Wolves guard the henhouse (Big Government & Big Oil)

Toronto Sun - Canada ^ | Thursday, May 24, 2007 | Lorrie Goldstein

[GMMAC]

Wolves guard the henhouse

By Lorrie Goldstein
Toronto Sun
Thursday, May 24, 2007

Relying on Big Government to protect us from Big Oil is like relying on bankers to protect us from bank fees.

Big Government and Big Oil are joined at the hip in fleecing us because the higher the price of gasoline, the more government makes in taxes.

Clearly, the price of gas today isn't determined by anything approaching a free market.

Indeed, it's amusing to watch the same oil industry shills and cheerleaders, who otherwise don't trust government to tie its own shoelaces, point to repeated investigations by the federal Competition Bureau (six in the past 16 years), none of which found evidence of collusion in the setting of gasoline prices.

Terrific. All that means is that our competition laws are worded in such a way that they permit what common sense rightly tells us is price-fixing. (Price gouging, of course, has never been illegal.)

But is any government -- Conservative or Liberal -- going to change our laws in order to address that reality?

Of course not. They want those billions of tax dollars generated by gasoline to bribe us with our own money come election time, as they try to convince us they know how to spend our money better than we do.

The Liberals always did this when they were in power and today, even Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservatives have abandoned broad-based income tax relief in favour of tinkering with the tax system.

We should at least demand of government, seeing as how we're being held to ransom at the pumps, that it withdraws all public subsidies from the search for oil.

Why should we pay through our tax system to help a profitable oil industry look for the most valuable resource on Earth, our ever-diminishing oil supply?

Don't believe for a moment that Big Oil and other fossil fuel industries are going to be negatively impacted by government efforts to combat global warming, as misguided as many of them are. Big Oil will do just fine.

It controls a non-renewable resource in huge demand and sells it to a captive market. You'd have to be an idiot not to make money doing that.

The bottom line is that the price of gasoline is headed in one direction, up, with or without global warming.

Meanwhile, on the broader energy front, hysterical environmentalists rant the world is about to end from man-made global warming due to the carbon dioxide produced by the burning of oil and other fossil fuels, while at the same time hysterically campaigning against the only practical source of energy we have today that doesn't emit greenhouse gases -- nuclear power.

Instead, they urge on our obliging politicians (and, bizarrely, the poverty-stricken Third World) absurdly expensive wind and solar energy schemes, which simply aren't ready for mass, reliable use and won't be until well after the time these same environmentalists warn we will have already pulled the trigger on unstoppable global warming. All of which makes you wonder how many of them even believe their own rhetoric about imminent climate catastrophe.

Take Al Gore, who, in fairness, isn't hysterically anti-nuke.

But look at him. Look at how happy and smug he looks these days as Hollywood's designated global warming guru. Does he look like someone who believes our world is about to end?

[GMMAC]

From the article above: "Price gouging, of course, has never been illegal."
For whatever it's worth, I'd dispute that statement: grossly and/or blatantly unfair pricing policies, in Ontario defined under statute as "unconscionable", are illegal under provincial 'consumer protection' laws.
Gasoline retailers who abruptly upped pump prices 30 or more cents per liter during Ontario's August 2003 power blackout backed-off once threatened with civil prosecution by the province.
That said, the Ontario government's failure to make good on its threat exemplifies the lack of political will decried by Lorrie Goldstein.

Note to American FRiends:
Not withstanding Canada being a net exporter of petroleum (e.g. America's largest foreign supplier) retail gas prices up here are considerably higher than those Stateside due to excessive taxation & the afore mentioned apparent collusion.

[GMMAC]

[Calpernia]

Make your own fuel:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1839031/posts?page=9#9

[SQUID]

OPEC is not free market and never was.

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

"Clearly, the price of gas today isn't determined by anything approaching a free market."

Someone remind this gitt of her statement when "Big Oil" profit is artificially confiscated by "Big Gov" and the commodities markets turn to emerging nations such as China to sell their refined products to. Then she will recognize the true meaning of free market - and markets are mean, baby!

[paguch]

Big oil is preparing to benefit from the global warming hysteria. Are we sure that big oil is dissapointed congress will not let them build a refinery or that congress effects prices with it’s different mix standards across the country? Congress could be helping the oil companies set the market.
Why are people not oncerned that congress will not address energy by producing reliable energy like nuclear? Because the people are not as active as special interests. Congress knows they can fool most of the people.

