Posted on 05/23/2007 4:55:34 PM PDT by Daffynition
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Democrat-led House of Representatives approved legislation on Wednesday that would give the Federal Trade Commission more authority to probe price profiteering from gasoline and other refined products.
With average U.S. pump prices at an all-time, inflation-adjusted high of $3.22 a gallon, the House voted 284-141 for the "Federal Price Gouging Protection Act," which bans sellers from charging prices that are "unconscionably excessive," or take "unfair advantage" of consumers.
It was the second energy-related bill the House passed in as many days, after it voted on Tuesday to give the FTC the authority to sue members of the OPEC producers group for price manipulation. The Bush administration has threatened to veto both bills, warning that they could pinch supplies.
The profiteering bill is meant to prevent gasoline stations from running up prices in the face of a catastrophe like the hurricanes that hit the Gulf Coast region in 2005.
Bill sponsor Rep. Bart Stupak, Michigan Democrat, said the legislation is "a first step in addressing the outrageous prices we are seeing at the gas pump."
The Senate could weigh energy legislation that includes anti-profiteering measures in June, Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters.
The House bill would give the FTC "the explicit authority to investigate and punish those who artificially inflate the price of energy," and require offenders to pay triple damages, or up to $3 million, for charging "unconscionable prices."
Some Republicans said the bill sets vague definitions of what price would qualify as "unconscionable" and would do nothing to combat high pump prices.
"It's a flawed bill - the definitions are not there," said Rep. Joe Barton, Texas Republican.
The White House warned lawmakers the bill creates a "vague and arbitrary regulatory regime," which would spur lawsuits and maybe even "bring back long gas lines reminiscent of the 1970s."
Oil industry trade groups also oppose the bill, saying high prices have come from market conditions, not manipulation.
Anti-free-market morons!
Go after the organization getting the most money/gallon!!
Well, if the “big oil companies” ARE ripping us off, lets find out about it. I know there has not been an oil refinery built for about 30 years here, but MAYBE it WAS the long term plan of the oil giants. How hard did they fight to build new facilities? The hoops the companies had to jump through were many. But did they REALLY fight that hard? Just a thought.
This legislation would make shortages much worse. Reatailers would probably prefer to run out of inventory than risk prosecution on “price gouging”.
The only real profiteers in this are the state and fed govs with all their bs taxes put on gasoline and all the craptastic special blends that must be manufactured to appease each state’s ecotards.
Why don’t they investigate the environmentalist wackos
who have blocked new nuclear power plants for decades,
block drilling for oil on the land mass of the United States and her waters, refuse to allow oil refineries to be built, etc.
And what about the moonbat democrat party who is in bed with these ecofreaks?
Also, how about doing something about the 50 - 60 cents a gallon the state and federal governments take per gallon in taxes?
congress is somewhere between gravely retarded and brain-dead.
The largest US oil company (Exxon/Mobil) controls exactly 3.1% of world oil production.
COMPANY WORLDWIDE OIL PRODUCTION
Million barrels per year, 1998
Saudi Arabian Oil Co.* 3028
Petroleos Mexicanos* 1278
Petroleos de Venezuela* 1258
China National Petroleum* 1168
BP Amoco + Arco 963
ExxonMobil 894
Royal Dutch/Shell 859
Nigerian National Oil Co.* 772
Iraq National Oil Co.* 770
Kuwait Petroleum* 757
Chevron + Texaco 756
if we must have an investigation, how about investigating the extent to which government regulations drive up prices and block new production?
In other words, it's not about high market prices AT ALL. It's the same consumer price protection thing that LOCAL GOVERNMENTS take care of in isolated conditions with individual stations who slap down obscene markups on bad news scares. Just wankery passed by the Federal Dems to fool the rubes into thinking they're out to slap down "BIG OIL."
No definitions make it a useless bill, but it's really all about Democratic public relations and pandering, just like the 'sue OPEC' drivel.
Socialism 101: Price fixing leads to shortages
Refineries are as popular as nuclear generation plants. Have you seen lots of those built in the last several decades either. It's not just the regulatory hurdles, it's also the threat of lawsuits by NIMBY's, BANANA's and greenies who don't want anything new built anywhere. And while they're at it, they want to dismantle all the hydroelectric dams too.
taxes are higher than profits on a gallon of gas.
and the people who levy and collect the taxes don’t drill, pump refine or deliver the product.
Any talk about lowering the taxes on a gallon of gas?
Oh, wait, that’s right, government take at all levels is a percentage so the higher the better, right?
Let’s get state by state breakdown of the government imposed tax per gallon of gasoline and what politcal parties were responsible for each increase and how much.
So when do you want people to start conserving? When the retailers get their next shipment of inventory or immediately. One ot the things that drove up the shortage of gasoline in the 1970's was increases in hoarding. Consumers fearing future shortages started storing gasoline (which is rather dangerous). Higher prices discourage hoarding and allocate stocks of fuel to higher value use.
Let's say—for the sake of argument—that an oil company had decided 30 years ago that it was good business not to build a refinery. Should that be illegal?
Lol, so market forces has nothing to do with the prices. Damn those governments and environmentalists!
Hmm? All I'm pointing out is that this is a sham by Congressional Democrats to convince the public that they're taking on "Big Oil" and nationwide gas prices when it's really a symbolic bill targeting individual store owners that the Feds will never pay attention to anyway. Do you think that some gas station owner is going to get brought up on federal charges because he jacks up the price of gas following a tornado or flood?
But the Democrats will now come out and say they've taken on 'price gouging' to convince the masses that 'they feel their pain.' Just a sham.
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