Senators question gas price gouging

[KalicoKitty]

The oil companies keep gouging so they can get wealthier

http://www.theoaklandpress.com/stories/062205/loc_20050...


U.S. Sens. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., are asking for an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission into whether gasoline prices are being artificially manipulated and if drivers are being price gouged.

Passage of this amendment to the Energy Bill is likely to occur later this week as the Senate continues its consideration of the overall bill.

"At the same time that rising gas prices are causing Michigan families to think about curtailing their summer vacations, oil companies are announcing all-time record profits," Stabenow said Tuesday. "A majority of Americans believe these skyrocketing gas prices are not fair.

"We owe it to the public to investigate and determine whether anti-competitive practices have led to these price hikes.

"Specifically, the legislation directs that the FTC conduct an investigation to determine whether the price of gasoline is being manipulated by reducing refinery capacity or by any other form of market manipulation or price gouging practices."

Stabenow noted that on Monday morning, within a two-hour span, prices at one service station in Lansing jumped from $2.10 to $2.35 per gallon. There were also similar reports of huge increases in the price of gas throughout the state.


More:


http://www.theoaklandpress.com/stories/062205/loc_20050...

[Gunit_Sangh]

1. Duuuh!

Does a bear crap in the woods?

Of course they are. When you see swings of 20 cents a gallon between cities 20 miles apart, SOMETHING is going on.

[AnneD]

16. Why the fuss now...

I would like to think that the Senators pumped their own gas and are experiencing our pain.... how ever, my first thought is that their stock portfolios took a drubbing yesterday and part of that dip was credited with the price of oil pb. Harrumf harrumf...got to protect our phoney baloney jobs.

[rocktivity]

20. Institute a windfall profits tax

And a war profiteering tax, too!

:headbang:
rocknation

[Roland99]

2. Courtesy of this admin's policy of supporting a weak dollar

And the gov't complicit with the oil companies to set ranges for gas prices. $3 will be the next stabilization point. They've achieved $2 rather easily. Anything under $2/gallon now seems like a bargain of the year.

[Skittles]

3. HA HA HA - I'm sure the republcians will be all over this

I'm sure bush and cheyney are doing ALL they can do to lower gas prices. BWAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAA.

[babylonsister]

4. And again, the minority party takes the lead. Why don't

the...oh, never mind, they're lining their pockets. :mad:

[maxrandb]

12. But I Thought the Minority Party

was just devoid of ideas. Didn't have any policy positions, didn't try to get anything done, etc. I thought they were just obstructionist always saying "No" to this, and "No" to that.

I guess that could be right, they certainly seem to be saying "no" to the oil companies robbing people blind.

[UpInArms]

5. better late than never

http://www.consumersunion.org/pub/core_other_issues/001086.html

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, May 11, 2004

Contact:
Mark Cooper, CFA, [phone]
Adam Goldberg, CU, [phone]


RECORD PRICES, RECORD OIL INDUSTRY PROFITS
Consumers Gouged, Oil Industry Enriched, As Gasoline And Natural Gas Prices Increase By $250 Billion Since January 2000

(Washington, D.C.) – Domestic petroleum companies have stuck U.S. gasoline and natural gas consumers with about $250 billion in price hikes since January 2000, resulting in an increase in after-tax windfall profits of $50 to $80 billion to the industry, a report released today by the Consumer Federation of America and Consumers Union concluded. The groups are calling on federal and state authorities to investigate oil company price manipulation as one way to bring prices down to more reasonable levels in the near terms and a strong commitment to increased fuel efficiency in the automobile fleet for the long term.

The report, entitled Fueling Profits: Industry Consolidation, Excess Profits & Federal Neglect, Domestic Causes of Recent Gasoline and Natural Gas Price Shocks, shows While OPEC has taken a bite out of consumer’ pocketbooks, domestic companies have taken about three quarters of the price increases since January 2000. The report attributes about half of the price increases to changes in domestic pricing behavior that was created by a wave of mergers that swept through the industry in the past decade.

“The industry became concentrated in the hands of a few vertically integrated companies and allowed domestic oil companies shut down refineries, reduce stocks, and exploit markets when they become tight,” said Mark Cooper, CFA’s Director of Research. “Since these price increases were about padding the corporate bottom line, not about responding to increased costs, petroleum industry profits have risen to record highs over the period.

“Based on results from the first quarter of this year, domestic petroleum industry profits are headed for another record with refining and marketing profits up about 50 percent compared to the first quarter of 2003, Cooper added.”

