Bush Orders Probe Into Gas Price Cheating By NEDRA PICKLER,

[Nbadan]

Drivers run out of gas to save money
Tuesday, April 25, 2006

LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Some California drivers are resorting to desperate measures to beat the surge in gas prices at the pump -- deliberately running dry on the state's freeways and simply waiting for rescue.

"Every time fuel goes up, we start noticing it. But right now we are noticing it a lot more," Andy Lujan, owner of California Coach Towing in Orange County, said Tuesday.

Lujan's 20 trucks roam the busy freeways of Orange and Los Angeles counties as part of a publicly funded patrol that gives a free gallon of gas to drivers who have run out of fuel. It also offers other basic assistance to drivers whose vehicles have broken down.

"You say to some of them 'hey, you've run out of gas' and they say 'yeah, it's too expensive.' I think the percentage is going to increase," Lujan said.

Gas prices in California, where the car is king, are some of the highest in the nation at more than $3 a gallon and rising....

CNN

There was one guy a while back who was stopping every morning and trying to get his one free gallon," said Dayan

[Nbadan]

Democrats propose federal gas-tax holiday:

Democrats are set to introduce a measure that would create a "federal gas tax holiday" by eliminating the federal tax on gas and diesel for sixty days, RAW STORY has learned.

The measure, proposed by Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), would reduce the cost of gas by $0.184 per gallon and the cost of diesel by $0.244 per gallon. The move, aides say, will provide $100 million dollars per day in relief.

Democrats say the money will be made up by cutting six billion dollars in tax breaks to oil firms. Currently, the money from the federal gas tax goes to the Highway Trust fund.

Democrats are also working on an amendment that would give federal authorities more power to investigate price gouging, aides say. The measure could be introduced by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), who is examining the idea.

Raw Story

[Nbadan]

According to Gas Buddy liberal states have the highest average PPG

[Yonivore]

According to Gas Buddy liberal states have the highest average PPG

It's the TAXES, stupid!

[Nbadan]

Yeah, it's the fixed-taxes that are driving up the price of gas.

[Yonivore]

Yeah, it's the fixed-taxes that are driving up the price of gas.

No, you idiot, it's fixed taxes that makes gas more expensive in blue states. Without the taxes, the map would all be the same freakin' color.

In fact, I think New York and California top the list of states in fuel tax.

[Sec24Row7]

Democrats propose federal gas-tax holiday:

Democrats are set to introduce a measure that would create a "federal gas tax holiday" by eliminating the federal tax on gas and diesel for sixty days, RAW STORY has learned.

The measure, proposed by Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), would reduce the cost of gas by $0.184 per gallon and the cost of diesel by $0.244 per gallon. The move, aides say, will provide $100 million dollars per day in relief.

Democrats say the money will be made up by cutting six billion dollars in tax breaks to oil firms. Currently, the money from the federal gas tax goes to the Highway Trust fund.

Democrats are also working on an amendment that would give federal authorities more power to investigate price gouging, aides say. The measure could be introduced by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), who is examining the idea.




Raw Story

ROFL... cut the tax breaks given to oil companies and give it back to consumers at the gas pump.

Never mind the fact that Oil companies will raise their prices to recoup their loss of that 6 billion.

Good job Dan.

You complain about REAGAN's voodoo economics... lol

[Yonivore]

Federal gas tax = 18.4 cents per gallon

State gas tax varies from around 8 cents in Alaska to around 31 cents in New York. But even then, you've got to decipher each state's laws to see how much, above this is added.

For instance, in Texas, it's a flat 20 cents per gallon. Period -- So, you know you're paying 38.4 cents per gallon in taxes in Texas.

In California, they claim it's 18 cents per gallon. But, then you've got to add 6% state sales tax, 1.25% county tax, 1.2 cents per gallon state UST fee, and various other local sales taxes where applicable.

Like I said:

It's the taxes, Stupid!

[Yonivore]

Here, I drew you a picture:

[Oh, Gee!!]

