Of course not, but many people only blame oil companies for the current dilemma. The environmentalists won this battle back in the 70s and 80s when they successfully convinced Congress to pass regulations to protect the environment. This not only impacts refineries, but power plants, nuclear plants, chemical plants, etc. Look around and you'll not see many of these being built these days. That may be a great thing for the environment, but it's leads to some of the problems we have today. Our utilities infrastructure is falling apart. Nobody wants new plants in their backyard. Taxing oil companies more will do nothing to solve this problem. It's nothing more than punishment for making too much money. A ridiculous concept.
I could see some kind of standardizations being a help, for sure. But all you have to do is spend a day in Los Angeles to understand why California has special smog reduction issues. And corn states all want gasahol at the pumps. 18 does seem a littlle much, but if Zapps can make 18 kinds of potato chips out of one factory in Gramercy, I suspect the oil industry can handle multiple formulations of gasoline out of 149 US refineries.
i am suprised that anyone trusts the government more than freedom and the market. but when people do not get exactly what they want, they like to use the force of the government to beat others down and force them give them what they want. this is probably the one aspect of human nature and politics that is most destructive to the world. all through history, leaders have used this mentality to ruin societies. because people sometimes cant stomach freedom. they want to take from others. they need the government to help them take. the question "how much profit is too much" should never be asked. if you think a company is very profitable, buy stock in it, dont try and hurt that comapany. the people who work for that company dont need your intervention. they need you to mind your own damn business. they are offering you a product. if you want it, buy it. if you dont, don't. there is nothing to complain about. stop thinking oil companies owe you oil at your price. they owe you nothing.
NIMBY. Not In My BackYard LA is aggressively bidding for a steel mill to be located in St. James. Shintech got permitted in Plaquemine/Addis. Entergy is seeking to add another nuclear reactor. Progress is happening, despite the environmentalists.
That's not what anybody is saying, obviously. Geez, you'll take any opportunity to change a discussion into a rant about Big Government. My complaint is the lack of free competition between the oil companies. Why doesn't one company build new refineries, and produce gasoline cheaper and in plenty of quantity, so they can underprice their competition and get our business? Because they collude to keep prices high. There is no free market concerning oil. A crisis in the middle east makes Texaco purchased crude oil from Saudi go up, so they raise their gas prices to compensate. Then Exxon will raise the price on their North Slope crude even though there is no crisis and raise their gasoline. BP will then raise prices on their North Sea crude. Then CITGO will raise the price on their cheap Venezuelan crude and raise their gasoline prices, too. We broke up anti-competitive practices in the oil industry once before when Standard Oil was broken up. We broke up the Bell Telephone monopoly. When Big Oil colludes and forms cartels, governments have to protect the consumers.
if you cant afford the oil, don't buy it. problem solved. if everyone else continues to be able to afford it, you will know the problem is yours. if nobody else buys it, the price will come down. the government protects you from fraud and criminal acts against you. not from prices you do not like. if you are unable to not get addicted to something you cannot afford, that is your problem. again, you have not addressed my point that you want increased oil production while at the sme time you complain that oil ruins the environment. you are looking to have the government control us too many ways at once, they conflict.
You recall how many years it took Shintech to get the license? When was the last nuclear plant built in this country? Most of our existing plants are reaching their original obsolescence date. That's not my definition of progress.
I am sorry but the multitude of different gasoline formulations is one of the reasons for gas prices being what they are, and it makes on sense at all.
