Should we start regulating the Oil Industry?

Dustin51
Dustin51 Posts: 222
edited March 2007 in A Moving Train
With most of living pay check to pay check as it is and gasoline prices going through the roof should the government step in?

The example I'll use is the electric companies. If we had too we would pay much more for electricity. It's something we all need. Realistically we couldn’t live without it so why don’t we get gauged for it? Because of government regulations. Is it time we started viewing the Oil industry the same way.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.
Be excellent to each other
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Comments

  • MrBrian
    MrBrian Posts: 2,672
    Well I think from their view point, oil is not gonna be around for ever so they better make all the money they can now and in the next 40? years. Too much money to make from oil.
  • gue_barium
    gue_barium Posts: 5,515
    I think we should regulate the regulators, and then re-delegate regulation.
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  • lukin2006
    lukin2006 Posts: 9,087
    Dustin51 wrote:
    With most of living pay check to pay check as it is and gasoline prices going through the roof should the government step in?

    The example I'll use is the electric companies. If we had too we would pay much more for electricity. It's something we all need. Realistically we couldn’t live without it so why don’t we get gauged for it? Because of government regulations. Is it time we started viewing the Oil industry the same way.

    I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.

    I am not so sure you can regulate gas prices, but I'd be happy if they were able to keep the gas from going up 10 to 20 cents a litre within a few days and then when it comes down, it never goes down as fast as it goes up.

    Nothing will ever happen to the oil companies, they are big time lobbyist with deep pockets.
    I have certain rules I live by ... My First Rule ... I don't believe anything the government tells me ... George Carlin

    "Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
  • gue_barium
    gue_barium Posts: 5,515
    beemster wrote:
    I am not so sure you can regulate gas prices, but I'd be happy if they were able to keep the gas from going up 10 to 20 cents a litre within a few days and then when it comes down, it never goes down as fast as it goes up.

    Nothing will ever happen to the oil companies, they are big time lobbyist with deep pockets.

    The human soul needs no pockets.

    I hate defeatist attitudes.
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  • norm
    norm Posts: 31,146
    gue_barium wrote:
    The human soul needs no pockets.

    I hate defeatist attitudes.

    In this case I don't think it's defeatist. When your president comes from the oil industry it's more fait accompli.
  • gue_barium
    gue_barium Posts: 5,515
    cutback wrote:
    In this case I don't think it's defeatist. When your president comes from the oil industry it's more fait accompli.

    It aint over til its over.
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  • norm
    norm Posts: 31,146
    gue_barium wrote:
    It aint over til its over.

    Fight the good fight.
  • gue_barium
    gue_barium Posts: 5,515
    cutback wrote:
    Fight the good fight.

    Now you're talking.
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  • desandrews
    desandrews Posts: 143
    Dustin51 wrote:
    With most of living pay check to pay check as it is and gasoline prices going through the roof should the government step in?

    The example I'll use is the electric companies. If we had too we would pay much more for electricity. It's something we all need. Realistically we couldn’t live without it so why don’t we get gauged for it? Because of government regulations. Is it time we started viewing the Oil industry the same way.

    I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.

    In your example, we don't get gauged for electricity because of gov't regulation. That may be true but only because most electrical companies have no competition. They're basically a monopoly, that's the argument for regulation. Oil companies... we have ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Citgo, BP, etc. There's no monopoly, there's free market competition, that dictates prices will be as low as efficiently possible. OPEC may be a different story, but they're not within the US so we can't regulate them anyway. Although prices are going up, profit margins are relatively stable. Hell, Microsoft and Apple have larger margins, I don't think we should start talking about regulating them.

    Also, didn't Jimmy Carter try this in the late 70s and all we got were long lines at the gas station because stores ran out of gas? Oh yeah, we got 55 mph speed limits out of that too.
  • gue_barium
    gue_barium Posts: 5,515
    desandrews wrote:
    In your example, we don't get gauged for electricity because of gov't regulation. That may be true but only because most electrical companies have no competition. They're basically a monopoly, that's the argument for regulation. Oil companies... we have ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Citgo, BP, etc. There's no monopoly, there's free market competition, that dictates prices will be as low as efficiently possible. OPEC may be a different story, but they're not within the US so we can't regulate them anyway. Although prices are going up, profit margins are relatively stable. Hell, Microsoft and Apple have larger margins, I don't think we should start talking about regulating them.