Federal gas tax = 18.4 cents per gallon

State gas tax varies from around 8 cents in Alaska to around 31 cents in New York. But even then, you've got to decipher each state's laws to see how much, above this is added.

For instance, in Texas, it's a flat 20 cents per gallon. Period -- So, you know you're paying 38.4 cents per gallon in taxes in Texas.

In California, they claim it's 18 cents per gallon. But, then you've got to add 6% state sales tax, 1.25% county tax, 1.2 cents per gallon state UST fee, and various other local sales taxes where applicable.

Like I said:

It's the taxes, Stupid!

But the untaxed, base price of gasoline at the pump has gone up. Hence, we are paying more at the pump than we were last year and the year before. The taxes are an additional item to about, but you can't deny that the price of gas itself has increased.

[scott]

No, you idiot, it's fixed taxes that makes gas more expensive in blue states. Without the taxes, the map would all be the same freakin' color.

That would be incorrect.

[boutons_]

Senate Panel Demands Oil Co. Tax Records

By H. JOSEF HEBERT
The Associated Press
Wednesday, April 26, 2006; 6:39 PM

WASHINGTON -- A Senate committee Wednesday announced an investigation into taxes paid by major oil companies and asked the Internal Revenue Service for the companies' tax returns.

The Senate Finance Committee promised "a comprehensive review of the federal taxes paid" by the oil companies on their record profits last year.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, the committee's chairman, said the panel was concerned about high profits and executive compensation at oil companies.

"I want to make sure the oil companies aren't taking a speed pass by the tax man," said Grassley in a statement.

With gasoline prices soaring and oil companies announcing record profits, "it's relevant to know what the real financial picture is for this industry," Montana Sen. Max Baucus, the ranking Democrat on the committee, said.

It's highly unusual for the Senate committee to seek corporate tax records. The last time it was done was when the panel asked the IRS for the tax records of Enron Corp.

The committee announcement came as Congress showed increasing concern amid political fallout over high gasoline prices and oil industry profits. Lawmakers began moving on various fronts to eliminate loopholes and some tax provisions that save oil companies billions of dollars.

In a letter to the IRS, Grassley and Baucus said the tax records of the major oil companies are needed to conduct "a comprehensive review" of the companies' compliance with tax laws.

"As pressure mounts to address extraordinarily high gas prices that consumers are facing at the pump, we feel we should better understand the federal tax posture of the industry," the two senators wrote IRS Commissioner Mark Everson.

© 2006 The Associated Press

======================================

This is all bull demagoguery by the Repugs.

The Repug administration has failed to collect royalties in the 100s of $M per year over several years from the energy co's for extraction of oil and gas from federal lands and off-shore fields in US territorial waters.

Energy co lobbyists were hired by Bureau of Land Mgmt to write leases for energy cos that stretch out for decades, to write leases the energy co's haven't even asked for, and to write them at a rate impossibly high for the energy co's. to exploit.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

croutons,

Answer me this - what does increasing taxes on oil companies do? Not a ing thing. Just means that the price goes higher and you and me are paying even more for gasoline.

There's a simple solution - roll back the federal and state taxes on gasoline, which combined average somewhere around 40 cents on every gallon sold.

Obviously this isn't a permanent fix, but with the s on the left blocking any new refinery development for the past 25 years, it's gonna take some time to fix.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

BTW, got this from a bud in the oil industry, even he thinks the companies are ing everyone over:

...................April 10, 2006.....April 12, 1999
Crude Oil............$1.59...............$0.35
Refining Cost
and Margin...........$0.63...............$0.70
State and
Federal Taxes........$0.57...............$0.48
Distribution
and Marketing........$0.01...............$0.09

Price Per
Gallon...............$2.80...............$1.62

I'm too lazy to look up what a barrel of oil cost on Apr. 10 vs. what it is now, but you get the idea.

Say back on the 10th, looking at my credit card receipts from the 11th, gas was 2.74 a gallon in Dallas. Taking out the .38 cents in taxes in the state of Texas, the gas company made .36 cents profit on every gallon of fuel.

