Kucinich: People are Hocking Their Jewelry to Afford Gas

[Fireweed247]

Kucinich on Neil Cavuto discussing a windfall profits tax
http://youtube.com/watch?v=PprYqpMWD_M

KUCINICH: Well, you have to keep in mind that the Bush administration, under its administration, this is how we have seen gas prices rise. And it's not a partisan statement.

I think that Democrats can do more. And that is why I propose what I call the gas price hike spike act. And that would put a windfall profits tax on all profits above a reasonable level...

People are entitled to a profit, but today the consumers are getting gouged.

I have heard stories of people hocking jewelry to be able to pay the price at a pump. That's wrong. People are foregoing purchases of food. It's changing the entire American economy. We have got to do something about it. And a windfall profits tax right now is the way to impose some discipline in the marketplace.

CAVUTO: All right. Well, what would you do, Congressman? Apple has been making a lot of money, the big computer and iTouch, iPhone people. Would you put a limit on their profit?

KUCINICH: Well, this is a little bit different.

Let me just cite some figures to you. From 2001 to 2006, Exxon's profits have tripled. Their profits were $15 billion in 2001. Now they are over $40 billion. Shell, $11 billion in 2001. Now their profits are $27 billion.


more of transcript
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,352605,00.html



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[DS1]

1. Apple are luxury items, Cavuto, you stupid shit

[grannylib]

2. Yeah, I'm one of 'em. It just jumped another six cents overnight

here in south central Minnesota.
Gouged is right. And it's not the station owners making any money off it; I don't blame them, their margins are pretty slim from what I understand.
But Big Oil - fuckin' right we're getting gouged.

[superkia]

19. I think the gas stations are doing pretty well, at least here in Md...

where I live. In the past year and a half or so, almost all of the gas stations in my city have shutdown their pumps so they could build brand new facilities, when their older ones still looked pretty new? If they weren't doing so good, you wouldn't think they would all shut down their pumps and build new facilities?

[grannylib]

26. Are they gas only, or convenience-store operations? I've read

recently that gas is where those places make almost the least; their profits come from all the other stuff people buy there...so maybe they're doing well, overall. I know a lot of folks who do some grocery shopping at one of the chain convenience/gas places here; they offer really decent prices on certain items like milk and their own line of baked goods and coffees.
I dunno...I'm sure their price to purchase it is going up just like our pump price is going up...or am I nuts??

[superkia]

27. Yeah, most of them keep the store part open and redo the pumps.

I think we only have maybe 2 gas only stations out of 30 here.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. I'm glad I drive cars built in the '90s

as they get better gas mileage than cars built only a few years ago.

Haven't had to hock anything to afford gas--yet. But it is sad when a 1990 Prizm gets as good gas mileage as some of the new Toyotas. (For those who don't know, Geo Prizms built back then were 99% built by Toyota-only the radio was GM)

[Johnny V.]

15. this is true, the sticker for my 04 Camry said 35mpg highway, the new ones advertised get something

like 32mpg. Why in the world do they get less in 08? Henry Fords original Model T, first manufactured in 1908 had the ability to run on either gasoline or *ethanol*. We've regressed ever since.

PS: anybody ever wonder why the MSM keeps saying : $4/gallon gas over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again? It's to get us used to the idea se we bitch less and accept.

[Johnny V.]

16. here's why cars are said to get less fuel efficiancy

new way to calculate fuel efficiancy by the EPA

http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2008/01/6976_happy_2008_your.html

[Lorien]

21. Hey, I drive a '94 Camry too. I love it and can't fathom why

advertisements for much smaller vehicle crow about "34 mpg highway". The 2009 COROLLA gets the same mileage that our 1994 Camrys do!

It truly is Orwellian; "Your chocolate rations have now been increased from 2.5 oz. to 1.7 oz. ".

[NightWatcher]

4. I've heard commercials on talk radio about how to mail in your old gold for cash

how long till we sell our 'unneeded organs' for gas money

[nichomachus]

13. That is such a scam!

They're on TV too -- I even see them on the Spanish language stations.

Basically, they send you an envelope. You put your jewelry in it and mail it in. Then, they say, they'll send you a check.

WHAT?

You have no idea before you send it in what you're going to get back. It's entirely up to them as to what, if anything, to send you. I can't believe anyone would fall for that, but history tells us they will.

[bean fidhleir]

18. The late author Gavin Lyall had one of his characters say

that one day he'd make a fortune by putting a bin on a street corner with a big sign saying it's absolutely forbidden to put money in the bin.

[nichomachus]

20. There was a guy

about 25 or 30 years ago, who ran a small ad in the back of those trashy magazines that some people read. All it said was "Last chance to send $10 to" such and such an address. Tens of thousands of people sent in $10. He broke no laws and made tons of money.

[Jokerman]

5. Headline News reported this as a "silver lining" in a bad economy.

Seriously. They called this good news for the pawn shops.

