Can the Government control fuel prices?

[MommaKay]

President Bush has been popping up frequently as of late, claiming that there is little to nothing that the Government can do about the rising cost of fuel. Interestingly enough, this flies in the face of an Executive Order which he issued on May 18th, 2001.

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[panhandlepat]

imagine that, old GW would never lie to us would he?!

[Ronnocomot]

I saw nothing in that document that said they could control the price.

Besides, are U.S. citizens the only ones who use crude oil? but you want us to pay less than the rest of the world?

Not very "loving" now is it?

[3 weelin geezer]

How can our govt control what the Arabs want to charge us for oil??

[goin2fast10]

Originally Posted by MommaKay

President Bush has been popping up frequently as of late, claiming that there is little to nothing that the Government can do about the rising cost of fuel. Interestingly enough, this flies in the face of an Executive Order which he issued on May 18th, 2001.

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Not in a "capitalist" environment. Hugo Chavez can tho'.
Carter tried and Nixon followed suit. Wage and price controls.
Wound up with 17% or so inflation rates compared to today's rate of 3 to 5%.
Never allow the gov't to be involved. Look at SS as an example, or the "road use taxes". They NEVER spend it where they say they're going to. NEVER!!!

Originally Posted by MommaKay

President Bush has been popping up frequently as of late, claiming that there is little to nothing that the Government can do about the rising cost of fuel. Interestingly enough, this flies in the face of an Executive Order which he issued on May 18th, 2001.

[LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

Not in a "capitalist" environment. Hugo Chavez can tho'.
Wage and price controls of the 70's. Remember those?
Wound up with 17%+ or so inflation rates compared to today's rate of 3 to 5%.
Never allow the gov't to be involved. Look at SS as an example, or the "road use taxes". They NEVER spend it where they say they're going to. NEVER!!!

[MommaKay]

Originally Posted by Ronnocomot

I saw nothing in that document that said they could control the price.

Besides, are U.S. citizens the only ones who use crude oil? but you want us to pay less than the rest of the world?

Not very "loving" now is it?

"Section 1. Policy. The Federal Government can significantly affect the supply, distribution, and use of energy. Yet there is often too little information regarding the effects that governmental regulatory action can have on energy. In order to provide more useful energy-related information and hence improve the quality of agency decisionmaking,"

When the government can significantly affect the supply, distribution and use of energy, it will also significantly affect the price.

[BlueNosedBstd]

If the IRS(the gov't) can raid-rape a citizen's bank account for delinquent taxes, or worse yet, put them in jail after raping the money from the taxpayers bank account, and award citizenship to millions of illegal aliens, and give billions of free aid to countries around the world that want us all dead, and forvgive billions of dollars of debt to foreign countries and(the list goes on) they can surely twist the arm of big oil a bit to cooperate. Unless of course their in bed with big oil, then it won't happen as ya don't bite the hand that puts lotsa lobbying dough on the table.

[rambler]

The future's traders are the ones (besides the Arabs) mopping up. They are gambling big bucks Americans wont curb their driving habits (and so far are correct) keeping the demand high. If everyone drove only what they absolutely had to like going to work and then home (no taking kids to school and unnessasary schidt like that) the speculators and traders would take a bath in oil and lose a BUNDLE. I know it's easy to think government is in bed with big oil (and probably are to a minor extent) but the pricing is in the markets greedy investers. Prices will continue to climb as long as the market can bear it (as long as we continue to buy gas hog vehicles and keep the roads hot just going for the sake of going).

[MommaKay]

Originally Posted by rambler

The future's traders are the ones (besides the Arabs) mopping up. They are gambling big bucks Americans wont curb their driving habits (and so far are correct) keeping the demand high. If everyone drove only what they absolutely had to like going to work and then home (no taking kids to school and unnessasary schidt like that) the speculators and traders would take a bath in oil and lose a BUNDLE. I know it's easy to think government is in bed with big oil (and probably are to a minor extent) but the pricing is in the markets greedy investers. Prices will continue to climb as long as the market can bear it (as long as we continue to buy gas hog vehicles and keep the roads hot just going for the sake of going).

Personally, I'm not so sure that decreased US demand would result in lower prices. I'm of the opinion that Big Oil is "making hay while the sun shines," doing their best to squeeze every penny of profit out of the end market while they are still able to do so. If we cut back further than we already have (demand IS down, currently -- the price is having an effect), they will simply raise prices even more to make up for the decreased sales, and maintain their obscene and staggering profits.

[Brickman]

Originally Posted by rambler

The future's traders are the ones (besides the Arabs) mopping up. They are gambling big bucks Americans wont curb their driving habits (and so far are correct) keeping the demand high. If everyone drove only what they absolutely had to like going to work and then home (no taking kids to school and unnessasary schidt like that) the speculators and traders would take a bath in oil and lose a BUNDLE. I know it's easy to think government is in bed with big oil (and probably are to a minor extent) but the pricing is in the markets greedy investers. Prices will continue to climb as long as the market can bear it (as long as we continue to buy gas hog vehicles and keep the roads hot just going for the sake of going).

I'm a car hauler, and there has been a big decline in the car market. All the new car dealers are CRYING about their pickup and SUV sales. Ford is posting big losses first quarter. GM laid off another 3500 workers, Chrysler is planning a 2 week assembly line wide vacation......... etc etc etc.

A nationwide chain called DriveTime which was well known for being the finance source of last resort is down 35% in sales from a yr ago. They just closed 18 stores, 3 recon facilities and laid off 300 workers.

And I've only had a couple good weeks of car hauling since the first of Feb. The rest of the time I might work 50%.

Some of the other car haulers in the biz have told me their companies are laying off workers, and selling trucks.