Record oil profits don't bother me TOO much, because it is a simple case of market economics, supply and demand.
when the global market for oil demands that oil cost $70 a barrel instead of $20 a barrel, there's not much American oil companies can do about it, and even if they did make a stand and only sell their oil for $20 a barrel, Well, the oil producers right there are making an extra $50 a barrel. But because we're so reliant on foreign oil, much or most of THOSE profits are going to the oil producing countries in the middle east. So the companies in American that buy foreign oil and refine it to gasoline, jet fuel, etc... their record profits are simply a matter of making 10% on $2.50 instead of $1.25. Double your profit dollars without changing your profit margin, quantities sold, etc. We have to reduce our dependence on foreign oil DRAMATICALLY, or we're simply going to continue to see this happen. I don't blame corporate American for making record profits simply because gas prices are high. Blame OPEC and China for that (china's demand for oil has increased DRAMATICALLY over the last 10 years) What I wouldn't mind seeing is increased taxes on fossil fuel consumption, because I see that as the only way to get Americans to REALLY care about being more fuel efficient. $2 gasoline has changed some peoples habits. Myself included. I drive a Mazda3 most of the time now because it caused me pain to put $40 worth of gas in my pickup truck (And for a period of time it cost nearly $60 to fill it up!) Imagine if gasoline suddenly cost $4 a gallon or $5 a gallon in this country? I bet you'd find a LOT of americans finding alternative ways to get to work, to vacation destinations, etc... and you'd find a lot fewer people buying vehicles that only get 20 mpg. I don't *EVER* complain about the high price of fuel because we've still got it pretty good compared to a lot of other countries. Which may be why mass transit in this country simply doesn't work very well. Of course, last time I took the train to DC, what's normally a 6 hour trip took 13 hours. Talk about sucking. Rick ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Upgrade to Adobe ColdFusion MX7 Experience Flex 2 & MX7 integration & create powerful cross-platform RIAs http:http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;56760587;14748456;a?http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion/flex2/?sdid=LVNU Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:227217 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