Of course that is offset for the companies as it's obviously higher per gallon in other states, but you get the idea. State and federal taxes are almost a match to refining costs.

[Yonivore]

That would be incorrect.

Well, they'd at least be in the same area of the color spectrum. I understand variations in distribution costs and environmental regulations...but, I believe the major variant in cost, right now, is tax.

[scott]

Well, they'd at least be in the same area of the color spectrum. I understand variations in distribution costs and environmental regulations...but, I believe the major variant in cost, right now, is tax.

It's more of a regional supply-demand thing than a distribution/regulation thing. Demand in Montana is not equal to demand in Florida and supply in Oregon is not equal to supply in South Carolina. Thats the biggest cause of variance. After that, I'd say it's distribution costs, taxes, then regs.

[01Snake]

Ann weighs in.....

IT'S HARD OUT HERE FOR A PUMP
April 26, 2006


I would be more interested in what the Democrats had to say about high gas prices if these were not the same people who refused to let us drill for oil in Alaska, imposed massive restrictions on building new refineries, and who shut down the development of nuclear power in this country decades ago.

But it's too much having to watch Democrats wail about the awful calamity to poor working families of having to pay high gas prices.

Imposing punitive taxation on gasoline to force people to ride bicycles has been one of the left's main policy goals for years.

For decades Democrats have been trying to raise the price of gasoline so that the working class will stop their infernal car-driving and start riding on buses where they belong, while liberals ride in Gulfstream jets.

The last time the Democrats controlled the House, the Senate and the presidency was in 1993. Immediately after trying to put gays in the military and socialize all health care, Clinton's next order of business was to propose an energy tax on all fuels, including a 26-cent tax on gas. I think the bill was called "putting people first in line at the bus station."

Al Gore defended the gas tax, vowing that it was "absolutely not coming out" of the energy bill regardless of "how much trouble it causes the entire package." The important thing was to force Americans to stop their infernal car-driving, no matter how much it cost.

And mind you, this was before we knew Gore was clinically insane. Back then we thought he was just a double-talking stuffed shirt who seemed kind of gay.

Democrats in Congress promptly introduced an "energy bill" that would put an additional 25-cent-a-gallon tax on gasoline to stop "global warming," an atmospheric phenomenon supposedly aggravated by frivolous human activities such as commerce, travel and food production. This is the Democratic Party. That's their program.

Democratic House Speaker Tom Foley endorsed the proposal on "Charlie Rose," saying: "I'd have a five-cent increase every year for five years. ... But that's not going to happen ... because we've got people who fret and worry that one- or two-tenths of a cent of a gasoline tax is going to cause some revolution at home." So in Tom Foley's universe, two-tenths of a cent is the same as a quarter — another testimonial to the American public educational system.

The Democrats' proposed gas tax did cause a revolution at home, and consequently the Democrats were able to sneak through only an additional 4.3-cent federal tax on gasoline. After tut-tutting the idea that voters would object if the Democrats attempted a huge gas tax increase, Speaker Tom Foley soon became former speaker, and indeed former Congressman Tom Foley.

Gary Hart, another whimsical demonstration of what Democrats think a president should be like, said at the time, "I certainly favor consumption taxes, particularly on energy." Then there's John Kerry, who favored a 50-cent increase in the gas tax in 1994. If he were a rap artist, Kerry's stage name would be "Fifty Cent a Gallon."

Last year, a couple of green "climatologists" at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign were back at it in the journal Science, wheeling out their proposal for a 25-cent-a-gallon tax on gasoline as an "insurance policy" against global warming.

Just two months ago, we were being confidently told — on the basis of a New York Times/CBS News poll, so it must be true — that "Americans might OK a gasoline tax hike if it reduced global warming or lessened U.S. dependence on foreign oil." (This poll was wedged in among the 29 polls claiming Americans think we're losing the war in Iraq.) Other results from the Times' "meaningless polls" section: Americans might "OK" a Dennis Kucinich presidency if it meant free ice cream every Tuesday.