Take immigration. Congress is going to solve the crisis by taking hard action. Right?

Congress created the problem by catering to their special interests and not enforcing the law. President Bush now persecutes border guards for enforcing the law. They both create the problem and then force a solution, and people should be pissed!

They have done the same with social security. When the money runs out they will call a crisis and force a solution. We are not well represented and it is our fault. We need to speak up more and often. Tell the power elite what you think. That is really who they think they are.

[Eva]

Gov’t taxes on oil are stationary, they don’t go up, as the prices go up, or down when prices drop.

As a matter of fact, Rush Limbaugh claims that the individual states set the minimum price for gasoline in a perverted attempt o “protect” the individual station owners from unfair competition from company stations.

[Calpernia]

Hence my link.

[SQUID]

Well, I only repeated your point because I don’t see that changing anytime soon.

[avacado]

"It controls a non-renewable resource in huge demand and sells it to a captive market. You'd have to be an idiot not to make money doing that. "

That sounds real catchy and probably gets the ignorant up standing on their chairs and clapping like seals. But being in the seismic exploration business, oil reserves are getting harder to find and the ones that are found are smaller and smaller, and the cost to find these smaller reserves is going up and up. The R&D to pinpoint these smaller reserves is astronomical. Then you have to do exploratory wells, then actually have to get producing rigs out into waters that are deeper and deeper than ever drilled.

[GMMAC]

Aside from Lorrie being a guy, a good fundamental conservative and certainly in no way advocating nationalization of the oil industry, you seem totally unfamiliar with the marketplace up here.

Given one can literally drive for miles and witness both posted retail prices not even a full penny per liter apart - e.g. not even one full cent of difference per US$/gallon - as well as considerably higher than those Stateside, what other logical explanation exists beyond blatant price-fixing & over taxation ???

It's also worth noting that Canada's federal anti-monopoly laws are nowhere near as strong as those in the U.S. and that, when it comes to 'free markets' & massive windfall profits*, when the CDN$ rose roughly 50% against the US$ over the past few years, "Big Oil" up here pocketed the entire difference at the expense of other exportation sectors of the national economy as well as consumers.

* not even including that crude oil (always priced in US$ per barrel) rose by an even greater margin.

[GMMAC]

Great arguments for the U.S. getting on with developing the ANWR reserves already found long ago ... speaking of - as Goldstein primarily is - governments failing to act in the best interests of consumers and/or the bulk of those who elected them.

As a friend of America, I'd much prefer to see the U.S. benefiting from its own resources than fattening the bottom lines of Canadian petro giants whom, of late as much because of international currency fluctuations as any other cause, less resemble 'capitalist' enterprises and more so Kanuckistani versions of the despotic House of Saud.

btw, if you've never seen the flash video on the ANWR site linked above, check it out.

[avacado]

I agree, we (USA) needs to develop the ANWR area. We also need to open up all areas. It’s ridiculous that we do not.

[Realism]

gets the ignorant up standing on their chairs and clapping like seals.

Oh boy, a peak oiler. Well there is no oil shortage. The problem (today anyway tomorrow will bring some other excuse) is refined product, mainly gasoline. Big oil does not want to increase their refining capacity for whatever reason. I saw about 40 or better small oil wells in PA last weekend and only one privately owned well was actually pumping. Why is that?

[avacado]

" Oh boy, a peak oiler. Well there is no oil shortage. "

Oh boy, someone who cannot read. I didn't mention one single thing about "peak oil", did I!? I have been in the seismic industry for over 20 years. Read my lips: the reservoirs being found are increasingly smaller and smaller, hence, more expensive to drill. That's a fact. Do what you want with it.

"I saw about 40 or better small oil wells in PA last weekend and only one privately owned well was actually pumping. Why is that?"

Well gee, perhaps they have been depleted or need more re-investment to extract more of the hard to get to crude.

[Realism]

Oh boy, someone who cannot read.

I must have incorrectly assumed that when you said pools are smaller and harder to locate you were verifying "peak oil" first hand. With your knowlage, you would know more than most, right?

perhaps they have been depleted or need more re-investment to extract more of the hard to get to crude.

I don't think so, quite a few pumpjacks were fresh off the showroom floor.

[virgil]

People from Texas tell me that there’s lots and lots of oil here in the states. Pumping it out of the ground would lower oil prices