http://falundafa.org/eng/falun.htm
[b4 you call me a nazi, click on the link stup….]
in other news……………….
>>>>>>>>>>>>>……………….
BIG OIL rakes in the profits
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/bigoilrakesinhistoricprofits
Exxon reported:
– Profit up 75% to $9.9 billion. That’s the second-most a U.S. company has ever earned in a three-month period, a USA TODAY analysis of data from Capital IQ found. It’s greater than the annual gross domestic product of entire nations, including Niger, Zambia and Iceland.– Royal Dutch Shell reported net income of $9 billion Thursday.
– BP reported a $6.5 billion third-quarter profit
– ConocoPhillips, $3.8 billion.
– ChevronTexaco is expected to post earnings of $3.9 billion
It would be nice if the oil companies used this cash windfall to fund new oilfields, new refineries and alternative energy research. Instead, the money goes to exorbitant executive bonuses and inflated stock dividends. It would be fitting to reward the corporate energy cartel’s greed with a profit surtax and use that to fund energy research at home.
Yes, I am familar with the supply and demand theory.
And yes, I am also somewhat familar with the theory of monopolies, oligopolies and price-fixing.
There were spot fuel shortages in some areas but overall there was no great shortage of supply of oil/fuel. Demand, except in isolated areas and in isolated incidents, did not increase.
The retail price of fuel was increased prior to the hurricane’s landfall, just as it is increased prior to major holiday periods. The companies ANTICIPATE higher demand and COUNT ON people paying the higher prices.
A comprehensive discussion of the subject would include both legal and ethical viewpoints – what is legal is not always ethical, but what is ethical is almost always legal. IMO, what has happened is clearly not ethical.
The obscene profit reports from the oil companies highlights the question of ethics. There was no appreciable drop in supply, there was no appreciable rise in demand – the only thing going up was the price while the only thing going down was disposable income.
So, once again I’ll ask……….
When does the revolution start?
[and don’t respond with banter, if you were thinking of doing it!]