Clinton and McCain want to Suspend the Federal Gas Tax for VOTES!

[TuborgP]

Originally Posted by Alanw

If you have seen the polls most people do not think that the gas tax should be lifted for any period of time. Therefore this is good for Obama. However there is a difference between McCains plan and Clintons. McCains just wants it done and the government to eat it. Hillary wants the Oil Companies to pay for it. I was against both plans until today when I saw that Exxon Mobiles profit for the last quarter was 10.7 Billion Dollars. I think that they should pay for it for a little while. Why not? Why am I paying all this to the gas companies and they are making huge amounts of money. I am not saying that they should not make a profit. That much is too much.

A couple of things. Exxon/Mobil profit as a percentage of revenues is less then a number of other companies including Microsoft. Does that mean the price of Xbox 360 should be lowered. Exxon deals in a very large amounts of money so their profits have to be seen in that context. Gas stations deal in large volumes of dollars in per day but their profit margins for gas are not that great. You need to look at the dividend per share in relationship to the price of the stock to measure how excessive profits may be. Do you really want to reduce the profits pension and 401 funds are making from their holdings in Exxon/Mobil? What about us retired folk? Exxon is just one big family of stock investors. Some of us are large holders, some of us are small and some of us are institutional. We are your neighbors, your children and your parents. Exxon Mobil Corporation Announces Estimated First Quarter 2008 Results (http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/exxonmobil/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&ndmConfigId=1001106& newsId=20080501005652&newsLang=en - broken link)

I will allow you to do the analysis yourself. Please enjoy and hopefully others will read the link and be able to make informed decisions about the candidates positions.
Obama has a new
TV spot airing in North Carolina that capitalizes on the mistake McCain and Clinton made with their idea. I wouldn't slam oil companies any more then oil producers. There is a big market for their product and it is obvious that demand is not going to abate with our current leadership in Congress and the White House.

[georgia dem]

If you happen to be an independent truck driver, that pays $1,000.00 to fill up their tank, this would help them.
I remember the trucker strike back in the 1970's and it was hard
not many folks seem to think about them
if they shut down for a week it would have a huge impact.
They are making no money.
We used to only be able to buy gas every other day, let's bring back those days.
We sat in lines for an hour sometimes
if you want to ***** at someone, then ***** at George Bush for sitting on a stock pile
of gas he could open up on the market and the prices would fall.
Our stock pile is at 97%.

[TuborgP]

Originally Posted by georgia dem

If you happen to be an independent truck driver, that pays $1,000.00 to fill up their tank, this would help them.
I remember the trucker strike back in the 1970's and it was hard
not many folks seem to think about them
if they shut down for a week it would have a huge impact.
They are making no money.
We used to only be able to buy gas every other day, let's bring back those days.
We sat in lines for an hour sometimes
if you want to ***** at someone, then ***** at George Bush for sitting on a stock pile
of gas he could open up on the market and the prices would fall.
Our stock pile is at 97%.

The strategic reserve is in case of emergency and interruption in the supply of oil. Not as a price protection policy. If we begin to use that to manipulate the market, the producing nations can(probably would) cut back on production to bring supply and demand back in line. The worlds problem with energy cost is a result of poor fiscal policy in the United States. You can attribute at least $15 per barrel of cost to the decline of the dollar and the subprime mess. The fed reduces interest rates and speculators run to commodities for investments etc. Just like shopping in Europe becomes more expensive if you are spending dollars so does oil because it is still sold based on the dollar. If the oil producers flee from using the dollar and nations stop using it as the medium of exchange then you will see problems in the United States. The question is if the inflation we are seeing is cost/push, demand/pull or a new form of price pressures. That will require intelligent leadership in the White House and Congress to evaluate and work with. In order to get that we must have an intelligent electorate that really understands the issues and then uses gray matter to evaluate. I am worried.

[pennylove76]

It's so nice to read a board with content about an actual issue. Thank you OP.

[JimMe]

Originally Posted by TuborgP

The strategic reserve is in case of emergency and interruption in the supply of oil. Not as a price protection policy. If we begin to use that to manipulate the market, the producing nations can(probably would) cut back on production to bring supply and demand back in line. The worlds problem with energy cost is a result of poor fiscal policy in the United States. You can attribute at least $15 per barrel of cost to the decline of the dollar and the subprime mess. The fed reduces interest rates and speculators run to commodities for investments etc. Just like shopping in Europe becomes more expensive if you are spending dollars so does oil because it is still sold based on the dollar. If the oil producers flee from using the dollar and nations stop using it as the medium of exchange then you will see problems in the United States. The question is if the inflation we are seeing is cost/push, demand/pull or a new form of price pressures. That will require intelligent leadership in the White House and Congress to evaluate and work with. In order to get that we must have an intelligent electorate that really understands the issues and then uses gray matter to evaluate. I am worried.

Good post. The economics of energy production is very complex. It is incumbent upon the president, Congress and the oil companies to explain it to the American people. But that won't happen. The politicians want us ignorant so that they can use the issue to manipulate us for their own political purposes and the oil companies have no interest in revealing the inner workings of the industry even though that opens them up to demonization by the politicians. I'm worried, too.