How many times do Democrats have to tell us they want to raise the price of gas for the average American before the average American believes them? Is it more or less than the number of times Democrats tell us they want to surrender in the war on terrorism?

It's as if a switch goes off in people's brains telling them: The Democrats can't be saying they want to destroy the lives of people who drive cars because my father was a Democrat, and the Democrats can't be this stupid!

The Democrats' only objection to current gas prices is that the federal government's cut is a mere 18.4 cents a gallon. States like New York get another 44 cents per gallon in taxes. The Democratic brain processes the fact that "big oil companies" get nearly 9 cents a gallon and thinks: WE SHOULD HAVE ALL THAT MONEY!

When the free market does the exact thing liberals have been itching to do through taxation, they pretend to be appalled by high gas prices, hoping the public will forget that high gas prices are part of their agenda.

COPYRIGHT 2006 ANN COULTER

[scott]

BTW, got this from a bud in the oil industry, even he thinks the companies are ing everyone over:



I'm too lazy to look up what a barrel of oil cost on Apr. 10 vs. what it is now, but you get the idea.

Say back on the 10th, looking at my credit card receipts from the 11th, gas was 2.74 a gallon in Dallas. Taking out the .38 cents in taxes in the state of Texas, the gas company made .36 cents profit on every gallon of fuel.

Of course that is offset for the companies as it's obviously higher per gallon in other states, but you get the idea. State and federal taxes are almost a match to refining costs.

The numbers and math is off - but one of the points is valid... my company, the largest refiner in North America, paid more in taxes last year than it made in profit.

[xrayzebra]

But the untaxed, base price of gasoline at the pump has gone up. Hence, we are paying more at the pump than we were last year and the year before. The taxes are an additional item to about, but you can't deny that the price of gas itself has increased.

OG, it is the Congress, first and foremost. I have said it time and time
again. Increase the supply, meet the demand and prices will come down.
Government makes more off of fuel than anyone in every way. They
tax us at the pump and BIG oil pays whopping taxes on their earnings.

Anyhow, here is a good column on Congress and the farsightedness, you know
like the next election. That is what their cater-walling is all about anyhow.
The next election. Not about a real solution.


Gas prices shouldn't surprise us

By Charles Krauthammer

Apr 28, 2006

WASHINGTON -- If you thought the Dubai port deal marked a record high in Washington cynicism, think again. Nothing can match the spectacle of politicians scrambling for cover during a e in gasoline prices. And this time, the panderfest has gone all the way to the Oval Office. President Bush has joined the braying congressional hordes by ordering the Energy and Justice Departments and the FTC to launch an investigation into possible gasoline price-fixing.

What a disgrace.

Precisely 10 years ago (April 29, 1996) as gas prices reached a shocking $1.27 a gallon, President Clinton ordered his Energy and Justice Departments to launch investigations to find out why. In my column that week, I offered a wild guess as to why: "Supply is down and demand is up.'' I offered Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary and Attorney General Janet Reno a $100 bet (I roll high on sure things) that their million-dollar probes would do nothing more than confirm my hunch.

No takers. Even Cabinet secretaries don't throw C-notes away. Sure enough, months later these perfectly pointless investigations discounted charges of price gouging and attributed the price hike to ... increased demand and decreased supply.

Today, every time an Iranian mullah opens his mouth about nukes, the risk premium for Persian Gulf supply interruptions jumps again. Crude oil prices alone account for about $1.70 of what you pay for a gallon at the pump. So 10 years later, I'll wager again. Here's what the Bush search for price gougers and profiteers will find:

(1) Demand is up.

China has come from nowhere to pass Japan as the number No. 2 oil consumer in the world. China and India -- between them home to eight times the U.S. population -- are industrializing and gobbling huge amounts of energy.