    Also, didn't Jimmy Carter try this in the late 70s and all we got were long lines at the gas station because stores ran out of gas? Oh yeah, we got 55 mph speed limits out of that too.
    are you guys trying to say 'gouge', like in 'gouge that fuckers eyes out', or 'gauge' as in the 'gauges of sin is death."
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  • desandrews
    desandrews Posts: 143
    gue_barium wrote:
    are you guys trying to say 'gouge', like in 'gouge that fuckers eyes out', or 'gauge' as in the 'gauges of sin is death."

    gouge... as in, he got shot with a 12 gouge shot gun.
  • gue_barium
    gue_barium Posts: 5,515
    desandrews wrote:
    gouge... as in, he got shot with a 12 gouge shot gun.

    i would have waged a bet in favor of this one.
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  • enharmonic
    enharmonic Posts: 1,917
    You can't control OPEC. Even trying to do that would be really bad.
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  • gue_barium
    gue_barium Posts: 5,515
    enharmonic wrote:
    You can't control OPEC. Even trying to do that would be really bad.

    Why control OPEC? They are already controlled. It should be an easy game.
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  • OutOfBreath
    OutOfBreath Posts: 1,804
    I thought the oil industry was pretty regulated, seeing the vitalness of the commodity and the big logistics of the whole operation...

    Peace
    Dan
    "YOU [humans] NEED TO BELIEVE IN THINGS THAT AREN'T TRUE. HOW ELSE CAN THEY BECOME?" - Death

    "Every judgment teeters on the brink of error. To claim absolute knowledge is to become monstrous. Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty." - Frank Herbert, Dune, 1965
  • lukin2006
    lukin2006 Posts: 9,087
    gue_barium wrote:
    The human soul needs no pockets.

    I hate defeatist attitudes.

    I am not being a defeatist, more like a realist, here in Canada we pay far more for gasoline than those in the States. When it comes to gas in Canada if the government just cut the gas tax we would see savings.

    Put the lobbying by the oil companies aside, with gas so expensive to begin with governments are raking piles of cash just in taxes.

    So maybe we need to regulate the government first, and not just at election time.
    I have certain rules I live by ... My First Rule ... I don't believe anything the government tells me ... George Carlin

    "Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
  • farfromglorified
    farfromglorified Posts: 5,700
    You already regulate the Oil Industry. And your electricity analogy makes little sense in terms of personal use and where it does make sense (distribution), you already largely regulate things.

    So no.

    Regulate your own consumption.
  • mammasan
    mammasan Posts: 5,656
    I don't think we should regulate the oil industry. In fact I think we pay way to little for gas as it is. If you think that 3 dollars a gallon is bad look at what the Europeans pay. I believe it's something like 6-7 dollars a gallon. Maybe if ouir prices went up to that level people would start being serious about conservation. They might also start pressuring the government and the private sector to invest more in the search for an alternate and renewable source of energy instead of just suckling off of OPECs tit.
    "When one gets in bed with government, one must expect the diseases it spreads." - Ron Paul
  • onelongsong
    onelongsong Posts: 3,517
    mammasan wrote:
    I don't think we should regulate the oil industry. In fact I think we pay way to little for gas as it is. If you think that 3 dollars a gallon is bad look at what the Europeans pay. I believe it's something like 6-7 dollars a gallon. Maybe if ouir prices went up to that level people would start being serious about conservation. They might also start pressuring the government and the private sector to invest more in the search for an alternate and renewable source of energy instead of just suckling off of OPECs tit.

    i agree; except for the renewable energy bit. we've had that technology yet few are utilizing it. i've been 100% solar for over a year without any problems and without an electric bill. the money has already been invested in alternate energy with great results. getting thick headed people to use it is the problem.
  • mammasan
    mammasan Posts: 5,656
    onelongsong wrote:
    i agree; except for the renewable energy bit. we've had that technology yet few are utilizing it. i've been 100% solar for over a year without any problems and without an electric bill. the money has already been invested in alternate energy with great results. getting thick headed people to use it is the problem.

    I think the problem is the cost of reworking your home. Right now oil is cheaper than the cost of purchasing, installing solar panels and any other work that would need to be done to do this. That's why I say if we paid what the Euros do people would be jumping all over each other to do as you did.
    "When one gets in bed with government, one must expect the diseases it spreads." - Ron Paul

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