Do you think Congress should put a cap on oil prices?

Question

And do you think Bush would veto it?

Answer 1

Do you think congress should cap YOUR salary?  Same answer...  Government should not be in control of who makes how much...

Answer 2

No.  Would be ineffective and just for political "show."  

Any oil issues/interventions must only be a part of a more comprehensive energy independence plan.  

Yes.

And OH MY yes to Daisy.   Those wonderful days will be here again soon.

Answer 3

Congress doesn't have the right or power to change oil prices other than the US producing oil for it's self. If you owned a business would you allow me to set my own price for what I think your product is worth? Do yourself a favor, as well as those of you who have similar thoughts...get educated, it's harder for people to take advantage of you if you have a coherent thought. The price of oil is determined by supply and demand. If this where not so, corporations wouldn't be buying it into the yr, 2010 at the current price. Again, speculators are not the problem! Too bad we can't veto stupidity.

Answer 4

It is only a temporary solution.

Here is an idea who's time has come.

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I believe the oil companies need to be nationalized and the profits go back to the people in the form of lower taxes.Same with our communications systems.

Where I live in China as a transplanted American, both are nationalized and a gallon of gas costs about a buck less, and my cell phone bill is obscenely little. About $15 a month and I use it extensively.

Plus, I pay zero sales tax, and tax on a home is very small to non existent, plus I have no income tax, despite that I make considerably more then the average person.

There is a lot of revenue to be made off of both which gives the people more disposable income. A win for the government, a win for the people, a win for our economy. It will just pizzzz off the fat cats, one that some love to support, yet they don't give a rats behind about their supporters.

We often hear that the oil companies have a vested interest to give alternative energy only lip service.  What better way to take care of that problem then put energy in the hands of the people.  We need a Manhatten type of program to help eliminate our dependance on foreign oil while putting on the fast track alternative energy sources.  The oil companies will fight both till all we will have left is a drop in the bucket of what we really need, all while we, the tax payer, continues to give them welfare bucks.

What I fail to understand, people will fight tooth and nail to support the oil companies while continuing to pay high energy prices (at a profit that lines the pocket of the fat cat, who doesn't give one hoot about them.) and pay high taxes to boot. Kind of like, shooting themselves in the head just to prove they can. Makes no sense whatsoever.

I'm a capitalist, but when it comes to this, I must put my foot down and say, enough is enough.  

Case in point, in Venezuela, who has nationalized oil, they pay 13 cents a gallon.

http://fabulously40.com/article/2171/Pri...

http://www.nationmaster.com/red/graph/en...

Think about it.

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Life is so simple, but we insist on making it complicated

Confucius

551 - 479 BC

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Peace

Jim

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Answer 5

No! Congress has to locate the people doing the price gouging 1st!  I think it is OPEC (they produce 30 million barrels of crude per day) and Non -OPEC producers( they produce the remaining 70 million barrels per day)--ie the OILCO's and NON-OPEC petroleum exporters like Russia, UK etc. Speculators only play a small part and I think they are being scapegoated.  Congress should go after the main players in the oil industry which is tough to do since the US GOv't has to cater to certain OPEC producers because of the festering Israeli-Palestinian problems and now the Iraq-Terrorism problem which the world has to solve acting in concert!

What we need is an energy plan that moves us from oil and coal, and gas, all the fossil hydrocarbon fuels,  to other energy sources and to more efficient,ecologically less harmful technologies. Sadly it may mean serious lifestyle changes for us all because those changes involve making reductions by energy conservation over the transition period. This is a bigger project than going to the moon because humanity and our sanity is at stake.

( BTW population planning is part of the picture because every human that is born adds to the demand on the carrying capacity of the planet we and future generations must take care of if the human species is to survive and thrive!!)

(BTW#2 deregulated industries that become as concentrated and as economically powerful as the oil industry has become, because of the huge money flows that are involved has to be reigned in by Gov't. It has been done in the past and needs to be done again. Those capitalistic purists who say differently probably are part of the oil industry and benefit somehow from the present oil situation. We have always lived in a "mixed economy " where the gov't steps in when greed gets out of hand and too many people suffer from it. 4$ gasoline and the rate of increase in oil prices warrants it! Capiche!)

