should the government regulate the oil industry like other commodities?

Question

have the goverment buy out and operate these guys becuase it's something far to important to our country to leave it in the hands of profiteers with no desire to operate in such a manner that is benifical to the us's best intrests, instead they operate on pofits alone, which is alright for any company that's not dealing in an essential comodity, take for example if a company owned the rights to air (assuming it wasnt free hypothetical question people stay focused) do you believe
that a private company should have that sort of power over people? or should it be governed by the elected officals that
we the people have placed in a postion with our trust and scrutitany?

Answer 1

I've said it before on other forums and I'll say it again here. Just go for a drive. Look not only at the vehicles we drive, but how we drive them. Everyone is in such a big hurry that they drive 10-15-20 mph OVER the speed limits. Try this sometime. One your next vacation, drive like you normally do on the way there. On the way back, drive the speed limit only. Check your mileage both ways. You might be surprise at the difference. Figured the percentage. That would be the effective percentage that you could lower your price of gas. If everyone slowed down, demand would drop significantly. During the Arab oil embargo, the speed limit was dropped to 55. Now with record prices, they go up. We control the demand. Let's use the power we have instead of talking about giving more to a government that has proved time and time again that they can't manage anything effectively.

Answer 2

Ya, that would work, Dems. or Repubs. They have done such a good job with Welfare fraud, Social Security, and the rest.
I long to return to the days of the $250 toilet seat on Government projects.
Now I know we like to blame the Oil Companies for making an ungodly profit, and a very crummy time, but get real.
Should Government then take ovet the Soft Ware industry because Microsoft and Bill Gates dominate it? (Opps, they tried, ruled Unconstitutional).
Government DOES rule Oil. Federal, State and Local Taxes amount to 50% of the price of a gallon of gas!!!!!
And that was as true under Clinton as it is for Bush.....
But, I know, the FACTS aren't as much fum as BLAMING someone...

Answer 3

its not fair that oil industries have a huge amount of power over the people but on the other hand, if the govenrment buys out the oil industries and they are in control, they are just gonna do the same thing. i mean, the government already has the most power over people and they already tax us to death i think that they are going to try to make just as much profit off of oil as the oil companies themselves. it seems that everything and everyone is after money now days. dont get me wrong, you need money to survive, but when everyone thrives on money, especially our government, the demand for it is just going to go higher and the supply is going to stay pretty much the same

Answer 4

Sure let the government regulate oil companies and we all pay $6.00/ gallons like they do in Europe.

We as public have a lot to do with the cost.
We keep increasing the demand and allow to restrict the supply.
That means prices go up.
Tax their profits and oil companies will pass that cost right back to us.

So if you are in favor of much much higher gas prices let the government do it.

Answer 5

Do you mean regulate or nationalize?

Should the government then Nationalize the food industry? Airline Industry? Clothing Industry? Housing Industry? Where should it stop.

Here is a better idea, If you don't like the price of gas, ride a bike or take public transportation.

Answer 6

How much do you want to pay for gasoline? Regulating anything increases the price and the cost.

Our problems with the supply of oil comes from government in the first place. Congress determines when, where and how to drill. How much to refine and how much to stockpile. State governments have the oil companies making different gas for different states. And all levels of government tax it to death. What more are you suggesting?

Answer 7

Government regulations won't work. I think it would be a better idea to nationalize the oil companies, insurance companies and hospitals so that the profit motive would be taken out of the equation and such necessary goods and services would be provided for all people who can't afford such goods and services from our free enterprise system. -RKO- 05/08/07

Answer 8

But it works so much better when the corporations own the government does it? That is essentially socialism and flies in the face of everything this country was founded on. Elected officials would not do any better a job at it, because they are untrustworthy as well.

Answer 9

NOOOOOOOO! The only way to bring the price down is to bring the demand down (or the supply up, which we don't have much control over). The price will be high as long as people are paying for it. I don't know any people who have altered their behavior in a significant way as the price has risen. We all just complain about it, but don't necessarily stop buying gas or buy less.

Answer 10

i have a better idea, make PBS and NEA find private funding and reduce the burden of tax gouging by federal gov.

price would drop at least a quarter

then authorise emergency building of 6 new refineries despite opposition by libs and environmentalists

price would drop by a buck

by the way hugo we have no intention of nationalizing our resources so we can steal from our own citizens