That was just a few days after a major corp slashing 5000 jobs was portrayed as the corporation "slimming down" and "getting lean". Nice positive ways to spin stories of economic devastation.

I don't know why the hell I even try to watch that crap.

[noamnety]

6. I wish he didn't focus on jewelry like that's an issue

or at least that he acknowledged the conditions under which much of it is mined. There's something about using that specific thing as the example that I find really disturbing.

[renate]

7. when I read that I thought he meant people were selling heirlooms

Wedding rings, etc. Maybe it's just me, though. :shrug:

[Midlodemocrat]

9. That's what I thought as well. Engagement rings in particular.

[noamnety]

25. Engagement rings in particular, yes.

That's exactly what I'm talking about, our own troubling ability to talk about their sentimental value from our unique privileged perspectives, like it's a great tragedy that we can't hang onto something that was acquired through the slavery of others and the exploitation of their land. I think it's in extremely poor taste to act as though the tragedy in that situation lies on the US side of things.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/issue_septoct_2005_fix/photoessay/page3.html

Like I said, I wish he'd found some other example to illustrate his point, because the greater shame is not in having to sell a diamond; it's in the human rights abuses that went into producing it, and it's offensive to gloss over that as if it's inconsequential in the face of the suffering that occurs when someone who was privileged enough to own a diamond (as opposed to mining them for less than subsistence wages) has to sell one. Sentimental value of trinkets < basic human rights.

[demmiblue]

10. I am in agreement!

I am a sterling silver and beads type of person, but I do have a ring that was my grandmother's that could bring in a substantial price. And, no, I would not sell it... the sentimental value is far greater! I think DK knows the difference!

[Westegg]

8. The Death of Bling. Wow. More to the point, Dennis...

...is your mention of people foregoing food to pay for home heat/car fuel. Am I crazy for thinking that this is a far more common experience for the average citizen? Who the hell budgets for jewelry and not for necessities? I'm sure some people do, but I'm less concerned about them than I am about the reasonable struggling person who hasn't blown money on gold and diamonds in recent years because they've been too damn busy trying to pay their basic expenses. Personally, I'm having to tighten my belt in many ways to deal with this fucked-up shit, but I won't be selling my jewelry, my $5000 TV, or my SUV, because I never had any of that to begin with. If you're rich enough to afford those luxuries, you're not concerned about gas prices. If you're now selling jewelry to buy gas, you probably couldn't afford that jewelry in the first place. Am I missing something????

[PVnRT]

12. Your post reminds me of right-wingers who criticize poor people for owning TVs

How do you know they didn't buy that stuff when they COULD afford such things?

It seems people are completely missing the substance of what Kucinich is saying here, but, this is DU.

[Westegg]

17. I think what he's saying is that consumers are getting gouged...

...and price-gouging is illegal, whether it's done by an individual or a corporation.(That was implicit, but not explicit, in what Dennis said.) I quite agree. It is what's happening. I personally think the people who run Exxon, etc., should all be in prison. Today's situation makes the Rockefeller/Standard Oil/anti-trust days seem like a fucking joke.

I simply find the selling-jewels-for-gas notion absurd. What kind of person can afford jewels at one point and not gas at another? Sorry, I've always been more fiscally responsible than that, because I get my basic needs met for myself and my family first. Things like rent, utilities, food, clothing, education, health care.

I'm not against poor people owning TVs. I'm technically a poor person myself, and I own a TV. I own two. One is five years old, the other is 20. Neither one cost me more than $200. What I am against is people who can't afford $5000 TVs buying them and then later having to sell them for $1000 so they can afford to eat. Perhaps they should budget more wisely. I always have. I have almost no outstanding debt. I assume better days are ahead for me financially, and I am working toward that.

If I remind you of "a right-winger who criticizes poor people for owning TVs," then so be it. Your comment has nothing to do with my reality. I do feel a general vibe of hatred and arrogance coming from you, but that's on you, sir or madam. And maybe you dig that.

[Lars39]

22. You can inherit jewelry, you know.

Or have bought the jewelry when in much better shape financially.

[Westegg]

24. Yes, yes, you're quite right. That must be it!...

...The mad rush of those Americans who inherited $10,000 diamond-and-ruby earrings from their late mothers, now selling them for ten cents on the dollar to fill their gas tanks for half a year. You know what that means, though, don't you: The pawn-shop price for diamond-and-ruby earrings is going to crash in the near future. It's supply and demand. Which brings me back to my original point.

[NNN0LHI]

11. That means they had too much jewelery to begin with

I don't have any. None. Not even any gold teeth.

Don

[SammyWinstonJack]

14. Rich republicans are such arrogant condescending a$$hole$! And they absolutely delight in being so

[Yavin4]

23. Mr. Cavuto, Tech Is Making A Lot of Profit Because of the Cheap Dollar

Oil companies are making a huge profit because of two oil men in the White House.