Not if you watch network news or CNN. Some of their stories would lead you to believe that people are having to choose between gas and food or medicine. Guess they're choosing vacation over food and medicine, too.
Dude, you're in your little martin world again. Where reality need not be considered. Hello . . . McFly! It has already been established that there is no place to "Walk" to and that society is built on motor transport. We can't just quit driving. It's a looney idea and laughably unrealistic. If you can't grok this basic tenet, then you're in the wrong thread. This is a real-world issue.
i realize you have to say that if you want to use the collective force of the government to take something that isnt yours. the lie is that you need to. people continue to drive all over the place in big cars. you can and do afford it. you simply do not like freedom, when it applies to somebody besides yourself. you want to take. it is totally dishonest that the american people cant afford oil, and cant take the profits that the oil companies are making.
i dont feel like lookin back, but you often mention "windfall taxes". do you not? charging someone with a "windfall tax" is using the force of the government to take money from somebody. money they earned throuh voluntary and free exchange.
Or through collusion and price-fixing and taking advantage of shortages they create themselves, like lack of refining capacity.
they can collude and not refine or watever, that is really none of our business. it isnt our oil, mr marx. at the and of the day, when thay have a product, at X price, nobody forces you to buy. it is a completely and totally voluntary exchange. again, this is all based on the lie that people cannot afford the oil they need. the exchange of money for oil is voluntary, and people are buying like crazy. this is indisputable. our consumption of oil is massive. windfall taxes are an effort on your part to force your will upon the other party, ruining the free exchange. again, everything is voluntary until the government gets involved. if you are selling oil for too much, people will not buy as much. you lower prices. the market corrects. if the government intervenes, free and voluntary market corrections are gone. prices are held artificialy. investment in oil alternatives dries up, people continue to use too much oil, not only using up the oil we may need in the future, but hastening the horrible global warming. let the market correct itself. do not be afraid of freedom. dont manipulate things you think benefit you. it is wrong, and you are probably hurting yourself. when oil is no longer available for purchase, then you can whine. of course, that wont happen, because of the profits that bother you so much.
as long as the public and lawmakers are bouncing around ideas about limiting their profits, i dunno why they should bother increasing capacity. why make an enormous investment in something when your profits are subject to review of people who decide if they are excessive or not?
That's not even part of the thought process. The reason the oil companies are not investing in capacity here is because the rate of return is already greater in other countries like the middle east and asia. There are no environmental regulations and labor is dirt cheap. Also it puts them closer to the crude supplies. Most refineries in the U.S. are old, falling apart and are not being repaired. A large portion of the upgrades they are making are driven by changing environmental standards.