The report shows a dramatic increase in household energy bills for petroleum products:

...more...

[merwin]

6. I'm under the strong opinion that fuel prices, along with any necessities,

(airlines, electricity, etc) should be government regulated.

[Roland99]

8. What are you talking about? They already *are*!

The gov't is complicit in working with oil companies to set price ranges for gas. We'll see $3/gallon as the next platform. We're not going below $2.

[merwin]

11. That's more conspiring instead of regulation :-)

[Roland99]

15. Pffft...you libs and your gray areas

heh heh


:P

[phantom power]

7. Americans really need to decide what they want.

Most people say they want "free markets", but price-gouging is a perfectly valid practice in a free market. It's just charging what the public will bear.

And oh, how governors and congressmen love to get on TV and say "We won't stand for this price-gouging, and we're going to investigate it." Well, does that mean they don't believe in free markets? Because anti-gouging legislation is regulated capitalism. And regulations are supposedly anathema, in today's Republican universe.

[Toots]

9. "oil companies are announcing all-time record profits,"

And Republicans have never received so much money at this time in an off year. Who is benefiting from these extreme profits? Who is not?

[Pab Sungenis]

10. The answer is simple:

Reinstate the Windfall Profits Tax.

If they want to gouge us, we'll gouge them right back.

[Catfight]

13. should read, "Senators wake up from 5 year coma." nt

[jsamuel]

14. so f*$% true! nt

[PATRICK]

17. Have to question

whether these perennial calls to investigate price gouging are stupid or sincere or the usual reflex to win points at the pumps back home.

We've been through this over and over and to concentrate at the puzzling jumps at the station is incredibly small sighted even if speaking for the truly deceived taxpayer back home.

The rationale and the prior investigations and the foreign connections are ALL known. Instead this huff and puff is a naive call to reinvent the wheel again, maybe force prices down a penny and make some comments about refineries and maybe even name a few names in anger.

And then it disappears whether the people are satisfied(LOL) or not. Unfortunately I CAN believe when a Senator with everything at his disposal, if not known personally, acts like a presumptive naif. Unfortunately. But isn't this a summer rerun whenever the cartel-GOP skulduggery is afoot and no one wants to get out from under big oil as the logical result of any inquiry result?

We've seen the reruns hundreds of times. But we can't turn the channel on an empty gas tank. So our anger is going beyond the script to the producers. The main difference with this false administration is that they will turn the spigot on and off without regard to the people unless it matters for an immediate election or two. That is becoming quickly unimportant to them as well.

[Catfight]

19. Gas prices go up, people cut back in other areas, big SUV's don't sell,

GM closes plants, groceries go up since gas is high and truckers demand increases, pay stays stagnant, vacationers don't go on vacations due to inflation, people lose jobs, houses can't be paid for, economy becomes unstable, collapse. But hey, the oil sheiks of the new Amerika are happy happy joy joy.

Playstation and Xbox keeps the kids happily distracted....

[Scout1071]

18. Don't worry. Next weekend is a holiday. The Crown Prince should be

stopping for a visit in Crawford a day or two before the weekend. Probably around wed and the prices will be magically falling again so that we can enjoy our 3 day weekend driving to the lake and fillin' up those boats.

Then the price build-up will start all over again just in time for the shenanigans to start again around Labor Day.

[sintax]

21. Need a national movement for Public Transportation

with light rail as the cornerstone.

Defund military by half, and still have the biggest war machine on earth, and use those funds to support public transportation infrastructure. Use the left over cash for public health programs focusing on healthy foods starting with School Lunch programs. All costs go down, global greenhouse gasses reduced, obesity eliminated, asthma eliminated, allergies reduced, economic boom with new economy.

Only LARGE SCALE GRASSROOTS MOVEMENT WILL BRING THIS ABOUT!

[pfitz59]

22. Never happen because.........

Mass transit requires you to actually encounter (dread) STRANGERS! Oh God, living, breathing, farting, talking, joking actual human beings! Would require radical alteration of national social interactions for mass transit to work! (Or economic catastrophy of BIBLICAL porportions!) Most folks won't ride the bus or train unless necessity forces them to!

[sintax]

23. $3.69/gal=Necessity

Funny post. Sadly accurate. Most Americans I encountered in Europe who rode public rail systems came off train with first word being Phheww. Too bad they don't revel in human biology.