Post #285,085
5/21/07 10:57:25 PM
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Seems to be a credibility gap
Sen. Charles Schumer (news, bio, voting record), a New York Democrat, said one solution may be to dilute the power of oil companies.
"Breaking up the oil companies, undoing the mergers that occurred in the late '90s, is something we ought to look at because there is no competition," Schumer, who will chair a May 22 hearing on the topic, told reporters.
Oil companies told lawmakers at a May 16 hearing that higher prices reflect market conditions and the contention that companies are manipulating the market is "not credible." The oil executives statement is "not credible" when you realize that the only market force effecting the price right now is refinery capacity. And that is one thing under their control. It is highly doubtful that it is accidental that the major oil companies decided to shut down refineries for maintenance work just as the country is going into peak demand. Jay
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Post #285,098
5/22/07 2:31:31 AM
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And.. {sob} kudos for 'effecting' !
- 'affecting' would have been effete and inaccurate. No competition + bogus/presumably schemed, those convenient refinery "troubles" == surely suggests causality.
Imagine trying for proof: $1M for a brave whistleblower? the proceeds to cover a new identity - afterwards. I smell RICO.
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Post #285,106
5/22/07 6:56:56 AM
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horse crap
the only credible is the cost to produce is $50 and there is a whole lot of speculation going on by non traditional oil speculators. Put a %50 tax on energy commodity trades and watch it fall to the actual price of cost plus 15-20%
thanx,
bill
Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free american and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 51 years. meep
reach me at [link|mailto:bill.oxley@cox.net|mailto:bill.oxley@cox.net]
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Post #285,125
5/22/07 9:49:13 AM
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Um, box?
Emphasis Mine.Refiners such as Exxon have said the high prices reflect unrelenting fuel demand amid lower-than-normal production and fewer deliveries of imports. Gasoline production is down because planned maintenance and unexpected glitches have kept refineries off line longer than expected, they say.
"The market dynamics set what's going on," Exxon spokesman Ken Cohen told reporters Thursday. "In the area of retail gasoline, we are a price taker, not a price maker."
San Antonio-based Valero, the nation's largest refiner, reported first-quarter net income of $1.14 billion, or $1.86 a share, a 35% increase from $849 million, or $1.32, a year earlier. Valero operates 15 U.S. refineries, including two in California that had refining margins that topped those of the company's other regional operations. [link|http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-exxon27apr27,1,1961434.story?coll=la-headlines-business|http://www.latimes.c...eadlines-business] So, they make less gas and make more money. That's doesn't sound like manipulation to you?
bcnu,
Mikem
It would seem, therefore, that the three human impulses embodied in religion are fear, conceit, and hatred. The purpose of religion, one might say, is to give an air of respectibility to these passions. -- Bertrand Russell
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Post #285,126
5/22/07 9:50:33 AM
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at a %50 tax, how long will they continue that?
Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free american and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 51 years. meep
reach me at [link|mailto:bill.oxley@cox.net|mailto:bill.oxley@cox.net]
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Post #285,129
5/22/07 10:00:27 AM
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Indefinitely. That's a pass-on charge to us.
bcnu,
Mikem
It would seem, therefore, that the three human impulses embodied in religion are fear, conceit, and hatred. The purpose of religion, one might say, is to give an air of respectibility to these passions. -- Bertrand Russell
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