Big Government Responsible for High Gas Prices
Posted May 5th, 2008 by freedom1776
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Ron Paul | Texas Straight Talk
In the past few months, American workers, consumers, and businesses have experienced a sudden and dramatic rise in gasoline prices. In some parts of the country, gasoline costs as much as $4 per gallon. Some politicians claim that the way to reduce gas prices is by expanding the government’s power to regulate prices and control the supply of gasoline. For example, the House of Representatives has even passed legislation subjecting gas stations owners to criminal penalties if they charge more than a federal bureaucrat deems appropriate. Proponents of these measures must have forgotten the 1970s, when government controls on the oil industry resulted in gas lines and shortages. It was only after President Reagan lifted federal price controls that the gas lines disappeared.
Instead of imposing further restraints on the market, Congress should consider reforming the federal policies that raise gas prices. For example, federal and state taxes can account for as much as a third of what consumers’ pay at the pump. The Federal Government’s boom-and-bust monetary policy also makes consumers vulnerable to inflation and to constant fluctuations in the prices of essential goods such as oil. It is no coincidence that oil prices first became an issue shortly after President Nixon unilaterally severed the dollar’s last link to gold.
Basic economics says that when government restricts the supply of a good, the price will increase. Yet Congress continues to reject simple measures that could increase the supply of oil. For example, Congress refuses to allow reasonable, environmentally sensitive, offshore drilling. Congress also refuses to remove the numerous regulatory hurdles that add to the prohibitively expensive task of constructing new refineries. Building a new refinery requires billions of dollars in capital investment. It can take several years just to obtain the necessary federal permits. Even after the permits are obtained, construction of a refinery may still be delayed or even halted by frivolous lawsuits. It is no wonder that there has not been a new refinery constructed in the United States since 1976.
Last year, in order to provide the American people with relief from high oil prices, I introduced the Affordable Gas Price Act (HR 2415). This legislation protects the American people from gas price spikes by suspending the federal gas tax whenever the national average gas price exceeds $3.00 per gallon. The Affordable Gas Price Act also expands the supply of gasoline by repealing the federal moratorium on offshore drilling, including in the ANWR reserve in Alaska . HR 2415 also provides tax incentives and protection from nuisance lawsuits for those seeking to build new refineries. Finally, HR 2415 authorizes a federal study on the link between our nation’s monetary policy and the price of oil.
The free market can meet the American people’s demand for a reliable supply of gasoline as long as government does not distort the market through excessive taxation and regulation. Therefore, Congress should lower prices gas prices by pursuing an agenda of low taxes, regulatory relief, and sound money by passing legislation such as my Affordable Gas Act.
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I find it
Ironic that the government will penalize the small gas stations and allow the oil giants thier record profits. They never address the real problem do they? The World Bank and the IMF.
Gas Prices What we can do!
THIS IS NOT THE 'DON'T BUY' GAS FOR ONE DAY, BUT IT WILL SHOW YOU HOW WE CAN GET GAS BACK DOWN TO $1.30 PER GALLON.
This was sent by a retired Coca Cola executive. It came from one of his engineer buddies who retired from Halliburton. If you are tired of the gas prices going up AND they will continue to rise this summer, take time to read this please.
Phillip Hollsworth offered this good idea.
This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the "don't buy gas on a certain day" campaign that was going around last April or May!
It's worth your consideration. Join the resistance!!!!
I hear we are going to hit close to $ 4.00 a gallon by next summer, and it might go higher!! Want gasoline prices to come down?
We need to take some intelligent, united action. The oil companies just laughed at that because they knew we wouldn't continue to "hurt" ourselves by refusing to buy gas.
It was more of an inconvenience to us than it was a problem for them.
BUT, whoever thought of this idea has come up with a plan that can really work. Please read on and join with us!
Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think that the cost of a gallon of gas is CHEAP at $1.50 - $1.75, we need to take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the marketplace..not sellers.
With the price of gasoline going up more each day, we consumers need to take action.
The only way we are going to see the price of gas come down is if we hit someone in the pocketbook by not purchasing their gas! And, we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves.
How? Since we all rely on our cars, we can't just stop buying gas.
But we CAN have an impact on gas prices if we all act together to force a price war.
Here's the idea: For the rest of this year, DON'T purchase ANY gasoline from the two biggest companies (which now are one), EXXON and MOBIL.
