The cost of boating just went up. Gas hits all-time high.
 

On Wed, 09 May 2007 16:31:06 +0000, NOYB wrote:


85% of this country is getting along just fine with the health insurance
that they have,

Really? 85% may be insured, but that doesn't mean they are getting along
just fine. I found one poll that suggests health care cost is the
country's biggest worry.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=581677

Our health care system accounts for over 15% GDP. Funny, but those
countries with universal health care have costs around 10% GDP, or less.
That 5% puts us at a considerable disadvantage in the global market
place. You may not have noticed, but many companies have. General
Motors, for instance, has been expanding it's operations in Canada, while
shrinking them here. Want to guess the reason?

http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff04192005.html



but the Democrats want to muck things up for them in
order to benefit the 15% who are uninsured. Smells of socialism to me.
And it stinks.

If you want socialism, move to the EU.

The cost of boating just went up. Gas hits all-time high.
 

"thunder" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 09 May 2007 16:31:06 +0000, NOYB wrote:


85% of this country is getting along just fine with the health insurance
that they have,

Really? 85% may be insured, but that doesn't mean they are getting along
just fine. I found one poll that suggests health care cost is the
country's biggest worry.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=581677

Our health care system accounts for over 15% GDP. Funny, but those
countries with universal health care have costs around 10% GDP, or less.
That 5% puts us at a considerable disadvantage in the global market
place. You may not have noticed, but many companies have. General
Motors, for instance, has been expanding it's operations in Canada, while
shrinking them here. Want to guess the reason?

http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff04192005.html



We need to control court/jury awards on malpractice and other medical
lawsuits. If that is not controlled then you can forget about other plans.

The cost of boating just went up. Gas hits all-time high.
 

On May 9, 12:31 pm, "NOYB" wrote:
"wf3h" wrote in message

ps.com...



NOYB wrote:
"wf3h" wrote in message

what i love about this is, when ira magaziner and hilary clintion
tried to get us universal health care

To which office was Hillary elected to in 1992?

to the office she was appointed to by the president of the USA. ever
hear of THAT office?

No, what's the name of it?

(And I asked about the office she was *elected* to in 1992)



Then what right did she have to make policy that would have destroyed the
healthcare system for 260,000,000 Americans with insurance so that
40,000,000 uninsured could get access?

One could wonder if someone with a bunch of stock and a huge bully
pulpit could build up pharm stocks by touting a new, say, health plan!
Then they could short it, and dump the plan down the river...
hummmmmmm, someone could make a lot of money like that, maybe even a
little over a million!

The cost of boating just went up. Gas hits all-time high.
 

"NOYB" wrote in message
link.net...
Thank you, Madam Speaker. You're doing a bang-up job.

The Great Oil Robbery

By Dave Lindorff
Created May 8 2007 - 10:12am

In case you're wondering why crude oil prices are down from last year,
hanging around at about $60 a barrel, while gasoline prices have soared past
$3.10/gallon nationwide, just check out the latest profit reports from the
oil companies. They are at record levels.

The answer for this seeming contradiction is simple: Americans are being
robbed blind by the oil industry.

Sure, the oil companies, and their PR and lobbying agency, the American
Petroleum Institute, will give you all kinds of reasons for higher gasoline
prices at a time of falling crude prices: problems at two refineries in
Texas and Oklahoma, rising demand or whatever. But the real answer is that
there is simply no competitive market in this industry.

As Tim Hamilton, a researcher and petroleum industry consultant with the
Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, observes, the oil companies all
store their crude oil and refined gasoline in the same tanks, and all know
exactly how much inventory each other company has, so they don't have to
meet and collude on pricing in order to reap the huge rewards of deliberate
supply constraints.

Says Hamilton, "Years ago, you had companies that would try to guess when
the other companies were going to have supply shortfalls of gasoline in the
summer. They'd ramp up their own gasoline refining and then supply the
market at a lower price and eat their competitors' lunches, the same way
General Motors would do if Ford had a problem on its assembly line. But
today, no oil company would do that. They all benefit by keeping the
supplies tight."

Hamilton says that the oil industry has in practice conspired to limit
refining capacity, so that companies can keep pushing up the price of gas
artificially--only they've done this without ever having to meet in secret
and cut a deal, because they all have complete competitive information on
each others' inventories, internal pricing, and refinery capacity.

"There's no correlation any longer between crude oil prices and gasoline
prices," he insists. "Crude could drop to $10/barrel, and you could still
have gasoline go to $4/gallon. All the crude oil price does is set a floor
on gasoline prices."

As an indication of how much control the oil industry has over retail
gasoline prices, Hamilton points to a study he did, looking at the price of
gas approaching Election Day. His results are truly disturbing.

