"Ken Finney" wrote in
:


"ktbr" wrote in message
...
Robert M. Gary wrote:
Ross Richardson wrote:

Kingfish wrote:
That is what this newscast said this morning - the market
"overpriced" itself. Nor sure what that meant. But, if we were
gouged then the oil companies need to refund our money. I know - fat
chance.


A responsible oil company should charge you as much as you are
willing to pay. Oil is provided by for-profit companies. Oil prices
are held down by competition. "gouging" implies that either the
companies illegally got together and fixed prices or you don't
understand free market enterprise. If you think the oil companies
are making too much money, switch sides, buy some oil stock and
share the profits.

-Robert


A very well written response Robert. Its refreshing to know at least
some people actually understand free market economics.

I know a couple of people that started making their own biodiesel and
bought oil company stock several years ago; they are quite happy.





That's just the thing, (the free market economy) prices rise, the oil
companies get happy, they want to get happier so they produce more, get
more efficient, open capped wells, etc.; Other companies want to be
happy too, so they either get into the oil business, get into the
oilfield business, or come up with some gadget that makes getting the
oil out of the ground cheaper, quicker, and more efficient...

But wait! There are people who have been working on things to "replace"
oil for years, but oil was just too cheap to compete with... But NOW
they can sell the hybrid cars, and the cheap little Chinese cars that
get 40mpg, work on that magic bio-diesel or hydrogen fuel cell project.

Oh, and forgot to mention that people don't drive/fly as much with gas
almost triple the price of 5 years ago....

All of the above ends with an oversupply of the product and falling
prices. Event the price-fixing antics of OPEC cannot keep the price
artificially high forever.

All in all, I agree with $2/gal mogas (or lower) by christmas... when
the cycle will start all over again. But the problem is, the cat is out
of the bag. The oil companies know we will pay $3+ for gas, so the
first sign of an excuse like Katrina and her sisters and watch out!

--
-- ET :-)

"A common mistake people make when trying to design something
completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete
fools."---- Douglas Adams