Posted on 02/01/2006 9:32:23 AM PST by GeneD
Get ready for it, if they cap prices then it's going to be a fight just to get a gallon. Joy.
I hope that means reducing fuel related taxes! :^)
Oil companies who run at about an 8% margin should copy Microsoft and run a roughly 30% margin without getting called on it.
Sen. Specter investigates the necessity for the government to bring about and manage a gasoline shortage.
Specter is just being true to form. After impersonating a Republican in the Alito process he has to immediately impersonate a Democrat.
Please note, I wish to avoid the term "Energy Policy." All this bullsheet about "Alternative Fuels," etc, is just that. It's 100 years out. Sure we should be researching, trying out, and planning, but we are going to run on oil until and beyond then. There is no oil shortage, and there won't be. First things first. Oil is first. Then worry about the alternatives.
(1). George, where's the tax incentive plan to increase refinery capacity and build new refineries? The number one oil problem in our country??? Lack of refining capacity. No new refineries since the 50s! And don't tap dance me about environmental wackos. That's a problem we can handle with communications. (Or brute force.)
(2). Where's the tax incentive plan to increase domestic oil production? Ditto on the wackos.
(3). Where's the agressive communication plan to tell the American people that more drilling is not an environmental hazard. If it were, no one would live in Beverly Hills, where oil has been pumped for one hundred years and is producing today! George, take on the wackos! NOW!
(4). Where's the agressive tax on gas guzzlers? Where's the aggressive overhaul of our inane emissions requirements? Hybrid cars are kewl, but they don't add up, perhaps never will. If you want to plug in your Honda or Prius, guess what? you have to engineer that yourself. In the meantime, if VW can build a small diesel car with great performance that delivers 50mpg, how come something like it isn't rewarded with tax incentives for our struggling auto guys here? Plus, it would make the wackos happy!
5. For example: my favorite new American car is the Chrysler Pacifica. Beautiful. If they had a diesel, or even a diesel hybrid (which would really be kewl) I would buy it in a heartbeat, particularly if it were subsidized like the Prius!
I love fast cars as much as the next guy. But is there any need for a Honda Civic to be capable of 120mph? If it could only manage 80 and got 15 more mpg, would that be a good thing? Somebody at the top ain't thinking. Why are cars built for 1/4 mile, stop-light to stoplight acceleration? I remember when my favorite sports car went 0-60 in a now pathetically slow 12.+ seconds, but was geared to cruise nicely at 80, at a quiet 2750 rpm and could deliver 35mpg at a steady 70. What the hell is wrong with that?
ps. I have heard that the secret plan is to begin the fleet conversion to diesel. Anyone know anything?
Sounds like Spector is shaking down the oils again for more Republican campaign $$
Government makes more money on oil and gas than do the companies that actually make and sell the products.
Can you frame that with numbers. For example...
Exxon makes five cents profit on a gallon of gas while the federal government makes eight cents on the same gallon. That should clear up who is cheating drivers.
A short but good write up of the results can be found here: http://www.taxhistory.org/thp/readings.nsf/0/edf8de04e58e4b14852570ba0048848b?OpenDocument. Once established, even President Reagan, who campaigned against it, couldn't kill the beast for years.
Sen. Specter, how about this instead? How about getting rid of the price gouging by the government on gas instead? Fed gas tax per gallon of 18.5 cents,,,national average state tax per gallon about the same,,,when adding in any local, city, county or municipal taxes--the TOTAL TAX PER GALLON NATIONALLY is about 50 cents per gallon!!
Want to lower gas prices? Get rid of the government GOUGING of fifty cents per gallon.
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