Turning the Gasoline/Refinery Business in the US into a Utility?

[Copperred]

Does anyone know the history of movements in the U.S. to turn the Gasoline/Refinery business into a utility like electricity is?

I believe there may have been a movement like this at one time.

Has such a movement been revived given current prices?

Anyone?

Thanks

[Copperred]

1. anyone? :)

anyone? :)

[Ouabache]

2. We could just condemn them all and take them over

using that recent court ruling about the public good. Seems only reasonable to me. Profit margins could be lowered and regulated if it was run as a public utility. Then those lower profits could be funneled into renewable energy, the environment, including assurance that oil and chemical plants are run safely (see what is happening in Detroit tonight?) and funnel some into education too.

[Copperred]

4. The Democrats should put this into their Platform....Utility here we come.

My dad remembers from 20 years ago a movement that was started but got quashed...


This should be something that the DEMOCRATS champion at the national level.....would solve alot of problems.

[meow2u3]

3. Where's eminent domain when we really need it?

IMO, the oil and gas industries are the ones the government should take over; private oil companies cannot be trusted with a commodity necessary for the common good.

[Copperred]

5. anyone? :) Redux

n e 1

[Copperred]

6. redux redux :)

r

[Copperred]

7. 3x

3x

[lildreamer316]

8. Kick for ya

'cause I'm a little confused about what you mean; so curious to see what others think.

[Copperred]

9. THANKS!!!

My dad has been yapping about this all week...how the gasoline/refinery busienss shoudl be turned into a Utility...thus I guess caping profits...cuz right now...we know where all the profits are going...and I assure the spread is wide...

anyone know anything about this?? turning the US refinery and gas business into a public regulated utility?

[Copperred]

Related Links

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/06/29/stories/2005062902720300.htm

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/6/29/17388/9747

[Copperred]

10. Related Links

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/06/29/stories/2005062902720300.htm

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/6/29/17388/9747

[Armstead]

11. I have no historical knowledge -- but it should have been done

Since gas and oil are such key component of life and the economy, the US should have established some form of utlility for it long ago.

Maybe not as a monopoly, but as a basic public utility to make it available and to keep pressure on market to keep it affordable.

[Copperred]

12. NEVER TOO LATE

I am not an expert in this area...

But i guess the idea is to make sure that the companies have a regulated exact profi....to take the HYPER PROFITs OUT of the refinery and distribution business at the retail level...

ur going to have prices rise because of global demand no matter what.......but the domesitic companies should not be allowed to sock it to the public!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Armstead]

14. Today it's conasidered "too socialist"

people would rather pay $15 a gallon than support something considered "socialist."

And too many establishment Democrats are willing to go along with it, rather than see some form of government relief for high oil costs as common sense liberalism.

[Copperred]

13. ?

?

[lildreamer316]

15. Don't give up on this Coppered.

We are very busy right now with the Cindy stuff. Hold on to this and repost when it calms down; we'll get going on it I'm sure.
Very interesting topic.

[Egalitariat]

16. Electricity, water, telephone, natural gas, etc. are the same everywhere

Required gasoline blends vary from state to state, and sometimes (like California) vary within states.

[jmowreader]

17. Making the gas business a utility wouldn't solve the problem we face

I know as a retailer that our profit margin is specified in percentages. I want to make 15 percent margin on each sheet of OSB I sell you, so I use a device called IMU (initial markup) to determine the price of that OSB. Or actually, a woman in Atlanta does.

The problem we face is that we have America's Worst Texas Oilman in the White House, and he never learned the Most Important Rule for Oilmen: don't piss off the Arabs.

I kinda noticed that the price of gas just leapt as soon as Bush put Bolton in the UN. Are the two incidents connected? I think so. It makes sense that they would be. Bolton is going to be very difficult for the Arabs to deal with (he's difficult for his own staff to deal with), they know this, so they voice their displeasure the only way they know how: cutting crude output, which runs the price up.

That and the senseless fucking war he's put us in are going to be the economic death of us.

How do we solve this problem once and for all? Pass a constitutional amendment: having ever been in the oil business in any capacity more involved than ringing up gasoline sales in a convenience store permanently disqualifies you from public office.

[Armstead]

18. But.....

I agree that in one sense the oil producing nations have some of the responsibility for this, as well as uncontrolable market forces.

If the oil companies were struggling along with the rest of us. it might let them off the hook. However, the oil company profits are skyrocketing along with gas prices. Coincidently, their profits are up about the same amount as gas prices.

That smacks of -- at the very least -- profiteering.

[jmowreader]

21. How could you stop it?

Profit is set as a percentage over cost of goods. That's how everyone does it.

Your margin doesn't change, which is why the "greedy" oil companies are just raking it in.

However, at some point the Arabs are going to calm down and increase their output, the oil companies will be forced by their business models to lower the price of their fuel, and they're gonna be stuck with a few million gallons of gas that they'll have to sell for less than they paid for the oil they used to make it. And when that's gone, they'll still be making less money than they are now. It all comes around.

I wouldn't be so philosophical except that I'm sitting on a thousand sheets of OSB I got at a "special super reduced price" two days before the bottom fell out of the OSB market--and I'm losing 30 cents per sheet on them. But I DON'T like the price of gas right now. I don't like what's happening with any product made from oil. Or any product moved by oil. I wish there was a way to get the prices down...but as long as we've got America's Worst Texas Oil Millionaire in the Pig Farm (with Bush you can't say "in the White House" because he almost never goes there--he's got a couple of suits, a makeup bag, and a box of his favorite cocaine-dipped pretzels at the White House just in case he happens to stop by for a minute or two.) it won't happen.

[Cocoa]

19. if anyone did propose that

they were probably disappeared.

[progressivebydesign]

20. Well. reducing the number of refineries is all part of Cheney's plans..

You all know damn well THAT was discussed in the uber secret meetings. The gas/oil industry is PURPOSELY refusing to build enough refineries, or to deal with refinery problems, in order to jack prices... Their PROFITS are rising OBSCENELY!!!!!!!!!!!!! yet, the main stream media stooges refuse to mention that when they talk about rising gas costs KILLING average americans and SMALL BUSINESSES. You know, it's one thing if the oil companies were actually losing some money or even staying on the same earnings path, but they are raking in the profits EVERY TIME they jack the prices....