Posted on 04/24/2006 12:12:45 PM PDT by Crackingham
Republican congressional leaders on Monday urged the Bush administration to investigate whether oil companies are gouging consumers at the gasoline pump and if market speculators are pushing up fuel prices. U.S. retail gasoline prices are above $3 a gallon in many parts of the country and pump costs are forecast to keep rising. Republicans fear they could lose the Senate and House of Representatives in this November's congressional elections if voters retaliate against them for the high fuel prices.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and House Speaker Dennis Hastert wrote President George W. Bush and asked him to direct the U.S. Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission to crack down on any potential price gouging.
"Anyone who is trying to take advantage of this situation while American families are forced into making tough choices over whether to fill up their cars or severely cut back their budgets should be investigated and prosecuted," the lawmakers said in their joint letter to Bush.
The lawmakers also want the Justice Department and the FTC to look into oil refining operations, transporting fuel by pipelines, marine vessels and trucks, storing and marketing fuel, and spot shortages of gasoline to determine if there is any manipulation of gasoline prices.
"Sweeps of retail distribution centers should be undertaken to ensure that retail price movements are in response to a change in market conditions and not price gouging," the lawmakers said.
They also asked Bush to direct the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to increase its scrutiny of trading of oil, gasoline and other energy contracts on the New York Mercantile Exchange to determine if the price spike is caused by market manipulation by traders or energy firms.
"We believe that protecting American consumers in these unprecedented market conditions is of paramount importance," the lawmakers said.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee said the Republicans' call for a gasoline price investigation shows they are "scrambling for political cover" because Republicans will be held accountable for "turning a blind eye" to soaring gasoline costs. The Democrats also said the Republicans' demand for action lacks credibility because Republican lawmakers "have allowed oil and gas companies to line their campaign accounts with cash when they should have been cracking down on price gouging and rising gas prices."
Bush's fault.
"he was not POTUS in 1976 "
Yes, your correction is noted...He was ELECTED in 1976, and during his administration there was a substantial shortage of gas, with many long lines and gas stations without gas.
Sorry that I do not remember the exact year that my local service stations went for days, waiting for a delivery.
Who said politicians don't do anything to provide gas. Every time they open their mouths, they provide plenty of it.
Since gasoline is obvioulsy a more valuable commodity to most people than cognac, the unit cost of cognac should be a lot less than the unit price of gas. Yes, I realize there are other factors that come into a play, but from a pure value standpoint a widely available, easily produced product that no one really needs -- like bottled water or soft drinks -- should not be priced more per unit than a product like gasoline.
hehe.
I pointed that out to one who posited that same analogy and he went on to tell me that I needed to have my job, grocery store, etc. all within a block of my house like he did; that he only needed about a gallon of gas a week.
Yeah. Old gasbags like Kennedy, Sheets Byrd, and some of the others in the senate could easily take care of the nation's energy needs just with all the bloviating they do.
"Forget price controls, and Drill, ye tarriers, Drill!!"
I could not agree more...sad thing is, even if we started drilling in ANWR right now, we'd still be some three
years from reaping any of that crude. Then there's refining.
Our politicians don't want us to be free of our dependency on foreign oil. All of Congress needs to be impeached. I'm tired of the whole lot of them, mainly the senate.
I have a way to TRIPLE PRODUCTION RIGHT NOW!!!!
Just Ask.
Let's see. Federal tax 18.4 cents. NC tax, floating depending on how much those idiots in Raleigh think they can squeeze out of us this week (currently around 31 cents). So between 15-20% per gallon of gas in this state is tax. I think Republicans need to quit complaining about the free market and affect gas prices the only way they can. Cut taxes
It is unconscienceable to stand in the way of oil independence.
Why don't our "Republican congressional leaders" actually show some leadership, and actually do something constructive about this, such as opening up the Florida side of the Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas production? Or removing the regulatory obstructions that make opening more refineries so onerous? Or opening up ANWR?
Interfering in the market is unlikely to do anything desirable, and is far more likely to cause inefficiences to be magnified in unpleasant ways.
I personally don't think that we are seeing any degree of collusion, and certainly nothing like the heyday of Standard Oil; in fact, I think our market system is probably healthier than ever as a fully developed commodities marketing system with an excellent ability to hedge risk for those participants who want to pay to do so.
Is Big Oil making big profits? Yes, most oil companies, big and small, are making significant profits, and those profits are good for all of the shareholders of the publicly traded companies. Are big price spikes inflationary? If they don't quickly recede, yes, in general they are unless they are so massive as to spark higher rates and recession.
The most interesting things about this situation to me are (1) an interesting demonstration that prices have little to do with the cost of production (2) the interesting counterexamples to the "law of one price" found in the retail gas prices for Utah and Wyoming, which apparently have during this time even been as low as the prevailing wholesale price for gasoline, and far below the retail prices in the rest of the states (even taking into account taxes.)
Look beyond the obvious, inquest. We are being "done in". Economics figure in here. I do not agree that paying for licenses, plate tabs, insurance is control over us. Our liberty is in serious jeopardy. Mark my words.
I rather like this instead (care to hazard a guess as to who said it?):
"The natural price, or the price of free competition ... is the lowest which can be taken, not upon every occasion indeed, but for any considerable time together...[It] is the lowest which the sellers can commonly afford to take, and at the same time continue their business."
The Wealth of Nations, Book I, Chapter VII
"The monopolists, by keeping the market constantly understocked, by never fully supplying the effectual demand, sell their commo-dities much above the natural price."
The Wealth of Nations, Book I, Chapter VII
... and not building enough refinery capacity to meet demand fits the description in quote two very, very, VERY well.
Democrats control the House and Senate?
When did this happen???
Chance of President Bush and the Republican Congress enacting any of your common-sense plan?
Zip, Zilch, Zero, Nada!
You compare an essential commodity to a non-essential luxury good and call that appropriate?
Where did you learn to debate... the school of far-left moonbatdom?
That's not just what I'm referring to. I'm saying that overall, federal government control over our lives has been going up as our mobility has been going up. And I'm not entirely sure that's just a coincidence either. The downside of mass mobility is the way it atomizes people from each other, so that each individual person on his own is largely powerless against the establishment.
But now that you mention it, licensing is quite an imposition in its own right. It wasn't until automobiles came on the scene that ordinary people had to be licensed in order to conduct their daily activities. It likewise wasn't until then that people were made to get used to the idea of law enforcement officers having such arbitrary power over their livelihood. That's a major coup in itself, that so many people don't appreciate the full dimensions of.
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