American demand is up because we've lived in a fool's paradise since the mid-1980s. Until then, beginning with the oil shocks in 1973, Americans had changed appliances and cars and habits and achieved astonishing energy conservation. Energy use per dollar of GDP was cut by 30 percent in little over a decade. Oil prices collapsed to about $10 a barrel.

Then amnesia set in, MPG ratings disappeared from TV ads and we became ``a country of a million Walter Mittys driving 75 mph in their gas-guzzling Bushwhack-Safari sport-utility roadsters with a moose head on the hood, a country whose crude oil production has dropped 32 percent in the last 25 years but which will not drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for fear of disturbing the mating habits of caribou."

I wrote that during the '96 witch hunt for price gougers. Nothing has changed. Except that since then, U.S. crude oil production has dropped an additional 12.3 percent. Which brings us to:

(2) Supply is down.

Start with supply disruptions in Nigeria, decreased production in Iraq and the continuing loss of 5 percent of our national refining capacity because of Katrina and Rita damage. Add to that the mischief of idiotic new regulations. Last year's energy bill mandates arbitrary increases in blended ethanol use that so exceed current ethanol production that it is causing gasoline shortages and therefore huge price es.

Why don't we import the missing ethanol? Brazil makes a ton of it and very cheaply. Answer: The Iowa caucuses. Iowa grows corn and chooses presidents. So we have a ridiculously high 54-cent ethanol tariff and ethanol shortages.

Other regulation requires specific ("boutique'') gasoline blends for different cities depending on their air quality. Nice idea. But it introduces debilitating rigidities into the gasoline supply system. If Los Angeles runs short, you cannot just move supply in from Denver. You get shortages and more price es.

And don't get me started on the missing supply of might-have-been American crude. Arctic and Outer Continental Shelf oil that the politicians kill year after year would have provided us by now with a critical and totally secure supply cushion in times of tight markets.

In March 2000, the price of gas hit $1.80. Scandalized congressional Republicans shamelessly pushed for repeal of Bill Clinton's whopping 4.3-cent gas tax increase. Now that the president is a Republican, what do you think Senate Democrats are proposing? A 60-day suspension of the federal gas tax. It would cost $6 billion and counteract the only good thing that comes with high gas prices -- the incentive to conserve.

George Shultz once said, "Nothing ever gets settled in this town." But even Shultz, who has seen everything, must marvel at the perfect regularity, the utter predictability, of the bottomless cynicism of Washington in the grip of gasoline fever.

Charles Krauthammer is a 1987 Pulitzer Prize winner, 1984 National Magazine Award winner, and a columnist for The Washington Post since 1985.

Copyright © 2006 Townhall.com

Find this story at: http://www.townhall.com/opinion/colu...28/195434.html

And yes I agree with Krauthammer about Bush, who in the is
advising him on this problem has their head up their butt or Bush
does. Every damn politician in Washington knows what the problem is,
they just don't have the guts to fix it.

[boutons_]

"paid more in taxes last year than it made in profit."

Sure, companies, at least the ones not smart enough to evade/avoid taxes, pay 30% in taxes on profits. The Fortune 500 averages about 15% profit, except the pharmaceutical price-gouging cartel, that does better at about 17%.

The point of "company taxes are higher than company profits" is?

btw, even if a person has a negative income (spending mor than the make, ie, a "loss"), and more American than ever are in (way) over their heads, he still has to pay income tax, while companies don't.

Don't try to make a case that companies, with their army of tax accountants/book-cookers/tax-lawyers/profit-shifters have it hard.

[xrayzebra]

"paid more in taxes last year than it made in profit."

Sure, companies, at least the ones not smart enough to evade/avoid taxes, pay 30% in taxes on profits. The Fortune 500 averages about 15% profit, except the pharmaceutical price-gouging cartel, that does better at about 17%.

The point of "company taxes are higher than company profits" is?

btw, even if a person has a negative income (spending mor than the make, ie, a "loss"), and more American than ever are in (way) over their heads, he still has to pay income tax, while companies don't.

