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Mr 5 0 · 04-15-2002, 08:44 AM

Unit:

Yes, the accusations get old when even the rabidly liberal, business-is-the-source-of-all-evil Clinton administration Justice Department does an exhaustive investigation into gas price rises and finds...nothing. No illegalities.

What they find is simple supply and demand, refineries off-line, transportation snags, etc but no price gouging or price fixing, which is highly illegal and would be prosecuted to the max, especially by a liberal, business-adverse Democrat administration, as Clinton's was.

European gasoline prices are wildly inflated in large part due to the heavy taxes the socialist european countries impose on gasoline. They claim it's to hold down automobile use but it also serves to fill national coffers and the oil companies never see that share of the cost of gas, of course.

Just as in America, where gasoline would be under a dollar a gallon - as it was back in 'the good old days' of the 1950's and '60's when gas was under thirty cents per gallon and taxes were about five cents per gallon.

If the cost of OPEC crude drops, why is that automatically a reason to expect the gas companies to instantly drop their prices? If the cost of steel goes down, does Ford drop the price of Mustangs? Hell no. They may hold the price and not raise it but they don't lower it. It's called profit enhancement and every business does it in one way or another.

The gas we put in our tanks today was extracted and refined some time ago - not last week - and conditions may have made it more expensive then. The gas we put in our tanks in August may come from another time period when the extraction, transportation or crude oil cost was higher - or lower. All these variables will affect the price at the pump.

Oil/gas companies do jack the price around but it's often justified and not the rip-off, gouging or price-fixing they are accused of in a knee-jerk fashion by politicians and folks who don't take a moment to consider what's involved in getting the gas from the wells in Saudi Arabia to the neighborhood pump and why prices are often unstable in an unstable business.

Granted, the ''middlemen' (distributors) and some gas station owners do jack up the pump price, but that's local/regional pricing, not going to the big oil companies.

Folks who cry the loudest about gas prices and demand investigations might also want to talk to the states and the federal government representatives that impose huge taxes on pump gas, driving what would be a low-cost commodity into a high-cost one, then complain about the price at the pump.

My state adds about thirty-five cents to a gallon of gas...the feds add another twenty two cents, making the gas you pump (in CT) close to sixty cents per gallon before you even start to calculate the actual cost for the gas, alone.

I feel weird defending gas companies but facts are facts and I get tired of the same old cry of 'price gouging' every time the price of gas goes up so I think a bit of perspective is overdue here on this popular subject.

Where is it in the constitution that gasoline should be dirt cheap? Gasoline is actually very affordable - even after the big taxes imposed on it. Gas as a part of the family budget is about the same today as it was a generation ago, only the taxes have gone up - a lot. Cars get way better mpg than they did even 20 years ago, so although we drive more we use about the same amount of gas, on average. Some reflection about the actually cost of gasoline is sometimes revealing, unlike simply calling the oil companies crooks, poiunding the table and yelling about 'gouging' as some politicians like to do for whatever political benefit that brings from the uninformed and easily led.

I'm no expert, I only have a very basic understanding of all the mechanics involved in getting oil out of the ground and to the local gas pump, but although I don't doubt the oil and gas business has it's crooks and dirty dealers, mostly on the local and regional level, I also believe that the cost of gas is generally justified and - as I've pointed out - taxes are a big part of the gas-cost problem that is usually ignored or overlooked by the folks who cry 'price gouging'.

04-15-2002, 08:44 AM	#19
Mr 5 0 Conservative Individualist Join Date: May 1997 Location: Wherever I need to be Posts: 7,487	Gas prices Unit: Yes, the accusations get old when even the rabidly liberal, business-is-the-source-of-all-evil Clinton administration Justice Department does an exhaustive investigation into gas price rises and finds...nothing. No illegalities. What they find is simple supply and demand, refineries off-line, transportation snags, etc but no price gouging or price fixing, which is highly illegal and would be prosecuted to the max, especially by a liberal, business-adverse Democrat administration, as Clinton's was. European gasoline prices are wildly inflated in large part due to the heavy taxes the socialist european countries impose on gasoline. They claim it's to hold down automobile use but it also serves to fill national coffers and the oil companies never see that share of the cost of gas, of course. Just as in America, where gasoline would be under a dollar a gallon - as it was back in 'the good old days' of the 1950's and '60's when gas was under thirty cents per gallon and taxes were about five cents per gallon. If the cost of OPEC crude drops, why is that automatically a reason to expect the gas companies to instantly drop their prices? If the cost of steel goes down, does Ford drop the price of Mustangs? Hell no. They may hold the price and not raise it but they don't lower it. It's called profit enhancement and every business does it in one way or another. The gas we put in our tanks today was extracted and refined some time ago - not last week - and conditions may have made it more expensive then. The gas we put in our tanks in August may come from another time period when the extraction, transportation or crude oil cost was higher - or lower. All these variables will affect the price at the pump. Oil/gas companies do jack the price around but it's often justified and not the rip-off, gouging or price-fixing they are accused of in a knee-jerk fashion by politicians and folks who don't take a moment to consider what's involved in getting the gas from the wells in Saudi Arabia to the neighborhood pump and why prices are often unstable in an unstable business. Granted, the ''middlemen' (distributors) and some gas station owners do jack up the pump price, but that's local/regional pricing, not going to the big oil companies. Folks who cry the loudest about gas prices and demand investigations might also want to talk to the states and the federal government representatives that impose huge taxes on pump gas, driving what would be a low-cost commodity into a high-cost one, then complain about the price at the pump. My state adds about thirty-five cents to a gallon of gas...the feds add another twenty two cents, making the gas you pump (in CT) close to sixty cents per gallon before you even start to calculate the actual cost for the gas, alone. I feel weird defending gas companies but facts are facts and I get tired of the same old cry of 'price gouging' every time the price of gas goes up so I think a bit of perspective is overdue here on this popular subject. Where is it in the constitution that gasoline should be dirt cheap? Gasoline is actually very affordable - even after the big taxes imposed on it. Gas as a part of the family budget is about the same today as it was a generation ago, only the taxes have gone up - a lot. Cars get way better mpg than they did even 20 years ago, so although we drive more we use about the same amount of gas, on average. Some reflection about the actually cost of gasoline is sometimes revealing, unlike simply calling the oil companies crooks, poiunding the table and yelling about 'gouging' as some politicians like to do for whatever political benefit that brings from the uninformed and easily led. I'm no expert, I only have a very basic understanding of all the mechanics involved in getting oil out of the ground and to the local gas pump, but although I don't doubt the oil and gas business has it's crooks and dirty dealers, mostly on the local and regional level, I also believe that the cost of gas is generally justified and - as I've pointed out - taxes are a big part of the gas-cost problem that is usually ignored or overlooked by the folks who cry 'price gouging'.