NOTE to plain jim who said:  "What I fail to understand, people will fight tooth and nail to support the oil companies while continuing to pay high energy prices (at a profit that lines the pocket of the fat cat, who doesn't give one hoot about them.) and pay high taxes to boot. Kind of like, shooting themselves in the head just to prove they can. Makes no sense whatsoever."

Only the people who profit from the oil situation defend the gouging by naively saying it is all the simple result of increased demand and the tightness of production from suppliers like OPEC aggravated by speculators. It is not that simple.

THEY FAIL TO SAY THAT IN 30 YRS THE OPEC PRODUCERS HAVE NEVER INCREASED THEIR ABILITY TO EXTRACT MORE CRUDE! The wealthiest members of the cartel located in the Persian Gulf have no need or desire to produce and export more crude given that their cash flows and net pofits are far in excess of their econmic and financial needs or wants.Heck they are creating islands full of condos and the island are shaped like giant palm trees!  

Oil is sold on spot basis ,cargo by cargo on a JIT(Just In Time) basis. The oilco's then have to hedge their purchases in the futures market to lock in the price and profits with the oil speculators. Uncertainties and volatilities in prices and volumes naturally adds a premium (20-40$/barrel)to the crudes and products users-consumers want. While The situation is partly due to the speculators in the futures markets for crude and refined products,  the largest part of the problem is OPEC'S RELUCTANCE TO INCREASE PRODUCTION AS NORMAL MARKET COMMODITY PLAYERS WOULD! OPEC IS A CARTEL AND THE OILCO'S ARE HIDDING BEHIND THE VOLUMETRIC QUOTAS AND PRICE-FIXING GAMES OF OPEC!

Answer 6

Congress can put a cap on it but because oil is from foreign nations I don't think they give a c**p.

Answer 7

It isn't up to congress to put a cap on the price of oil; if it were that easy, it would have been done long ago.

Answer 8

YES YES YES

If Big Oil won't give us $3.00 Gasoline

we should NATIONALIZE THEM.

YES

BuSh would veto it.

Answer 9

they cant; oil is controlled on a world market that we have very little say on, so if we capped it, the oil producers of the world would not sell it to us.

Answer 10

Absolutely NOT.. Congress should listen to the will of the people and allow us to start producing more energy here at home.  This is Economics 101...  Supply & Demand.

Answer 11

I think that Congress should stay out of the open market period.  Yes, Bush would veto any law that would over step the boundaries that Congress is given and this is one of those.

Answer 12

only the trades in commodity market can put a cap on Oil prices, the prices have shoot up just because of specuations done by the trades as OPEC says the demand and supply is matching correclty and no problem in output of Oil

Answer 13

It's not all up to them; it's partly supply and demand. The suppliers are lowering the amount they are putting out and the demand is staying constant, thus, the price is rising.

To your second question yes he would, because he would know that's not how it works.

Answer 14

No ..It will make the problem  worse..If we continue what we are doing we will be in a hole we can  hardly get out off  .Yes he will

Answer 15

And who would pay for the excess? If the Congress caps it at, say, $1/gal and the oil producers sell oil for $3/gal then who is going to pay that excess??

I can only see taxes rising in that case to cover it. Your economy would be gone.

Do you understand that oil doesn't come from the US and you actually pay for it by people who sets the price? You do know that you don't control those oil producers, they are independent countries and cartels?

Answer 16

yes offcource.He should do it after 2-3 years

Answer 17

yes and yes

Answer 18

No

Yes

When you get the government in price controls is always a failure.

I think Congress's time would be better spent opening up drilling off the coast and not tax them even more because I don't want the prices to go even higher.

Answer 19

no I think Congress should let us DRILL for OUR oil (before the Chinese do)...

Answer 20

Congress has no control over oil prices. The USA is not the center of the universe, contrary to popular opinion. In addition, you do not have a God given right to cheap gas. Get over it.