Don't try to make a case that companies, with their army of tax accountants/book-cookers/tax-lawyers/profit-shifters have it hard.

boutons, once again you twist the truth to suit you. Many folks don't
pay any taxes on income or very little. And in many cases get Earned
Income Credit. In other words get money back which they didn't pay in
to begin with.

And who's fault is it that someone gets in over their heads? Not mine
I can tell you. The dirty little secret is that many people pay in
more on SOC and Medicare than on income taxes. Have any of your
congressmen ask you if you can afford those deductions (taxes).

[boutons_]

Say It With Me: Supply and Demand

By Charles Krauthammer
Friday, April 28, 2006; A19

If you thought the Dubai port deal marked a record high in Washington cynicism, think again. Nothing can match the spectacle of politicians scrambling for cover during a e in gasoline prices. And this time the panderfest has gone all the way to the Oval Office. President Bush has joined the braying congressional hordes by ordering the Energy and Justice departments and the Federal Trade Commission to launch an investigation into possible gasoline price fixing.

What a disgrace.

Precisely 10 years ago (April 29, 1996) as gas prices reached a shocking $1.27 a gallon, President Bill Clinton ordered his Energy and Justice departments to launch investigations to find out why. In my column that week, I offered a wild guess as to why: "supply is down and demand is up." I offered Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary and Attorney General Janet Reno a $100 bet (I roll high on sure things) that their million-dollar probes would do nothing more than confirm my hunch.

No takers. Even Cabinet secretaries don't throw away C-notes. Sure enough, months later these perfectly pointless investigations discounted charges of price gouging and attributed the price hike to . . . increased demand and decreased supply.

Today, every time an Iranian mullah opens his mouth about nukes, the risk premium for Persian Gulf supply interruptions jumps again. Crude oil prices alone account for about $1.70 of what you pay for a gallon at the pump. So 10 years later, I'll wager again. Here's what the Bush search for price gougers and profiteers will find:

· Demand is up. China has come from nowhere to pass Japan as the number No. 2 oil consumer in the world. China and India -- between them home to eight times the U.S. population -- are industrializing and gobbling huge amounts of energy.

American demand is up because we've lived in a fool's paradise since the mid-1980s. Until then, beginning with the oil shocks in 1973, Americans had changed appliances and cars and habits and achieved astonishing energy conservation. Energy use per dollar of gross domestic product was cut by 30 percent in little over a decade. Oil prices collapsed to about $10 a barrel.

Then amnesia set in, mile-per-gallon ratings disappeared from TV ads and we became "a country of a million Walter Mittys driving 75 mph in their gas-guzzling Bushwhack-Safari sport-utility roadsters with a moose head on the hood, a country whose crude oil production has dropped 32 percent in the last 25 years but which will not drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for fear of disturbing the mating habits of caribou."

I wrote that during the '96 witch hunt for price gougers. Nothing has changed. Except that since then, U.S. crude oil production has dropped an additional 12.3 percent. Which brings us to:

· Supply is down. Start with supply disruptions in Nigeria, decreased production in Iraq, and the continuing loss of 5 percent of our national refining capacity because of damage from hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Add to that the mischief of idiotic new regulations. Last year's energy bill mandates arbitrary increases in blended ethanol use that so exceed current ethanol production that it is causing gasoline shortages and therefore huge price es.

Why don't we import the missing ethanol? Brazil makes a ton of it, and very cheaply. Answer: the Iowa caucuses. Iowa grows corn and chooses presidents. So we have a ridiculously high 54-cent ethanol tariff and ethanol shortages.

( iow, what's good for Iowa, is bad for the USA )

Another regulation requires specific ("boutique") gasoline blends for different cities depending on their air quality. Nice idea. But it introduces debilitating rigidities into the gasoline supply system. If Los Angeles runs short, you cannot just move supply in from Denver. You get shortages and more price es.

And don't get me started on the missing supply of might-have-been American crude. Arctic and outer continental shelf oil that the politicians kill year after year would have provided us by now with a critical and totally secure supply cushion in times of tight markets.

