scesnick said:
The way I see this whole thread is that there are two types of people participating in this discussion.
Seems simplistic, but I suppose that is easy.
scesnick said:
Those who have more money than they know what to do with and also have some kind of financial gain if oil stays at 70+ a barell.
While some mistakenly lump me in here, I don't even know anyone who fits into this category.
scesnick said:
Then there are those of us who do not see any financial gain by oil being this high. And we are the ones that the others are getting richer off of.
That is what I am, contrary to what some would have you believe. I still work hard for what I have, I have a lot, but not as much as some might presume. I make no money on high oil prices, and in fact the higher the oil prices the lower the profits my company earns. So high oil prices hurt me and my company.
scesnick said:
I don't see any reason why the Gov't can not seek some kind of relief from big oil. Heck , isn't it their job to look out for the American people? BUT, as soon as someone mentions gov't intervention they always want to bring up the communism card.
The great thing about America is we have a thing called a Constitution and its associated Bill of Rights. What you propose, and what was previously proposed, in terms of price setting, generally is viewed as a violation of the property rights of all Americans. So consequently, if the government sets prices, it violates our Constitution/Bill of Rights, and those ARE what protects us citizens. If the government is here to look out for the people, it must do so with a level of equality. It cannot, therefore do what you propose withtout hurting a large number of people (
stock holders, pension funds, mutual funds, retirees who own those funds, employees of oil companies, etc). Remember, the rights of the few cannot be trampled by the many. And in this case, those people who's rights would be illegally trampled would be a lot more than "a few" people as some might suggest.
BTW: I'm not sure what an illegal action by Air Traffic Controllers has to to with price fixing. It was clearly illegal for the strike to occur. The strikers were replaced, which was perfectly legal.