The oil industry has been a solid backer of Republicans for many years,
giving 80-90 percent of its campaign contributions to GOP
candidates--particularly during the two Bush terms. What Hamilton discovered
is that this support hasn't just been limited to campaign contributions. In
fact, the oil industry appears to have clearly tried to minimize voter anger
at Republicans late during the election cycle by pushing prices at the pump
down just ahead of the voting. In the period 2000-2006, Hamilton found that
each non-federal election year--2001, 2003 and 2005, gasoline prices didn't
decline during the month of October, but each of the election years--2000,
2002, 2004 and 2006--they fell, with the most dramatic drop coming in
October 2006--a period when crude oil prices were rising sharply. Each time,
gasoline prices rose again quickly right after the election was over.

"This is a set of coincidences you'd be hard-pressed to explain by anything
but planning," says Hamilton. (And incidentally, it would be interesting,
when Congress gets those Karl Rove emails from the Republican Party and the
White House mainframe computer, to see if there are any to the American
Petroleum Institute.)

The whole situation makes a joke of Bush proposals for opening up the
Alaskan North Slope to more oil exploration, or for Republican calls for an
easing up on environmental regulations for new refinery construction. Says
Hamilton, "The price of oil produced in Alaska will be set in Saudi Arabia,
and any new supply of crude from Alaska won't affect American gasoline
prices in the slightest. And as for new refineries, why would any oil
company want to spent $1 billon or more to add refinery capacity so they
could get less money for the gasoline they're selling? There isn't enough
money in the federal treasury to subsidize the building of new refinery
capacity in America."

The irony here is that it is higher prices for gasoline that might
eventually convince Americans to use less gasoline, and to reduce the
production of greenhouse gasses. But where those higher prices in Europe
come in the form of taxes, which can then be used to subsidize public
transportation or retirement and healthcare programs, in the U.S. the higher
prices simply go to the bottom line of the oil companies, and into the
pockets of oil company shareholders, leaving public transit, retirement and
healthcare programs under funded, and leaving lower-income workers stuck
with higher bills to get themselves to and from work in their cars.

Until the public recognizes that the illusion of competition carefully
maintained by the oil industry and its backers in the government is just
that--an illusion--this astounding rip-off will continue.

The cost of boating just went up. Gas hits all-time high.
 

"Eisboch" wrote in message
. ..

Do you know what cracks me up about some of the various views expressed
about fuel prices?

It wasn't too many years ago that those with more left leaning political
views were concerned about the high consumption rate of gasoline in the
USA, it's continued supply and it's artificially low price per gallon
compared to the rest of the world. Conservation was preached, encouraged
and some even advocated raising the price of gas to force further
conservation and the use of smaller, fuel efficient autos in order to
reduce demand.



In Europe where gas is outrageously expensive, it is due to high tax on gas.
The high tax funds things like public transportation, conservation,
alternative energy, etc. . The Democrats wanted to raise taxes on gas and
the republicans screamed and would not agree to it. Now we have the high
gas prices but it all goes to big oils bottom line and the America is behind
the world in public transportation and alternative energy. Way to go
republicans!

The cost of boating just went up. Gas hits all-time high.
 

wrote in message
oups.com...
On May 9, 12:31 pm, "NOYB" wrote:
"wf3h" wrote in message

ps.com...



NOYB wrote:
"wf3h" wrote in message

what i love about this is, when ira magaziner and hilary clintion
tried to get us universal health care

To which office was Hillary elected to in 1992?

to the office she was appointed to by the president of the USA. ever
hear of THAT office?

No, what's the name of it?

(And I asked about the office she was *elected* to in 1992)



Then what right did she have to make policy that would have destroyed
the
healthcare system for 260,000,000 Americans with insurance so that
40,000,000 uninsured could get access?

One could wonder if someone with a bunch of stock and a huge bully
pulpit could build up pharm stocks by touting a new, say, health plan!
Then they could short it, and dump the plan down the river...
hummmmmmm, someone could make a lot of money like that, maybe even a
little over a million!


Maybe a little over a million *years* in the slammer. 8)

The cost of boating just went up. Gas hits all-time high.
 

"John" wrote in message
...

"Eisboch" wrote in message
. ..

Do you know what cracks me up about some of the various views expressed
about fuel prices?

It wasn't too many years ago that those with more left leaning political
views were concerned about the high consumption rate of gasoline in the
USA, it's continued supply and it's artificially low price per gallon
compared to the rest of the world. Conservation was preached, encouraged
and some even advocated raising the price of gas to force further
conservation and the use of smaller, fuel efficient autos in order to
reduce demand.



In Europe where gas is outrageously expensive, it is due to high tax on
gas. The high tax funds things like public transportation, conservation,
alternative energy, etc. . The Democrats wanted to raise taxes on gas and
the republicans screamed and would not agree to it. Now we have the high
gas prices but it all goes to big oils bottom line and the America is
behind the world in public transportation and alternative energy. Way to
go republicans!




Bassy, is that you?

The cost of boating just went up. Gas hits all-time high.
 

"John" wrote in message
...

"NOYB" wrote in message
link.net...
Thank you, Madam Speaker. You're doing a bang-up job.

