bill to allow feds to cap gas prices at 2.49!!!!!!

[771subliminal]

http://www.wicz.com/news2005/viewarticle.asp?a=6394

[Nate]

I don't believe it will happen.

[kellysballs]

As much as I want this to happen I agree with Nate. I don't think this "bill" will ever get off the ground. Even if it does the only way it is going to pass is if the fed. gov. makes up the difference to the oil companies. IMHO

[ADEE]

i would LOVE to see that happen, however i think its very unlikely to occur

[FIREball]

They would never agree to cap it, even at 4.49

[bsd13]

The thought of this scares me to death. I don't like gas prices at all and driving almost 100 miles a day doesn't do me any good when it comes to them, but do we really want the federal government "regulating" something as important as our gas?

Sure they might cap it at 2.49 now, but what about 3 months after the bill is passed and they suddenly need some more revenue for some pork project they've got going?

When the government gets their hands on stuff only one thing consistently happens. Actually 2, it breaks and it becomes a cash cow for them via taxes. Sorry, not on board with this one.

[mxrider42]

One thing I have heard is that oil companies have reduced there profit margin but they are still making money. It is not the oil companies we need to go after but the suppliers. I heard a number they use to make 10% and they only make about 4% now but they are selling more.
Trey

[wilomn]

Let's take a step back in time ohhhhh say 20 years or so.

Let's say, and I'm not saying these numbers are accurate, there are 20 million cars on the road.

The population is due to double. That means 40 million cars on the road in what would be today.

20 years ago the oil companies had, and again I'm just pulling a number out of thin air, 200 refineries.

These are not stupid people. They knew then as they know now, that America will drive wherever it needs to because we are a society that is soooooo spread out for work and school and family, that we have no other viable choices.

Remember, the oil companies, the guys raising the price of crude oil, are the same guys who own the refineries that make the crude into gas.

How many refineries have been built in the last 20 years? Any at all? How many have been shut down? 10%? 20%? I do know we have fewer refineries now than we did 20 years ago.

And have you ever noticed that they are shut down for maintanence and updating during the summer and other holidays when people do the most driving?

There is also this nifty thing called feduciary responsibility. What that means is a company that is publicly owned, that has private people owning shares of it, has a responsibility to those share holders to increase profits every year. I wonder who the major share holders are in the oil companies that have not built any refineries in the last 20 years. I wonder who got the feduciary responsibility clause made into a law?

None of this is news. None of this was unexpected. None of this was UNPLANNED.

All the big oil companies know that in the next 20 to 40 years we WILL have alternative sources of fuel. They KNOW that the money train has an end and they can smell it.

So, they are basically screwing the American public EVERY SINGLE TIME IT PUTS GAS IN A CAR for profit.

Even if they put a cap on gas at whatever price, whose taxes will be making up the difference? Not the guys who own those oil companies and refineries. They have corporate write offs and pay less taxes than most of you reading this. Even though they may make hundreds to times your yearly income. OK, that may be a slight exaggeration, but SLIGHT is the key word. They still pay almost NOTHING in taxes compared to what an average 40 hour a week working stiff does.

Lube it up folks, it's not going to end anytime soon.

[Schlyne]

It doesn't help that with India and China industrializing, oil demand is skyrocketing.

I don't think that bill has a snowball's chance in _____ of passing.

[bc30629]

By placing a ceiling on any market price you are hindering growth and evolution of the market. It may be stressful but will force new technology and new ideas into the way we travel and use oil. Putting a cap on the market is just going to delay the inevitable. Save your money, tighten the belt, ride it through.