Price Gouging? a question

C

CatyMae n Steve

New member
I just read this article http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/268060_cantwell26.html and my questions are ... why would anyone be AGAINST price gouging protection? If someone WAS against it, wouldn't they be suspect of having "connections" to the gougers? things that make you say hmmmmm

I'm sure we ALL understand the bill wasn't even presented because of one derailing comment:

"It came immediately from Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., who said considering Cantwell's bill would delay passage of a $106 billion spending bill for the war in Iraq and hurricane relief."

We ARE the lucky ones to own fuel economical C-Dorys -- I'm countin my blessings :-)
 
Gouging protection is good, but remember the way you tell a politician is lying is that their lips are moving.
After witnessing the drilling, finding ,then capping off oil wells in Wyoming growing up, and Cheney and Bush, and others being oil guys... we are still paying and will continue to pay the price. We got the oil and the means. Only thing is why we reduced the number of refineries in my home town from 7 to maybe 2.
Ok!! Off my soap box and back to lovin' myfuel squeezin C-Dory and C-Brat Family

So now let the fun begin!!!
 
yeah!! dam gougers. oil companys make a big 5% profit. Is not like they are yahoo makeing a 37% profit!!!! or amazon at 25% or starrbucks at 28%. so whos gouging us the most and what is to much profit??? As a stock owner I want as much profit as I can get. oil companies make 5 cent for every gallon sold but the goverment gets 37 cent or more depending on the state?? whos screwing who?? and now congress wants to raise the gas taxes with a profit tax?? So you own a buisness and make to much money and they tax you more??? whats the goal of doing good if they are going to take more from you???

susan sayes off the box and go cook dinner!!!!!!!
 
It is strange that no one complains about hospitals charging $6 for an asprin or charging $80 for a LITER of salt water to drip into a patient's veins, even though they MIGHT not need it.

Has any one here ever looked at their hospital bill with the help of someone who can understand the real meanings of the items billed?

It is very surprising what the profit margins are in heath care.

You would think that a company selling asprins for $6 would be very prosperous.

Cheers
 
Something doesn't add up on the $.05 profit per gallon sold (that's not 5% BTW, more like 1.7% unless you're talking a crude gallon). I don't have the facts to back up their profits, but at the end of the last couple of years I heard the oil companys made RECORD profits! Now if the amount of gas sold is approximately the same in the U.S., then how did that happen--I guess 5% of a 25% higher sales price results in more profits, or their drilling/transportation costs were less, or they did less exploration...? Trying to understand.

Does Yanmar make a 50-100HP diesal outboard yet? I know they made/make a 25HP for sailboats. They're sell biodiesel in Marina Del Rey, made from walnut oil, $3.31/gallon, works in all diesel motors!
 
I searched the internet for a diesel outboard a month or so ago and the only two that showed up were not approved for US use.... due to pollution. Also, only a few underdeveloped countries and Australia were OK with them. So, maybe the technology is not there yet.... or is it? 'Looks like all the small inboard diesels could be modified.... John
 
As for profits, I too am confused on this. If all you sell beans or wheat or corn and a year comes up when you have half as much corn, how can you make record profits from that? Even at twice the price, you'd be the same. So my addle headed question is "How can they make record profits selling less?" JOHn
 
thanks for that fresh perspective, Dan....

As for my emotions, I'm wanting someone to spend time on reasonable alternative fuels of all kinds. I think our future is better served by having multiple options. The problem with ethanol and bio diesel is that ADM and Cargill hold all the aces in those markets...

John
 
Some trivia: A barrel of oil equals 42 gallons and that figure originated in the Philadelphia oil rush back when Sawdust was born.

Petroleum Products Yielded from One Barrel of Crude, 2004
Product Gallons
Finished Motor Gasoline 19.65
Distillate Fuel Oil 10.03
Kero-Type Jet Fuel 4.07
Residual Fuel Oil 1.72
Still Gas 1.85
Petroleum Coke 2.18
Liquefied Refinery Gas 1.68
Asphalt and Road Oil 1.34
Naptha for Feedstocks 0.67
Other Oils for Feedstocks 0.55
Lubricants 0.46
Special Naphthas 0.13
Kerosene 0.17
Miscellaneous Products 0.17
Finished Aviation Gasoline 0.04
Waxes 0.04

Total 44.77

Yup, the total is greater than 42 gallons. "Process gain".
 
Dora~Jean":21r9wzqo said:
Something doesn't add up on the $.05 profit per gallon sold
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What should we think when the gas station on the corner raises their prices EIGHT TIMES in less than a week? You know they didn't get 8 trucks in during that time. I think as consumers we are used to taking the "what can we do, we need the stuff?" point of view. There used to be competition between the gas stations on the corner, each pricing for themselves to bring the consumer in. Now they've all learned that if they move together (almost always UP) on the price, it doesn't drop their business. In my industry, this would be called "price fixing" and it is illegal. I have been told that the local gas distributor calls these stations and tells them what price to charge or they won't get gas. We live near a state border and there is $.17 difference in gas taxes between those states... but the gas prices are about the same! Who is pocketing that extra $.17 per gallon? The media tells us the "average price for gas in the US," and all the gas stations head for that price point... because they can.

