semaj: just thinkin’

Chris Core thought my email last night was good enough to post on his page for WMAL 630 AM.

Here is what I sent him:

Chris,

I love your show and listen at least for an hour each weeknight. The oil profit issue is bothering me a lot, since the poll really doesn’t have a option for reducing the Government’s control of Oil Companies and its related industries.

You say you don’t like the idea of government running refineries nor drilling for oil, nor do you seem to like the idea of a windfall profit tax scheme, but you don’t seem to mind the idea of government demanding Oil Companies using profits to build new refineries.

Your difference of the demanded refineries verses windfall profit taxes is moot. Refineries obviously cost money… and new refineries do not guarantee lower gas prices. If I were to be an Oil Company… I would build the refineries, but limit their output to make sure I maintained or raised my overall profit margins Therefore, the idea of forced building of new capacity/refineries would also require minimum output levels to meet the basis idea of lowering gasoline prices. Now that to me sounds like the government running our oil industry… just another cartel… just in The United States.

It would make more sense to just get to the point of saying profits are bad and get the whole idea of profits out of the picture once and for all… and then let’s see how bad supplies of gasoline get when the oil companies have no motivation at all to provide a product.

Anytime a company declares a profit… the government gets a cut, so the windfall for the oil companies is a windfall for our Government… so who is asking Congress what they are doing with the increase in revenue to help us with the high prices of gasoline.

I have a suggestion of what to do with that money… fund a total revamp of all regulations related to the oil industry and get the government back to regulation ( end results ) and not running the industry ( how the end results are met ).

Thanks for the great show,
James