( only a (very high-priced) cushion, but not the chair which would still overseas, and still leave the USA dependent on carbon fuels, asshole )

In March 2000, the price of gas hit $1.80 per gallon. Scandalized congressional Republicans shamelessly pushed for repeal of Clinton's whopping 4.3-cent gas tax increase. Now that the president is a Republican, what do you think Senate Democrats are proposing? A 60-day suspension of the federal gas tax. It would cost $6 billion and counteract the only good thing that comes with high gas prices -- the incentive to conserve.

( we know when gas prices go down, car efficiency goes down or stays stagnant (for the last 16 years). INCREASING the taxes on transport fuel keeps the pressure applied to conservation, while keeping the the tax $$$ in US accounts rather than into foreign hands. )

George Shultz once said, "Nothing ever gets settled in this town." But even Shultz, who has seen everything, must marvel at the perfect regularity, the utter predictability, of the bottomless cynicism of Washington in the grip of gasoline fever.

[email protected]

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

[scott]

"paid more in taxes last year than it made in profit."

Sure, companies, at least the ones not smart enough to evade/avoid taxes, pay 30% in taxes on profits. The Fortune 500 averages about 15% profit, except the pharmaceutical price-gouging cartel, that does better at about 17%.

The point of "company taxes are higher than company profits" is?

btw, even if a person has a negative income (spending mor than the make, ie, a "loss"), and more American than ever are in (way) over their heads, he still has to pay income tax, while companies don't.

Don't try to make a case that companies, with their army of tax accountants/book-cookers/tax-lawyers/profit-shifters have it hard.

I won't make that case, nor will I ever make the case that you have half a brain.

The point of "company taxes are higher than company profits" is?

The point is that while people like you keep crying about how oil company profits are behind high oil prices and there is some dirty price gouging going on, the share of the money you spend on gas that goes to Uncle Sam is bigger than the share that go to the people who have spent billions of dollars to be able to make gasoline in the first place.

You constantly amaze with your ability to jump on whatever side of an issue that happens to be the opposite of what a Republican is on. It is supply and demand, myself and others have been saying that in this forum for years. The meantime you've complained about evil oil companies and their price gouging. Now that Republicans are making the same dumb mistakes as Democrats, you are ready to jump on the bandwagon of sanity. News flash: there is no room for crackerjacks like you.

[boutons_]

"people like you keep crying about how oil company profits are behind high oil prices"

I'm not crying about that. I actually think dubya's fake investigation is total bull that will accomplish nothing, just as intended. dubya's lip-service as he sucks off the oilco's.

I don't think the oilco's are price gouging, nor that they should taxed or penalized in any way for their obscene profits.

The oilco's are supplying an addiction, just like illegal drug businessmen. Like any effective cartel, they will restrict supply to push up the prices, with help from non-market influences like dubya/ head starting a phone war in a critcal oil region

The problem is the the addict, not the oilcos.

btw, the Dems will do on better.

The US electorate and the political system simply don't have the wisdom and willpower to produce politicians that will truly lead the USA in the right direction.

And clearly, the "free market", which is not really free, it is gamed, has got us into this mess in the first place, and benefits enormously from being here. The "market" will not fix the problem, either.

Scott, kiss my ass, your stereo-typicial right-wing dumb .

[xrayzebra]

Say It With Me: Supply and Demand

By Charles Krauthammer
Friday, April 28, 2006; A19

If you thought the Dubai port deal marked a record high in Washington cynicism, think again. Nothing can match the spectacle of politicians scrambling for cover during a e in gasoline prices. And this time the panderfest has gone all the way to the Oval Office. President Bush has joined the braying congressional hordes by ordering the Energy and Justice departments and the Federal Trade Commission to launch an investigation into possible gasoline price fixing.

What a disgrace.