If they are not selling any gas, they will be inclined to reduce their prices.
If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit.
But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of Exxon and Mobil gas buyers. It's really simple to do! Now, don't wimp out on me at this point...keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people!!
I am sending this note to 30 people. If each of us send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300) ... and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x10 = 3,000)...and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth group of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers.
If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted!
If it goes one level further, you guessed it. .... THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!!
Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people. That's all!
(If you don't understand how we can reach 300 million and all you have to do is send this to 10 people.... Well, let's face it, you just aren't a mathematician. But I am . so trust me on this one.
How long would all that take? If each of us sends this message out to ten more people within one day of receipt, all 300 MILLION people could conceivably be contacted within the next 8 days !!!
I'll bet you didn't think you and I had that much potential, did you!
Acting together we can make a difference.
If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on. I suggest that we not buy from EXXON/MOBIL UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE $2.00 RANGE AND KEEP THEM DOWN. THIS CAN REALLY WORK.
Keep it going
What we can do?
Sojourner6Sojourner6
Although the government does manipulate gas prices somewhat, the real cause is the devalued dollar. Oil and it's by products are a world commodity subject to world demand not just the US albeit, we are a huge consumer. The American public has been so distracted, vis a vis; football,American Idol, beer, religion, shopping,etc that you could not get enough peoples attention to impact the price of oil world wide. Oil companies will not sell it here for less than what they could get on the international markets. Getting oil to realistic prices for our economy would take governmental action which would lead to isolationism and high tafffifs,although that would be the best situation for us, but it's them against us and the thems are the globalists and our traitorous representatives. I am afraid gas prices will not come down untill the dollar gains strength or the souless American public awakens from thier media induced fog and has the guts to vote for canidates like Dr. Paul despite who is nominated and what the media says.
This sounded familiar.......
http://snopes.com/politic...
oops
so i did the wrong thing? wow, i am going to have to be more careful about the "advice" i listen to in this tent.
just copied this
and emailed it to about 50 people!! Let's get this thing rolling.
The Energy Non-Crisis by Lindsay Williams ...
This needs to be viewed by everyone .... this video will blow your mind ... please spread it around.
I'm posting links to a talk given by Lindsay Williams ... a 1970s missionary in Alaska who worked among the men building the pipeline and who had access to a great deal of inside information.
Mr. Williams lays out the entire US oil agenda: (the why, the how and the what for), and how an absolutely phony oil "scarcity" is being used to control us. I would bet the farm that Henry Kissinger concocted the whole senario. By the way, oil is NOT A FOSSIL FUEL ... it is a renewable resource created in the earth's core by heat and pressure. Also, CO2 and global warming are GOOD THINGS ... everything on earth thrives during warm spells.
The Linsay Williams video has 8 parts:
Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/wa...
Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/wa...
Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/wa...
Part 4 http://www.youtube.com/wa...
Part 5 http://www.youtube.com/wa...
Part 6 http://www.youtube.com/wa...
Part 7 http://www.youtube.com/wa...
Part 8 http://www.youtube.com/wa...
Energy Non-Crisis
Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you for listing this link(s) here. I am an older lady and was given this link by another interested party. I can operate a computer but don't know how to upload (?) links. I had so wanted to post the links here a few days ago, but didn't know how. I guess I am going to have to have my daughter's computer-savvy friend show me how to upload (?) stuff...because I come across alot of important data I want to share, but don't know how to share it. I don't know how to "bump"; I don't know how to "digg it"...lol I gotta get with the program...saving our Country is just too important to be so behind the times...
Maybe I can help a little ...
I don't "bump" or "digg" either, however, copying isn't hard at all.
When you're watching something you want to pass on, go up to the browser box (I think that's what it's called ... "http:// ..." place your cursor at the beginning and then press Ctrl C . Now you have it saved. Then, when you take it to another site you can paste it there by pressing Ctrl V. The Ctrl (Control) button is usually at the lower left corner of the keyboard.
Practice once or twice and you'll be a pro!
While I definitely have high
While I definitely have high suspicions of the global warming agenda and I doubt the abundance of oil however even if this were true, the pollution and toxic ecological "blowback" of petrochemical use cannot be disputed. There is also abundant evidence that cleaner free or low cost ways to energize the planet have been purposefully suppressed.