Gas prices

The fact that congress thinks they are controlling the price should turn a light on in your head that it is totally false. Price is controlled simply by supply and demand. The gas companies cannot build refineries in this country because of congress and their regulations. Until the politicians in this country learn what makes this country ticks the price will go up because the supply will continue to get tighter.

Bullshit. The price goes up because the rich bastards want to get richer. Just take a look at there record breaking profits.

Exactly. And if you want to cut down the price of gas, then buy shares.

Respectfully, you have no idea what you are talking about. When a few large companies control supply, greed dictates the prices.

We used to hold shares in several of the oil companies...They pay pitiful dividends, and the share prices were constant for a long period. They do not pay their stockholder very well, in some cases. They claim they spend the money for exploration, blah, blah...They use a lot of it for bonuses, world travel, perqs.

"Woody" wrote in news:jn07i.5936$y snipped-for-privacy@newssvr27.news.prodigy.net:

Oil companies are a monopoly Bubba, and there is no free market!! The Oil companies haven't built a refinery in over 30 years and you and other idiots use the environmental regulations as an excuse and blame the government. One question for you and all the other like thinking retards, why do the oil companies have no problems spending hundreds of millions of dollars bribing anyone who they think can get them permission to drill for oil in Alaska, where they proclaim that the stringent environmental controls will be no problem for them to meet. What a bunch of pathetic fools, who for whatever reason are simple Simons, who get their knowledge from Rush (the druggie) Limbaugh and the paid lobbyists. Remember the Electrical shortages and outages in California when Bush's friends who were running the now defunct and notorious Enron, these THUGS and their paid PR mouthpieces were telling everyone it was simple supply and demand and the free market was working. Wonder why the problem went away and many of the people proclaiming free market went to prison?? It was because ENRON and the massive gouging and scams went away. The scum bags who were running Enron finally were not able to continue this massive scams which were based on massive fraud. The Oil Companies are making such Massive Profits by Gouging Americans they can go on indefinitely because our economy as well as all modern worldwide economies is so dependant on Oil. Everyone has their right to be Greedy and Stupid, but this one is going to be the undoing of our economy like we have never seen before. A lot of people who think they are well off will find out how wrong they really have been one of these days, because their stock and investments are paper money only, and like in 1929 when all of a sudden people tried to get their money, they found the paper money was gone.

That is exactly what I have been saying, Woody...Have you possibly misunderstood the subtleties in my post?

wrote in news:rOl7i.8903$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr19.news.prodigy.net:

I don't think so as the supply is being manipulated price wise, and Oil is a neccessity. I took your statement about supply and demand as it was stated. Yes the Oil companies can and would build new refineries if it were in their interest. Most antitrust laws have been removed or watered down or simply not enforced. The large corporations are headed back to the way they operated late in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Sure some red tape should be removed, and I don't agree with nutcase environmentalists but the Environmental laws have improved the overall quality of our Natural resources as well as the quality of life in America the last 40 years. Those terrible Environmental Laws are responsible for stopping the dumping of industrial pollutants in our Rivers and streams. They are also what removed the dark hazardous smog over large cities and industrial sites which killed thousands of people every year. Americans are so dumbed down that people confuse manipulating the supply by a monopoly as somehow being related to free market supply and demand. If there were a shortage of supply, we could not buy all we want as long as we are willing to be robbed by the Oil company monopolies. In short, pricing in monopolistic industries is totally separated from actual free market supply and demand. The only possible solution would be a massive government undertaking and the LAWYERS who now have a strangle hold on the Legislative branch of Government, as they do Absolute control of the Judicial branch of Government, are easily bought by the large sums of money the Oil companies can dispense through Lobbyists and Political campaigns as well as old fashioned suitcases filled with money. I can't wait to see Dick Cheney and George Bush rake in millions for a few speeches to you know who. We get what we deserve when we choose to elect lawyers to the Legislative branches of State and Federal Government.

There is no supply shortfall just now. Price is being manipulated and blamed on shortage. The laws of supply and demand still function, indirectly. This is a contrived situation, IMO....aka, price fixing.

Many companies have gotten out of manufacturing, and outsource what they can. Oil refining is profitable, but also carries some risks. Management nowadays prefers to circumvent risk and run a business by clean accountants in pristine offices rather than to get their hands dirt. This is true even with drilling and exploration nowadays.