I have to give the mayor a pat on the back for going after the gasoline companies. He is absolutely right, but this is not a new problem and has been around since the Republicans took over congress and the white house. It may have to do more with the town budget than taking the lead for the town citizens. Regardless, it is a matter that should have been addressed by our Reps in Boston a long time ago. But as usual, until the lime light is turned on...they are nowhere to be found!
Today I would like to pose the question.....How much more can the citizens and the town take before we are all living on the street? Wages and benefits (?) are stagnant or falling behind because the cost of living keeps increasing. At what point do we say enough is enough? At what point do our Reps finely get off their fat asses and start to pitch in and help?
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Let me ask you Southview, how much profit is too much?
Does anyone bat an eye at paying $20/gal for bottled water?
One liquid comes from half way around the world and is processed several times, while the other flows freely out the ground just about everywhere.
If our elected officials have failed us in way on this issue, it has been the failure to predict such problems and develop an alternative fuel source before we reached this point.
Would you sell a product that regardless of what you have to do to produce it, a government agency can tell you how much you can charge for it. Show - me - Russia!
I'm sure you remember the energy crisis of '73 when OPEC stopped selling us oil. Which is worse, having to pay the true costs for a product or not having the product at all?
People blow a gasket when the price of oil shoots up because of speculation and therefore the replacement cost of inventory increases, but have an insurance company tell someone they are only getting what they paid for their car or house and not what it would cost to replace it and see what their reaction is.
Adjust my friend, don't sit back and wait for Big Brother to come and bail you out.
People blow a gasket when the price of oil shoots up because of speculation and therefore the replacement cost of inventory increases,
I get your bigger point, and tend to agree, sort of....
The reason pump prices jump is not replacement of inventory, it is simply gouging. It takes over 6 weeks weeks for a barrel of extracted crude to make it to the pump. Hiking retail prices because of "futures" trading is slimy - fast to rise and very very slow to fall.
Greg are you contending that every middleman that processes that crude from the well to the delivery truck are keeping prices the same and it is only the gas stations that do the "price gouging"? Or would it be more realistic that each step along the way has bumped up their prices in order to replace inventory and the gas station owner is the only one getting called on the mat?
It is obviously the middlemen. The crude is already paid for before it is pumped out of the ground. Individual gas stations have little say on their pricing. There are few independent stations left. Around here, most stations are owned by regional outfits who call in the prices to each station.
I've got a friend who used to work for Cumbys during the whole Hurricane Katrina price run-up. He was getting phone calls from HQ every hour raising the price by a 20 or 30 cents.
You can liken it to the supermarket guy running around with a telephone stuck to his ear, in direct contact with wall street futures speculators, repricing goods already on the shelf because something may happen next year maybe, with the crops. It's not allowed there and it shouldn't be allowed at the gas station!
Just remember this guys. There are two political partys in this country.One stinks and the other smell kind of funny.Bottom line is neither one represents middle America and without middle America...well you better hang on to your ass with both hands once the middle man is finished off.
Southview, at some stations inventory is replaced more than once a day.
All I'm trying to say to you, Mayor Barrett and anyone else waiting for gov't to bail us out, is that complaining a company is making too much profit will get you nowhere. If you truly want to make a statement then look for a fuel/heat/power source other than petroleum and help it get established in the area.
Let the power of the laws of supply and demand do your bidding for you instead of against you.
Da Snoop.....I see where from whence ye cometh. I agree that a lot of hot air without a balloon to put it into is just a lot of hot air, that will dissipate into nothingness. It needs to be linked to something substantial nike pressing forward with alternate power sources. You can't hold a gun to someones head with out any bullets in it! As far as supply and demand side economics are conserned.....without constraints it is nothing more than Reaganonomics Greedanomics 101. Personally I don't subscribe to letting the market dictate price. Most things do not have a worth value that warrants their price. Prices are falsely inflated way beyond their cost of production/reasonable profit margin.
Most things do not have a worth value that warrants their price. Prices are falsely inflated way beyond their cost of production/reasonable profit margin.
Worth, like beauty and art, are in the eye of the beholder. Something is "worth" what someone else is willing to pay for it.
Reaganomics was the trickle down theory where if the big boys were encouraged to spend as much money as they could, their purchases would cause a draw down of inventory and thereby create jobs and GDP to replace that inventory or provide services.
What I'm advocating is reducing the demand, by the average Joe, on a product which would increase it's supply and drive down the price. I think everyone has agreed in the past that with regards to cable, telephone service, internet service, electrical supply - competition (supply and demand) is a good thing. Why should energy sources be different?
Da Snoop, da snop, da snoop.....You got it all wrong! The economic principals you are refering to went out with "Ronnie The Rat" and Greedanomics. In todays economy prices rise even if the demand is low. The reason they give is that they must recoup manufacturing cost. The real reason is that they want to maintain the high profet margerin. Lack of demand will not lower cost, it may even increse it!
Ronnie The Rat Hey....You pencil necked geek. Why don't you learn how to spell? Or maybe you could hire Ray Charles to be your proof reader at any rate it would be an improvement.Also try reading Ann Coulter. If democRATS had a brain they would be Republicans. Liberalism is a mental disorder plain and simple.
Ann Coulter - Ha, that's a good one.
So Billy, enlighten us, what is the Republican plan to solve the high energy cost problem?
Da Snoop.....He can't answer because the Repukes don't have a desire to do anything about it. They are happy with things as they stand now. They have to sacrifice something to their "Green God" and it is the workin man....us!
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