You breathe deep, squeeze the nozzle, then watch in horror... Two minutes later, you've traded $92.37 for a tank full of fuel... You think ""they" have got to do something about the price of gas!" Of course this "they" you're referring to, conscious of it or not, is the government. At least that's what the government thinks...
Enter South Carolina Senator Dick Elliott... He's proposed a bill that would cap the wholesale price of gasoline for a full year... His opening statement on a CNBC debate this morning: "I'm a big believer in the free enterprise system, but the escalating price of gasoline is really breaking the budgets of families, it's taking the money out of business accounts that they could be using to hire new employees with, and just wrecking our economy until we can stabilize the price of gas and hopefully get it down. That was the reason that I introduced the bill."
With all due respect to Mr. Elliott, notwithstanding his good intentions, we're all "big believers in the free enterprise system" as long as things are going our way... I.e., when a sitting senator's constituents ain't happy, capitalism is forever a wonderful scapegoat...
What Mr. Elliott supposedly believes (but I suppose doesn't understand) is that the price of a given commodity, left to nature, will ultimately reflect its supply relative to its demand... Cap its price and you create supply issues...
Example; let's say the wholesale price-cap translates to $3.00 at the pump. Assuming the [global] economy picks up, demand then rises, but suppliers can
If the government is going to cap something, it should be excess profits above some percentage (2% would be fine for me) of net income for the particular oil company. At the same time, annual "cash" salaries for top tier executives should be capped at a reasonable amount considering them against like trained individuals (surgeons, etc). Anything above that comes as a stock bonus taxed as regular earned income at the time they dispose of the stock in any manner. "Disposal" of the stock can occur at no time earlier than 5 years following Dec 31 of the year that the stock bonus is awarded.
ReplyDeleteIf I were the oil companies I would charge 3X what they charge now for oil (and they could get it). They have oil and we need oil. As long as we need oil we are at their mercy. The government has no right to cap anyone's profits. If you can't handle it drive a bicycle.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the government should cap the profits of Senator Dick Elliot's Real Estate company. Better yet, why don't we cap senators service to one term. Sorry, I just get very upset when every year people want to limit how much the oil companies can charge. Good thing housing isn't booming right now because maybe they would want to cap what I could charge for a home. What happened to good ole' American Capitalism. That is what our country is built on.
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