Quote:
Originally Posted by Bassturbed
i sound like a broken record ... but ...
1) you can't blame President Bush for record gasoline prices
2) you can't blame oil companies for record gasoline prices
3) blame refinery capacity shortages in the u.s. for record gasoline prices.
4) refinery shminery you say? we haven't had ONE NEW refinery built in decades, largely because of stringent ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS. the existing infrastructure is going full-tilt boogie to keep up with demand now AND IS SHOWING STRAIN. also, Hurricane Katrina took some refinery capacity offline.
5) damn chinks and stinky vindaloos are hogging the world's oil that rightfully belong in MY pickup truck. let those bastards run their economies on rickshaws.   
6) If unleaded 87 octane gasoline for autos goes above $3.25 (already well above this for boats), I'm gonna be spending a lot of time at my reloading or fly-tying benches this summer, cuz I ain't gonna be driving up to RI or MA at this rate. Sad to say, we're gonna have to think about saving up for the winter heating season. BOHICA, baby. |
U don't sound like a broken record to me Ben. But here's my thoughts on the refinery side. (I could be wrong)
Most businesses keep a portion of their income for equipment upkeep and maintenance before they divy everything up. This portion is to help pay for new equipment as old stuff wears out or breaks down. They also look at ways to streamline and perfect their operations to make them more cost efficient.
I don't believe the oil companies do things this way though. They would rather make due with what they have and force prices to stay up. Why would it be beneficial to them to bring some older unused refineries back on line? Sure it may possibly lower prices at the pump, making the general population happy (for a little while anyways). But with lower production cost per unit they will come up with lower profit per unit of measure. Doesn't make much sense from big business point of view that I can see.
Remember last year when it hit 3 bux+. Not 1 day after the hurricane big oil was placing blame on it for fuel going so high. Now they have seen that the people can't and won't do anything about it so they are ecstatic. Nothing going on now and oil (crude) is lower than it has been in a long time. So why is regular 2.99 a gallon now?
I say start making the Oil Co.s start paying for Iraq................
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