Precisely 10 years ago (April 29, 1996) as gas prices reached a shocking $1.27 a gallon, President Bill Clinton ordered his Energy and Justice departments to launch investigations to find out why. In my column that week, I offered a wild guess as to why: "supply is down and demand is up." I offered Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary and Attorney General Janet Reno a $100 bet (I roll high on sure things) that their million-dollar probes would do nothing more than confirm my hunch.

No takers. Even Cabinet secretaries don't throw away C-notes. Sure enough, months later these perfectly pointless investigations discounted charges of price gouging and attributed the price hike to . . . increased demand and decreased supply.

Today, every time an Iranian mullah opens his mouth about nukes, the risk premium for Persian Gulf supply interruptions jumps again. Crude oil prices alone account for about $1.70 of what you pay for a gallon at the pump. So 10 years later, I'll wager again. Here's what the Bush search for price gougers and profiteers will find:

· Demand is up. China has come from nowhere to pass Japan as the number No. 2 oil consumer in the world. China and India -- between them home to eight times the U.S. population -- are industrializing and gobbling huge amounts of energy.

American demand is up because we've lived in a fool's paradise since the mid-1980s. Until then, beginning with the oil shocks in 1973, Americans had changed appliances and cars and habits and achieved astonishing energy conservation. Energy use per dollar of gross domestic product was cut by 30 percent in little over a decade. Oil prices collapsed to about $10 a barrel.

Then amnesia set in, mile-per-gallon ratings disappeared from TV ads and we became "a country of a million Walter Mittys driving 75 mph in their gas-guzzling Bushwhack-Safari sport-utility roadsters with a moose head on the hood, a country whose crude oil production has dropped 32 percent in the last 25 years but which will not drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for fear of disturbing the mating habits of caribou."

I wrote that during the '96 witch hunt for price gougers. Nothing has changed. Except that since then, U.S. crude oil production has dropped an additional 12.3 percent. Which brings us to:

· Supply is down. Start with supply disruptions in Nigeria, decreased production in Iraq, and the continuing loss of 5 percent of our national refining capacity because of damage from hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Add to that the mischief of idiotic new regulations. Last year's energy bill mandates arbitrary increases in blended ethanol use that so exceed current ethanol production that it is causing gasoline shortages and therefore huge price es.

Why don't we import the missing ethanol? Brazil makes a ton of it, and very cheaply. Answer: the Iowa caucuses. Iowa grows corn and chooses presidents. So we have a ridiculously high 54-cent ethanol tariff and ethanol shortages.

( iow, what's good for Iowa, is bad for the USA )

Another regulation requires specific ("boutique") gasoline blends for different cities depending on their air quality. Nice idea. But it introduces debilitating rigidities into the gasoline supply system. If Los Angeles runs short, you cannot just move supply in from Denver. You get shortages and more price es.

And don't get me started on the missing supply of might-have-been American crude. Arctic and outer continental shelf oil that the politicians kill year after year would have provided us by now with a critical and totally secure supply cushion in times of tight markets.

( only a (very high-priced) cushion, but not the chair which would still overseas, and still leave the USA dependent on carbon fuels, asshole )

In March 2000, the price of gas hit $1.80 per gallon. Scandalized congressional Republicans shamelessly pushed for repeal of Clinton's whopping 4.3-cent gas tax increase. Now that the president is a Republican, what do you think Senate Democrats are proposing? A 60-day suspension of the federal gas tax. It would cost $6 billion and counteract the only good thing that comes with high gas prices -- the incentive to conserve.

( we know when gas prices go down, car efficiency goes down or stays stagnant (for the last 16 years). INCREASING the taxes on transport fuel keeps the pressure applied to conservation, while keeping the the tax $$$ in US accounts rather than into foreign hands. )

George Shultz once said, "Nothing ever gets settled in this town." But even Shultz, who has seen everything, must marvel at the perfect regularity, the utter predictability, of the bottomless cynicism of Washington in the grip of gasoline fever.

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© 2006 The Washington Post Company

ahhhhhhh, butons, have you missed somethng earlier in this thread?
I think so.