[ritehook]

Simple. Just have prominent media and politicians utter one word:

Nationalization.

That'll bring down the price. Because this is not (solely)supply and demand. Not with the oil companies setting new corporate records for profits.

Of course the nationalization would have to be done right, with controls. Not like Mexico did it when they kicked out the US oil companies in the 1930s. So corrrpt are they that this oil-exporting nation charges their people more for a gallon of gas than does expensive California.

The trick would be getting prominent pols (even Barack or Hillary) to speak the "N" word. Because the US, as other posters have pointed up, is in bondage to the global corporations.

They own the country, they own us. Between them and "the Lobby" all the key decisions are made, no matter who we elect to any office.

[ritehook]

Only the veriest fools still think that the control of this country by global corporations is "free enterprise."

The latter is being out on the street, hoping to beat your neighbor to the next job opening.

[BadNina]

As long as any other country is willing to pay that much for oil and we continue to sit on ours, the prices will remain that high. Now if we were to start back drilling our own and undercut everyone else....

[jackpot269]

As long as any other country is willing to pay that much for oil and we continue to sit on ours, the prices will remain that high. Now if we were to start back drilling our own and undercut everyone else....

WE use more than everyone else so we set the price(drive it up)

[BadNina]

WE use more than everyone else so we set the price(drive it up)

Not necessarily. And we don't set the prices of foreign oil which we are dependant upon. China is needing more and more oil. If we don't want to pay the price there are several other countries willing to.

[jackpot269]

Not necessarily. And we don't set the prices of foreign oil which we are dependant upon. China is needing more and more oil. If we don't want to pay the price there are several other countries willing to.

there is a lot of factors don't misunderstand me oil is way to high one reason is we are way to dependent on foreign oil also we don't have enough refiners its my understanding the we have built no new ones in over 20 years and when one has problems like the fire in Texas last year or the explosion in the Midwest(cant remember state) it makes the market jumpy, and those bastard from OPEC will not increase output to help either!!!!!!!China's demanded for oil has rose alot but they still dont use near as much as usa !!!!!!!!!!

[BadNina]

I agree that we need more refineries. And we need to drill our own until the market is bio-fuel or fuel alternative ready.

[jackpot269]

I agree that we need more refineries. And we need to drill our own until the market is bio-fuel or fuel alternative ready.

823 closing in on 1k.

[Thor4140]

Ah for christ sakes i predicted these prices as soon as these two assholes got a second term and we would have been paying this much if asshole jr father would have won a second term. This has nothing to do with all these idiotic reasons the press throws out there and everything to do with greed. For christ sakes whAt do ya think, if they go drill in Alaska these slimy fuks are now all the sudden gonna cut us a brake? They love this shit and when you are dumb enough to vote in two oil guys then you deserve to pay this much. Unfortunately guys like me have to suffer because we live in a nations of fools who get conned so easily its pathetic.

[Deuce]

I can't post my thoughts. Your ignorance hurts my eyes.

[isetcap]

Nationalization of the oil industry?!?! Perhaps you mean regulation or maybe you have been deceived into thinking the USA is as pathetic as mini-market Venezuela. Or perhaps you'd like to see a real-life portrayal of the overriding theme in Atlas Shrugged. There is no way ANY candidate is going to sign their death warrant by mentioning the N word. They don't even do stuff like that in Socialist Europe.

[ritehook]

Nationalization of the oil industry?!?! Perhaps you mean regulation or maybe you have been deceived into thinking the USA is as pathetic as mini-market Venezuela. Or perhaps you'd like to see a real-life portrayal of the overriding theme in Atlas Shrugged. There is no way ANY candidate is going to sign their death warrant by mentioning the N word. They don't even do stuff like that in Socialist Europe.

In my early 20s I drove around with a WHO IS JOHN GALT? bumper sticker stuck on my old Plymouth.

But with age comes wisdom and then one puts away childish things. "Atlas Shrugged" is a Randian fantasy world.

The "John Galts" of today are deep into corrupting politics. They all have high-powered lobbyists, they are all getting corporate welfare. (The "free trade" agreements supported by both Bushes and Clinton I are welfare for the super-rich.)

Chavez is an honest man; gas at the pump in Venezuela is, I believe, around a quarter a gallon. And Chavez actually gives low-cost heating fuel to poor Americans

Mavericks like Chavez, speaking truth to (the Money) Power, are the true J. Galts of the 21st century

Global corporations like Big Oil are political sharks. With a federally issued licence to steal. The price you pay at the pump has little to do with supply and demand.

[matskralc]

Fast Way to Bring Down the Price of Oil

Stop buying so much?

Nationalization

Oh.

[Kerfuffle]

ritehook=communist?

[ritehook]

ritehook=communist?

Populist maybe. Ditto "nationalist." Tho I don't burden myself with any particular ideology.

More like a Jefffersonian democrat. Tho having seen it up close and personal do not share old Tom's high valuation of the press. It also can be - and has been - bought.

Seems to me that allowing a internationalist bunch of money hogs control over such a vital commodity, urgent to our national interests, is not the way to go. Agaisnt the vital interests of the American people. Which has been supplied the soporific of "free enterprise" to allow them the long sleep.

So: kerfuffle = anti-american?

[Kerfuffle]

mmmmm. No, not anti-American.

Maybe anti-paranoid people who sit around daydreaming about fat cats puffing cigars all day long in betwen ruling the world.

[ritehook]

And of course you are a stockholder in an oil company.

The interests of stockholders is or should be subservient to the interests of the nation at large.

Don't worry, when the nationalization comes (in the middle of the next Great Depression) you'll likley be paid back the full amount you invested.

[ritehook]

It's odd how poeple argue over economic systems.

To a large extent it's a matter of historical experience.

A nation like, say, Sweden, would be prosperous under a "mixed economy", as they have. Or under rampant laissez-faire.

Even under Stalisnism or Maoism a country like Sweden etc would have a much higher standard of living than, say, Haiti would, regardless of what "system" the latter incorporated. (In fact, East Germany was much more prosperous than was thier conqueror, the Soviet Union)

You could send 100 John Galts to Haiti for 20 years, and make hardly a dent in the chronic poverty.

[ritehook]

And of course when the corporations come up a clanger they want the taxpaying public to bail them out. Most here are too young to remember when Chrysler went hat in hand to the politicians to get public money to save them from bankruptcy.

Ditto when the airlines and today''s car companies want the federal govt (taxpayers) to absorb the health care costs that they in the good times solemnly promisied their employees.

If we are going to give their corporate shits our money, we want a much bigger stake in their enterprises. We want public ownership.

OK, don't want to nationalize the Oil Hogs. How about real free enterprise - divesting them of the right to own service stations, so they cannot set up de facto retail monopolies, from wellhead to pump?

If you oppose this sound idea, to let free enterprise bloom, then it's clear that your favorite reading matter is Mao's "Little Red Book."

Goodnight, comrades.

[dodif]

wcp