Alaskan Pipeline Corrosion

[Bluecheck546]

Since I haven’t read the whole discussion may comment maybe out of place... But, how I see it... The profits thing and exploitation of customers started since Exxon and Mobile Oil merged. Those two large companies used to compete for our dollar and as result maintained fair price for their product. Now it is less to compete with, so they set the price and customer will pay! Remember "MaBell". Ever since the break up of the big company occurred, the phone service, prices, options have improved for the better from my vantage point. The same should happen here with exxon-mobile. I firmly believe the prices again be fair, nobody would be questioning those big profits anymore.

 

[LMTC]

MikePA,
In 1973 president Nixon imposed, by executive order, a ceiling on the price of crude oil During the oil crisis.
Why can't the Gov't do this again? Or impose some sort of Winfall tax?? While I'm not going to try and explain how this worked here on this forum, And I am not going to pretend to know everything about what and how this happend, ( I was only 3yrs. old at the time) This pretty much should answer your questions if you do some research.

Or, we could just simply bury our heads in the sand, let the price spiral out of control and just go along with the status quo.

For the guys here that think everything is just fine and this is business as usual, I ask you this. At what price are you personally going to say enough is enough already? $5-$6-$10 a gallon????
If we just do nothing and the price gets to $10 a gallon America WILL (not might) be shut down.
Truckers will not be able to afford to haul our goods, along with the railroad. And those two transportation businesses are the backbone of America.
Airline companies are already barely getting by now. The big 3 automotive manufacturers will shut down. A major depression will quickly rear its ugly head.
See where i am going with this ???

As a matter of fact the largest trucking company ( Schnieder) is already shutting down for one day and fuel is only at $3.10 now !!!!
So what is your personal price????

So at $10/gallon America will be shut down, the trucks will not be able to afford to haul our goods. The result of that would be that the gas will no longer be delivered to the gas stations, grocery store shelves will be empty, HH Gregg will be out of big screen TVs....and the oil companies will thus be out of business. That certainly makes good sense. So all the "Big oil" execs and those of us getting rich off the stocks will then do what? Sit at home and laugh about the money we have that won't buy anything because the store shelves are empty and the gas pumps are dry? Ummm...yes, I see where this is going.

 

[scesnick]

What , you think that the trucks will be running? You never answered the question. When is enough enough for you personally??? What price??

You run a tractor dealership right? At what price does the fuel prices have to get to before you can no longer afford to deliver your tractors ? Or, recieve shipments of new tractors?

 

[George2615]

With the billions in profit the oil companies have made the first two quarters they should be able to build a new bypass pipeline without passing on the costs to us, the consumer. That is what small business have to do, reinvest the profits in the business. When the pipeline shutdown hit the news here the price of gas went up 5 cents per gallon that day and have continued to increase. Diesel was $3.14 here on Sunday when I filled up. I get sick everytime I read about another CEO's multimillion dollar salary plus perks and bonuses.

 

[scesnick]

It seems like the more people that chime in the less Ducati and I are alone on this.. Who would have thunk it ????

 

[LMTC]

What , you think that the trucks will be running? You never answered the question. When is enough enough for you persoonally??? What price??

You run a tractor dealership right? At what price does the fuel prices have to get to before you can no longer afford to deliver your tractors ? Or, recieve shipments of new tractors?

There is no price at which I believe any government entity should intervene.

 

[scesnick]

I'm not asking that. I'm asking when do you feel like the price is too high. that is all.

 

[MikePA]

MikePA,
In 1973 president Nixon imposed, by executive order, a ceiling on the price of crude oil During the oil crisis.
Why can't the Gov't do this again? Or impose some sort of Winfall tax?? While I'm not going to try and explain how this worked here on this forum, And I am not going to pretend to know everything about what and how this happend, ( I was only 3yrs. old at the time) This pretty much should answer your questions if you do some research.

Or, we could just simply bury our heads in the sand, let the price spiral out of control and just go along with the status quo.

For the guys here that think everything is just fine and this is business as usual, I ask you this. At what price are you personally going to say enough is enough already? $5-$6-$10 a gallon????
If we just do nothing and the price gets to $10 a gallon America WILL (not might) be shut down.
Truckers will not be able to afford to haul our goods, along with the railroad. And those two transportation businesses are the backbone of America.
Airline companies are already barely getting by now. The big 3 automotive manufacturers will shut down. A major depression will quickly rear its ugly head.
See where i am going with this ???

As a matter of fact the largest trucking company ( Schnieder) is already shutting down for one day and fuel is only at $3.10 now !!!!
So what is your personal price????

Thank you for having the decency to answer one of my questions. If I've read your response correctly.

2. Who will set this amount? The Government (Congress) will determine what a fair profit is by implementing a windfall profits tax. In the case of Exxon/Mobil, they dumped about half of their profits back into exploration. If the government takes some of their profit, less will go into exploration and less to the shareholders, including retirement funds that depend upon those profits.

The situation in the early 70s was different. There were oil shortages then and Nixon's price controls made the situation worse. I know, I lived through it.

Oil companies were and are not stupid. They know price controls wont last forever, so they did and will cut back on production, or they will sell their products elsewhere where they can get market prices, thus creating a shortage. What good is a lower/stable price if there's no fuel to buy?

Or, we could just simply bury our heads in the sand, let the price spiral out of control and just go along with the status quo.

Perhaps you didn't mean it this way, but this statement implies that people who disagree with you are burying their heads in the sand.

For the guys here that think everything is just fine and this is business as usual...

You are jumping to a conclusion. People who disagree with you do not think everything is fine. Most, if not all, do not want 'the solution' to make things worse as they did in the 70s.

 

[LMTC]

I'm not asking that. I'm asking when do you feel like the price is too high. that is all.

Too high for what? If your question is "when do I think the price is too high?" my answer is "it is too high when less is being sold than is available and the companies that process/store/crack/refine it start to have a surplus".

 

[livincountry]

I brought up the comparison of a Public Utility Commission setting prices last month: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82780

Wow I was ahead of my time...I'm smarter than I look

Before long food additives will hit the news again! an inside joke for those that read that topic.

We can all opt not to buy a Tiger Woods endorsed product or a Mel Gibson movie, I don't begrudge these guys their $$. Most of America has no choice but to buy gasoline to get from point a to point b. Most of us here on this website live miles from public transit.

At some point we'll change our habits and only drive when we need to. Prices may never come down with China coming online and consuming what we conserve on the world market. We need to become more self sufficient with our energy needs. We should be reaching the point where mining the shale oil will be profitable. We supposedly have more shale oil than most of the middle east. Let's consume their oil first though so they can become a non-factor in the world and go back to living in the stoneage as they did before oil was found under their deserts. If Rwanda or Sudan had oil we'd be there to address their issues.
Like it or not we need energy and need to deal with it now, globally, until we find a new way to fuel our needs.

One quick note: I heard at Sunoco or Shell or some fuel retailer has a "million gallon give-a-way". It's a "gasoline for a lifetime" game piece you get when you visit their store. I thought we were running out of fuel? Will this pay out until 2010 like the tree huggers claim or what?????