Bush orders investigation into gas price gouging

[cman]

http://apnews.excite.com/article/200...D8H70PU80.html

wde

[Hoosiercatdaddy]

finally. atta boy GW

[Romanowski]

price goughing isnt exactly the real problem here

[OldMan]

He's not really gonna piss off his buddies. Strictly for the press and to try and improve those approval ratings, hell he's in Nixon territory now.

OldMan

[Deck]

I heard a lady from texas complaining about gas being 1.85 a gallon. damn I wish it was that cheap here its 3.09!

[dollarbills]

we'll always have gas probs as long as you can produce a barrel in towel-head country for $5, and that same barrel of crude goes for $50+ over here

[Romanowski]

Bush has rejected government aid to US car makers, rising gas prices

time for alternative energy. Its part of his plan im sure

[dollarbills]

go coal

[PigSkinTerror13]

Originally Posted by OldMan

He's not really gonna piss off his buddies. Strictly for the press and to try and improve those approval ratings, hell he's in Nixon territory now.

OldMan

nobody is gonna stop big oil... they fund EVERYBODY'S campaigns

get a clue OM

[bcbadgalz]

Steal the oil from Iraq...ty

[Jimmy K]

I'm not really buying the "price gouging" garbage, it's a media excuse to why prices are where they are. This is my problem with the Bush team, they don't know how to explain to the public why prices are as high as they are. The reasons are simple:

1. Time of year: Oil companies are mandated to change mixtures for summertime, therefore the switch over time causes higher prices as the supply is not as readily available as winter mix is still in the system.

2. Demand: The economy is good and people are travelling and using a lot of gas, go beyond the US and realize what the Asian economies are doing and how much oil they are consuming.

3. Refineries/Drilling: We have not built one in the States in over 30 years due to ridiculous environmental laws. In addition, again because of the enviromental freaks the gov't has made it impossible to drill. Why is it that Mexico can drill in the gulf, Cuba can drill in the Atlantic coast, but we don't drill in those places, nor do we drill in Alaska.

4. Futures Markets: This is probably culprit number one, the damn trading market is driving prices through the freaking roof, I have seen estimates that if the market reversed it would take $20 off a barrel.

5. Terror: There is still some mark up due to terror fears.

6. Taxes: The US gov't makes .50/barrel (gov't actually makes more per barrel than the oil companies) and states add additional taxes to gasoline.

As for the actual profits of the companies, yes they are doing well, but they are underperforming the s&p and the stocks have shown it. All of the major oil company stocks have not moved much at all.

[jonnyblaze]

I ride a tricycle

[dollarbills]

Originally Posted by Jimmy K

ridiculous environmental laws

deal with em everyday

[Romanowski]

Ridiculous envirometal laws? Global Warming isnt a theory its a fact

Dollarbills I realize you work in the coal industry and I would nto want to wish you to lose your job, hopefully you have gained skills that would allow you to earn a great living in anohter idustry. The shift to wind, tidal, hydrogen, and solar energy is just a matter of time, and it will not be a hinderance to our economy but hopefully will put the US as a leader in the next evolutionary revolution.

lets look at what a 2 degree global increase in heat causes: (which is a fact)

well we all know ice caps are melting, how does that affect the US directly?

The western US does not have reservoirs to hold water that usually is ice through the months of April, with it melting, essentially we lose that water to natural drainage and evaporation, our fruits and vegetables are grown in this area to the tune of 75% of our supply. So our farmers can not effectively grow the basics of life, so we import fruits from Chile.

The surface of our oceans are so much warmer than they were 10, 20, 50 years, that hurricanes are 10 times more devastating.

Ask anyone who lives on the Florida coast, water is eroding the coastline due to the increase of water on sea level.

Plants that arent a help are growing to fast, ragweed is immune to pesticide and cause an increase in allergies, hay fever, and other health costs.

Bottomline is I could go on. I am a moderate conservative, but I can see through the BS. Everybody knows that the costs of alternative fuel, reserach and developments will be costly, but in the end it will be a huge profit making machine. But why would 60-70 year old men, who run our country and the world for that mater, want to feel the brunt of that bill? They just keep passing the buck, so next generations feel the costs.

Luckily private industry is not waiting, you can find wind turbines in the heart of oil county in West Texas, Solar energy plants in the Mohave desert.

Solar energy is probably the best IMO, one plant in the desert can supply energy to the whole country, now thats clean and money saving, isnt that waht conservatives are supposed to be about?

[Jimmy K]

Global warming is so overblown by libs it cracks me up. This isn't even the warmest time during human history, for example, the period of the dark ages were much warmer, so much so that the UK was a hub for wine grapes, you can't make wine in the UK anymore due to the fact that it is too cold. The Earth is a self-moderating system, meaning it is able to control it's climate and during it's history has had warmer times and cooler times. I don't quite think that the population and so called experts have a good grasp on to how much the Earth really regulates the climate. I also think that libs need to stop the scare tactics regarding our actions "destroying" the Earth. We aren't destroying anything, if anything we are making things uncomfortable for ourselves by creating smog and releasing polution that hurts humans. I do agree that we need to get away from oil use as much as possible, wind, solar and water power are at our fingertips, its just a matter of cost and acceptance of new power sources. I think our biggest problem is overpopulation, because as the Earth has shown in the past it knows how to lower population via disease. It is going to get to the point where we will have to colonize the moon to shift some population so that the Earth doesn't try to wipe us out, believe me if we become a big enough threat the planet will take care of buisness.