Are commodity and stock brokers who keep pushing the price of oil higher for profit anti-American?
599180
yes, essentially. they are just betting on the future supply of oil, which seems dumb when right now the price should be much lower. unfortunately this is not anti-american. capitalism is the american way and overall, it is a great system. we just have to live with a few unfortunate excesses.
244098
Stock brokers get theri money on buy and sell fees.  They love the curn of day traders and those that want to short, make stops ect.  They could make a fortune if the market were to crash and everyone sold to get out.\n\nIt also might be illegal (after all pump and dump boiler rooms are illegal) or unethlical to have brokers to steer people to buy stocks they own.  Imagine if the broker were to buy stocks of XYZ, then he gets people to buy the stock in that company driving the price up.  Then he sell and makes money.
339725
Dems understand supply and demand. But they also understand that most Americans are woefully undereducated and willfully ignorant on economics.\n\nThey also understand that they can demagogue an issue, in confederacy with the main-stream media, to paint a false picture of what is going on. This is so they can regain power. They do not care what they have to say, what they have to do, or who they have to harm to get that power.\n\nSo right now their big evil enemy is the oil industry. Oh my God, they are making record profits! Knowledgeable people know that the oil companies are not gouging, not making evil greedy profits. Most of them don't even get 10% return on sales profit margin.\n\nAs for record profits! or prices! Let's look at other records! People are making record wages! paying record taxes! their homes are at record values! bread and milk are at record prices! \n\nAnd the American public (mostly taught by members of the ultra-leftist teachers unions in public schools) are too ignorant to recognize the truth.\n\nThe GOP has been little better on this subject, especially with the President launching an investigation. He knows better. He needed to speak truth against the lies and puffery, instead of conceding to the false political rhetoric of his enemies.
687290
Never, they donate too much money to the campaigns of politicians and in outright bribes... they send them on (quite literally) million dollar vacations that no politician would ever give up, and pay millions to campaign "donations" and millions more to lobbyists.\n\nPeople are soo funny, buying into the propoganda of the oil companies... exxon makes 8 cents on the dollar at the point of shipping, gas companies have more than doubled their profits in the past 3 years... they make billions on refining, shipping, and selling the gas... that 8 cents is rhetoric and doesn't include a majority of the companies profits, only what they make from transporting crude from the mid east and south america to north america...\n\nAlso, the oil companies DIRECTLY control the price of refined gasoline... Do you know what the price of gas is in Venezuela right now?  Two weeks ago it was TWENTY AMERICAN CENTS per gallon... The cost of crude is ABSOLUTELY NOT UP THREE TIMES its cost in 2001, when gas was just over $1 a gallon... it's [crude] up less than double (a lot less than double) and yet the cost of gasoline is up about triple... how can anyone suggest that the oil giants aren't controlling the prices?  Federal taxes aren't up, nor are most state's taxes on oil/gas...
486093
What are you talking about?\n\nGas prices are high because the world (specificly the USA) haven't been researching or building an alternative fuel source infrastructure. Our politicians, both Rep & Dems are bought and paid for by the oil companies, the wealthiest lobby there is.\n\nWhat has that got to do with partisan politics? Have you been asleep?
409202
no, the more we war with the middle east, the higher prices are gonna go. south america is laughing because they arent gonna sell to us either. we are alienating ourselves. by this, we'll choke off any oil contacts & grind our production, tranportation & economy to a halt. uk isnt gonna back us anymore, we lost any european alies with the last iraq campaign, the saudis have other customers & dont necesarilly need us & irael has always sabbotaged usa, obviously not our friend. we have 20 years of oil at best here at home. china & russia wont buddy up. who do we have left. we're wedging ourselves into a position of having to attack & steal. yeh, the global economy will change in the near future, for the worst.
636945
first off barbedwiedless doofus...if it wasnt for the republican party, you would be living in a country like mexico or cuba...the democrats want to sell us out to the united nations..(which is a euphemism for "united against america")\n\nwe have been addicted to oil by our own selves...if you arent addicted to it, why do you have a reason to complain about the price..?? oil hasnt anywhere near kept up with the rise of inflation since the 50's..if it had it would allready be at 8 bucks a gallon...you can thank the republicans for trying to keep the price low, despite all the tax increases by your democratic federal and state elected officials...\n\nby the way...do you try to sell your labor as cheap as you can, or get as much as you can while you can..???
357277
The whole system...OPEC on down to Exxon... all-time record profits for any company ever are EXTREMELY SUSPICIOUS... regardless of the situation... and it usually points to violations of anti-trust laws... is there one... I don't know... but it's suspicious...
754845
By now i think every one is as riled up for their own cause as it gets,  some of us are tired of the same old attack adds as we see very little real differences in those running since they all authorise attack and mudd slinging, its like chose the lesser of two evils. I made my decisions a couple of months ago on all the issues. While gas prices may influence some only history will tell if it was connected to the elections or not. I think OPEC looks for excuses to exploit us, anyway.
612335
ok truckman, not all democrats are the (evil) liberals that you seem to imply they are. I think its wrong for oil companies to pay a man a going out the door bonus of 400 + million, and make billions in profits in a year, when there are millions of americans having to literally choose between food, medicine or gasoline. I think its wrong for the oil companies to still insist on zone pricing when they are making billions in profits.
546009
It's all deregulation and Capitalism at it's finest. The oil companies are realigning into monopoly's again. This is a crime to fair competition; because there is no competition. This always happens with a majority Republican rule, it's their view on politics. There is no trickle down theory with forced inflation's on Americans.
405461
A couple of years ago, all the Amoco stations in my city became British Petroleum, But I don't think they have much to do with Mobil except that they both are making us take it in our arses with the gas prices. Funny how the oil industry has claimed the highest earnings ever in history last year, yet they "claim" that they are only making a small profit. Hmm...
386567
Let's take a look at a few facts.  First, the cost of crude oil for each gallon of gas sold in this country has gone up from about 35 cents per gallon in 1999 to $1.59 per gallon in 2006.   So ... crude oil prices go up by 454% over a period of seven years.  How much did gas prices go up during the same period?  Try 162%.  Looks to me like things could be worse.\n\nSo ... did George Bush set those crude oil prices?  Did the oil companies go out there and set the prices that high?  Helllloooo!  Do you think the oil producing countries like Saudi Arabia might have had anything to do with it?  Is it possible that the ever-increasing worldwide demand for crude oil was a factor?  How about the fact that oil exploration slowed several years ago when crude was selling for under $20 a barrel?  Now that the price is so much higher many more companies are getting into the exploration business ... but it takes somewhere around 5 years from discovery of an oil deposit to actual production.  The price of oil didn't start its uphill swing until about 2004.  Do the math.  You also have the fact that oil is a commodity that is traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange.  Traders have much to do about setting prices.  Do you suppose that George Bush is calling these traders in to coach them on just what those prices should be?  That's what the Democrats want you to believe.\n\nIn short, when supplies increase and demand decreases.
609322
Let me see Oil rich bastard gets elected oil companies record highest profits of any corporation in the history of the U.S. Coincidence?
487213
i try to keep up on this stuff, right now inventories are high and demand is lowering,,,however the price is staying high due to commodity traders anticapating a demand spike as summer gets closer.
142643
Oil companys aren't making trillions only billions that is why the price keeps going up
202996
I have! Oil prices go down and gas goes up. Supplies increase the price at the pump goes up. The 2nd biggest oil deposit in the world comes under U.S. control.... You get the idea. Enough is enough. His friends have all made a buck on this insanity, let's go back to $1.00 a gallon.