.07 to 3.45 in a matter of 6 hours here. Completely ridiculous!

 

[Zen]

the price of oil is getting extremely high...

i also see record profits from oil companies and wonder... WTH??!

i wonder if we do eventually decide to get out of Iraq, if that can be shrewdly parlied to get some of those mideast countries to friggin drop the prices.

that and we need to crack down on these oil companies somehow, im just not sure exactly how.

 

[redfirebird2008]

Price gouging is not going on. It's supply and demand, plain and simple.

 

[Marx]

Price gouging is not going on. It's supply and demand, plain and simple.

When all the major oil companies are making record profits, your argument doesn't really hold up Firebird. It's not simply supply and demand.

 

[redfirebird2008]

When all the major oil companies are making record profits, your argument doesn't really hold up Firebird. It's not simply supply and demand.

You know where a vast majority of those profits go? R&D. They're not just sitting on their cash like Microsoft or something. They pump it back into exploration and production to find more. Blame the American public for its addiction to it, don't blame the companies. Or hell, blame Massachusetts, Florida, California, et al who refuse to have off-shore drilling because it'll ruin their "scenery."

 

[SuBe]

Wow, I guess no one pays attention to my posts. It's not Price Gouging. It is a Weak Dollar! If the Dollar is worth less, it takes more Dollars to pay for stuff. It's not difficult to understand.

 

[EdRyder]

Its called bottlenecking plain and simple.And yes,it should be a criminally prosecuted practice.Exxon Mobile is in fact currently bottlenecking as it was proved to have done in 2006.Bottlenecking is when you decrease refinery production to inflate your profits.In 06 EM turned a profit of $39.5 billion (off of sales of over $365 billion)
The thing thats hard to grasp is that it isnt a crime.When in fact the only other industry I can think of for a fair comparison is drug trafficking.

 

[EdRyder]

You know where a vast majority of those profits go? R&D. They're not just sitting on their cash like Microsoft or something. They pump it back into exploration and production to find more. Blame the American public for its addiction to it, don't blame the companies. Or hell, blame Massachusetts, Florida, California, et al who refuse to have off-shore drilling because it'll ruin their "scenery."

Exxon Mobil spends over $20 billion a year in trying to find new Oil.The thing is,there isnt any more big fields out there.They've spent that $20 billion anually since the early 90's,..back when it was $10 dollars per bbl.

 

[SuBe]

The Refineries haven't been built due to High Costs associtated with EPA Rules and Regulations. A new refinery hasn't been built since the 70's.

 

[redfirebird2008]

They definitely are not spending anywhere near enough on R&D for alternatives, no matter what BP tries to claim in their marketing. The auto industry is an even bigger problem though. As long as they keep selling vehicles with crappy gas mileage, consumers will take a hit at the pump.