Yes, there are many external factors, but IMHO it boils down to: they raise the prices because they CAN. I have sold my business, but I know that a major rise in gas prices is usually followed by a general tanking of the economy. It ticks me off that the oil companies can make record profits while driving the rest of the economy into the toilet.

Sorry for the rant; this is about more than operating economical boats - everything you buy will be affected by these price increases. As the average consumer's discretionary income gets eaten away by rising prices, you will see even economical boats being used less. I want to see all you C-Brats when we're out there... hope I can afford to!

Jim B.
 
JamesTXSD":1mwp6fwy said:
Sorry for the rant; this is about more than operating economical boats - everything you buy will be affected by these price increases. As the average consumer's discretionary income gets eaten away by rising prices, you will see even economical boats being used less. I want to see all you C-Brats when we're out there... hope I can afford to!

Jim B.
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Prices would have to go completely crazy before I give up the Jenny B because of fuel costs. The big pleasure cruising boats will continue to be what they are already, in San Diego anyway; floating beach condos. The sportfishing crowd down here are already howling though. I bet the owner of the C22 416rigby bought even has second thoughts about his new 44 ft. sportfisher! Egad, .8 mpg?

Someone also mentioned marina fees going down. Dunno about that unless the boats get sold and moved out of the country, though I think we may see more "accidental" fire losses and sinkings....
 
I'm with Dan. "gouging" is a word attached to an activity that is very visible and making us all suffer. But it is their oil, their exploration, their risk, their trucks and pipelines, their liability and insurance costs, and everything else it takes to make the profit. This is a free market and we, the consumer, are the one that is driving the price rise. By we I have to include China and several other developing nations in the equation. If it was just this country, or this continent, there are probably a lot of small steps we could take to drive the price back down to a more tolerable level. But now we have a world economy and we have to compete for our share with the rest of the world. The prices we are now expected to pay are still way below what Europe and other areas were paying years ago. Why are we surprised it has finally happened here. I live in a heavy agricultural area of Oregon, the Willamette Valley. It is not on the scale of the valleys in california but is still a major economic force in the northwest. I worked those fields when I was a kid, harvested the crops, grew up with the farmers and their families. I said 30 years ago someday we would pay 25% or more of our disposable income for food. Depending on your income, there are many families that have seen that happen. To me that was an easy prediction. More people require more food. Our lifestyles are changing which also figures into it. So, now we are talking about bio-diesel and other fuels dependant upon crops. The crops will be the easy part. The land and water and fertilizers and pesticides will be the hard part. I have a hunch the water will be a huge hurdle in the future. And you can't grow much without the water. We will end up taking some lands out of domestic cultivation and use them to grow bio fuels. That will have to have an impact on the cost of the food we eat. We can complain all we want but we have been swept up into a new age and will have to learn to live with it. Buying economical to operate C-Dory's was a great first step for a lot of us. We will all make other adjustments, but I will wager most of you are like me, boating is an adjustment that is way down the list.
 
Seeker":1oe5qmsc said:
It is strange that no one complains about hospitals charging $6 for an asprin or charging $80 for a LITER of salt water to drip into a patient's veins, even though they MIGHT not need it.

Has any one here ever looked at their hospital bill with the help of someone who can understand the real meanings of the items billed?

It is very surprising what the profit margins are in heath care.

You would think that a company selling asprins for $6 would be very prosperous.

Cheers
Click to expand...


For every one person/insurance who pays the full price on the bill there is at least one person who pays nothing. Some hosipitals do make a lot of money but we truely have a socialized medicine. Those who pay, pay big and the rest don't pay at all. Trust me I see it first hand.

People will spend 50k on a boat and then scoff at a 50k procudure that extends their life on this planet.

Ok off my soap box.
 
The price of oil is grossly over estimated right now. There is no supply issue. Saudie and others have said that they can keep up with demand. Unfortunately oil is a traded comodity and there are just a few people involved in the "futures" market. It's their speculation and over reaction that has set the price of oil where it's at. I think in time we will find out that there is some similarities happening in the oil sector to what occured a couple years ago with the buying and selling of electricity. It turns out there was no need for rolling black outs and extreme pricing.

The second problem with the price of gas though is seperate from the oil supply. We only have a few companies in the refinery buisuness. Is it an open market for refineries or is there regulations that limit who and where new refineries can be built. It's quite convienent not to build extra capacity if your exxon, shell ect... that way you can limit supply and artificially increase fuel products. If there was true competition in the refinery buisness I doubt we would see these prices.

Some things could be changed to remove some excuses though.

Standardize the emissions regulations for all states. Currently the refineries have to "go offline" to switch their blend at different times of the year or for different states requirements. I believe they could run more effeciently if there was one emission standard.

What about only making one grade of gasoline instead of three? There has to be some inefficiencies in producing 3 grades.

Open up the refinery business so there is true competition.
 
True. I have a daughter who has worked many years for one of the larger providers in portland and 80% of the patients that come through their doors have no, or limited, ability to pay. From what I have read this is not an isolated problem, this is nationwide. And the percentage in the trauma wards is even worse.
 
In the western states you can't even replace a failing culvert running under a road or highway without intense review and regulation by a host of government agencies, including National Marine Fisheries. Build a new refinery? Not likely. Might as well try to build a nuclear reactor.
 
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