The Great Oil Robbery

By Dave Lindorff
Created May 8 2007 - 10:12am

In case you're wondering why crude oil prices are down from last year,
hanging around at about $60 a barrel, while gasoline prices have soared
past
$3.10/gallon nationwide, just check out the latest profit reports from the
oil companies. They are at record levels.

The answer for this seeming contradiction is simple: Americans are being
robbed blind by the oil industry.

Sure, the oil companies, and their PR and lobbying agency, the American
Petroleum Institute, will give you all kinds of reasons for higher
gasoline
prices at a time of falling crude prices: problems at two refineries in
Texas and Oklahoma, rising demand or whatever. But the real answer is that
there is simply no competitive market in this industry.

As Tim Hamilton, a researcher and petroleum industry consultant with the
Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, observes, the oil companies
all
store their crude oil and refined gasoline in the same tanks, and all know
exactly how much inventory each other company has, so they don't have to
meet and collude on pricing in order to reap the huge rewards of
deliberate
supply constraints.

Says Hamilton, "Years ago, you had companies that would try to guess when
the other companies were going to have supply shortfalls of gasoline in
the
summer. They'd ramp up their own gasoline refining and then supply the
market at a lower price and eat their competitors' lunches, the same way
General Motors would do if Ford had a problem on its assembly line. But
today, no oil company would do that. They all benefit by keeping the
supplies tight."

Hamilton says that the oil industry has in practice conspired to limit
refining capacity, so that companies can keep pushing up the price of gas
artificially--only they've done this without ever having to meet in secret
and cut a deal, because they all have complete competitive information on
each others' inventories, internal pricing, and refinery capacity.

"There's no correlation any longer between crude oil prices and gasoline
prices," he insists. "Crude could drop to $10/barrel, and you could still
have gasoline go to $4/gallon. All the crude oil price does is set a floor
on gasoline prices."

As an indication of how much control the oil industry has over retail
gasoline prices, Hamilton points to a study he did, looking at the price
of
gas approaching Election Day. His results are truly disturbing.

The oil industry has been a solid backer of Republicans for many years,
giving 80-90 percent of its campaign contributions to GOP
candidates--particularly during the two Bush terms. What Hamilton
discovered
is that this support hasn't just been limited to campaign contributions.
In
fact, the oil industry appears to have clearly tried to minimize voter
anger
at Republicans late during the election cycle by pushing prices at the
pump
down just ahead of the voting. In the period 2000-2006, Hamilton found
that
each non-federal election year--2001, 2003 and 2005, gasoline prices
didn't
decline during the month of October, but each of the election years--2000,
2002, 2004 and 2006--they fell, with the most dramatic drop coming in
October 2006--a period when crude oil prices were rising sharply. Each
time,
gasoline prices rose again quickly right after the election was over.

"This is a set of coincidences you'd be hard-pressed to explain by
anything
but planning," says Hamilton. (And incidentally, it would be interesting,
when Congress gets those Karl Rove emails from the Republican Party and
the
White House mainframe computer, to see if there are any to the American
Petroleum Institute.)

The whole situation makes a joke of Bush proposals for opening up the
Alaskan North Slope to more oil exploration, or for Republican calls for
an
easing up on environmental regulations for new refinery construction. Says
Hamilton, "The price of oil produced in Alaska will be set in Saudi
Arabia,
and any new supply of crude from Alaska won't affect American gasoline
prices in the slightest. And as for new refineries, why would any oil
company want to spent $1 billon or more to add refinery capacity so they
could get less money for the gasoline they're selling? There isn't enough
money in the federal treasury to subsidize the building of new refinery
capacity in America."

The irony here is that it is higher prices for gasoline that might
eventually convince Americans to use less gasoline, and to reduce the
production of greenhouse gasses. But where those higher prices in Europe
come in the form of taxes, which can then be used to subsidize public
transportation or retirement and healthcare programs, in the U.S. the
higher
prices simply go to the bottom line of the oil companies, and into the
pockets of oil company shareholders, leaving public transit, retirement
and
healthcare programs under funded, and leaving lower-income workers stuck
with higher bills to get themselves to and from work in their cars.

Until the public recognizes that the illusion of competition carefully
maintained by the oil industry and its backers in the government is just
that--an illusion--this astounding rip-off will continue.

Until this mess is finally straightened out, if ever, buy oil company stock.

The cost of boating just went up. Gas hits all-time high.
 

On Wed, 9 May 2007 17:28:11 -0400, "John" wrote:

"There's no correlation any longer between crude oil prices and gasoline
prices," he insists. "Crude could drop to $10/barrel, and you could still
have gasoline go to $4/gallon. All the crude oil price does is set a floor
on gasoline prices."

Nonsense.

The cost of boating just went up. Gas hits all-time high.
 

"thunder" wrote in message

General
Motors, for instance, has been expanding it's operations in Canada, while
shrinking them here. Want to guess the reason?

I know you want to claim the answer is "health insurance"...but the real
answer is "unions".

Once GM and Ford and Chrysler shut their factories here, and move them
abroad, they'll be out from under the unions. And then, 10 years from now,
you can bet that they'll open new union-free operations stateside again.