Quote:
Originally Posted by chadrcr
#1 -Oh my God, gtahvit, I hate to be this blunt, but saying the gas station owners are gouging is by far the most incorrect statement someone could possibly make concerning gas prices.........
Please, please don't insult the people taking losses just so you can get cheap gas. Those kinds of ignorant statements are just plain rude and inconsiderate.
#2 -As far as record profits at the gas companies, the absolute size of their profits go along with the absolute size of the companies........
Do you really expect them to intentionally take a loss just so you can get cheap gas? What gives you that right? That's the problem with most Americans......
#1. rude. stovt001 you may be an expert, on rude....
There are some stations that are charging 25 cents more per gal, right across the street from others, and some people are dumb enuff to buy their gas there, you probably do since you like gas costing double what it did a couple years ago.
#2. How about somewhere in between record profits and them taking a loss, it does not have to be all or nothing.
#3. Just because someone disagrees with you does not mean they are ignorant, but it does make you inconsiderate.
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Gas stations charging 25 cents more a gallon than others right across the street isn't the same thing as gouging. Its a poor business move, and I honestly don't know why anyone would go to the unless they have it in their heads that they must have that brand in their tank. I would say that's not gouging since there is a clearly cheaper alternative sitting right across the street. I'm saying on a whole its not right to say gas station owners gouge when I actually think they're the ones getting the worst of this whole thing. They have to fill up their own cars with that more expensive gas, they make little to no profit on selling it, and they often have to take a loss for a while waiting for someone else to raise their price to cover higher costs or else they'll lose business. They're in a very tough business situation providing a service that is quite necessary. While I think its incorrect to accuse the big oil companies of gouging, I don't think such accusations really bother them personally. However, for your hard working small business owner, it is personal and it can be offensive. I guess I just have a soft spot for small business people, but I hate to see them accused of something when they're feeling the same pain we are, if not more.
And yes, there can be a middle ground between record profits and no profits, but where is there a law saying you can't have record profits? Why should they intentionally limit prices? Again, its not their duty to bring you cheap gas. It is their duty to bring it to you at market price, and I have tried to demonstrate that the market price is actually correct. If that price brings record profits, great. That's more money to their stockholders (which any of us could be) or more money to expand operations. Either way, that's good for the economy and good for the people. Now if the stockholders do something stupid with those profits, like giving the execs exorbitant pay increases rather than reinvest them in supply, well then yeah, that isn't right, but it also isn't gouging either. But that's a whole other discussion right there (and something I'd probably agree with most of you on)...
Which brings me to someone saying the demand side has been justified, but not the supply. I think some other people covered this well but I'll restate what they said. It is practically illegal to drill oil in the US. We have supplies, but the government won't allow the oil companies to tap them. Canada has a large untapped supply, but it is very expensive (more expensive than other sources) to tap that oil. Our other non-OPEC suppliers are being nationalized by at an alarming rate, and their government can limit drilling, which they are. Finally OPEC can and is limiting its supply. All of these factors are outside the oil companies' control. Whether all these limits are right or not is again open to debate, and again I'd probably agree with your conclusions, but they're not the same thing as oil companies gouging.
Finally, I'll also repeat what someone else reminded us is a big factor here: the dollar. Oil is priced on the worldwide market in dollars, and when the dollar weakens, oil actually becomes cheaper to other countries and more expensive for us. This is why we're not seeing the same gas price increases abroad (at least partially. Taxes and other factors play a role) and why global demand is ramping up even more.
So do I think some shady/screwy things are going on? Yes. I just don't think they're gouging. The economics don't support that and as one Democratic Senator admitted, there is not one bit of evidence to support that. Instead of complaining about it though, I'm ignoring the doom and gloom and imagining the possibilities. As I stated in an earlier post, there is actually a lot to be gained from more expensive gas, if only we put our minds and efforts to realizing these possibilities. I'm tired of all America's negative focus lately. Times are tougher than they were in the past few years, but in the grand scheme of things we're still doing quite well, and we have great options. Lets talk about those.