It totally jerks mu chain too that they made the money they made last quarter, but how do you stop Big Oil from making money without telling any other business that they can't make money as well?

I am sure there are variables, but isn't the whole point of business to make money. They aren't in the non profit business, so what can be done?

I know if I owned a business, and I made money, I wouldn't feel anyone should be able to tell me not to.

And just how do you know that some poor soul was trying to put fuel in thier car to get home, work , etc. Did you witness the tears, the moans and wails of the poor soul? Did you see them slowyly close the cap on the gas tank as to say, "well this is it".
You're guessing, you have no proof and if you did you didn't offer such.
That is just about the amount that I put in my one gallon container, plus one 8oz bottle of oil for use in my leaf blower and it is that time of the year. Instead of using some "guess it musta been" half baked idea, try offering some proof , the make your complaint or just say gas is too high and I think the oil companies are to blame, and leave out the sad fairy tales

Who's going to pay and select all these ombudsmen? Would this be for all publicly held companies or just the ones Mr. Rucker thinks should be watched? What about all the organizations that have non-profit status and pay no taxes? Churches? Graft, corruption and greed exist at every level. Seems to me that the system has worked pretty well for us all, even though there are items overpriced from time to time.

It never fails to amaze me what some people can see doom and gloom in. A GAS RECEIPT? I wonder how Mr./Ms. Rucker would react in a real emergency,like a missing button or a shoelace untied?

Neocon and Mrproduce have proven the exact point I made in yesterday's forum about oil companies. In all the exchanges I've seen recently about the gas prices, the people who attempt to defend the oil companies do so by attacking the complainant instead of actually defending the practice.

Perhaps the gas receipt is a metaphorical illustration, maybe it's not. Who cares? The issue that I would like to point out -- for now the eighth time -- is that the definition of price gouging seems to describe pretty accurately what these companies are doing to consumers. And what does the administration do to discourage this behavior? They grant $10 billion to history's most profitable companies to help them out. I have yet to see anyone defend that decision.

"Then it dawned on me. I was given a recordable example of the suffering inflicted upon the financially impacted members of our society by the powers that be."

Then the skies parted and God told you to write a letter to the editor about how eeeevill corporations are trying their best to throw poor people on the street.

Howie, I have asked a question that no one will answer for me either: Gas prices are now below pre-Katrina levels and are still falling. Why is everyone still bellyaching?

Another one: NC, at least a month ago, had the highest gas price in the nation other than DC and HI. Why? Gov. Sleasley and his cronies have a high gas tax and wouldn't lower it. In fact they plan to raise it in January. Why is no one writing letters to the editor that Easley is screwing poor people and the rest of us too? (My best guess is because he's a Democrat).

Mrproduce,

You make an excellent point. Could have been a motorcycle they were topping off. No way to know for sure.

I do agree with the letter writer that the gas prices have been tough. I have always filled my tank up when I go to the gas station and there have been times the last couple of months where I had to settle for a half a tank. I've tried to consume as much as possible, but with a 25 - 30 mile round trip to work, there is only so much I can cut.

I don't have a problem with businesses making profits but I do feel that the oil companies need to be reeled in. Gas isn't a luxury item anymore. It is a necessity in today's world. The greed of these companies will have an effect on our economy and it won't be good. That said, I also agree with Dan that we need to address the greed of our state leaders and fight against outrageous taxes on gas and more frugal use of our tax dollars.

I meant to say I've tried to conserve as much as possible, not consume as much as possible. :)

Dan,

Glad you brought up the point about NC gas prices. We do not pay the highest taxes in the US (not even top ten), so the fact that we were paying the most is because the gas companies thought they could charge that much and get away with it. And conveniently absent from all the folks on your side of the argument was a call for the President to lower the federal gas tax. I guess the argument is much more convenient if the target is a Democrat, isn't it? By the way, the NC gas tax is per gallon, so higher prices don't help the state at all. In fact, they probably encourage folks to conserve, so the state actually suffers. In my opinion, lowering the gas tax was a bad idea.

And for your unanswered question about the gas prices falling to pre-Katrina levels, here's one man's opinion: I think we were overcharged before the hurricanes, and the oil companies used the war and rising demand in Asia as the excuses. Note that the record profits have been going on for a lot longer than the past three months. Then when Katrina hit, it was a big, fat money-grab. They capitalized on our frantic mood. Now that they've seen we'll pay $3+ for a gallon, they are very slow to drop back below that $2+ mark, because we feel like we're getting a bargain comared to a couple of weeks ago. One last note: if Bill O'Reilly -- Mr Fair-and Balanced himself -- is on the same side of this crusade as me, you might want to give some thought into opening your minds on this one. And I'm still waiting for someone to defend the ten billion.

" ... but how do you stop Big Oil from making money without telling any other business that they can't make money as well?

During WWII it was illegal to profiteer.

WWII stands for World WAR Two. Some, like me, would say were pretty much headed into World WAR Three, and even my friend George says we're at war, and it's hard work - so maybe it should again be illegal to profiteer.

PS - might wanna tell Halliburton and a bunch of others too.

Howie,

“Glad you brought up the point about NC gas prices. We do not pay the highest taxes in the US (not even top ten),”

Do you have a link to back up that claim because according to this link NC is the SEVENTH HIGHEST in the nation which would rate it in the top ten. http://rdu.news14.com/content/your%5Fnews/raleigh/?ArID=66280 Oh by the way, this is an article in March before the tax rate hiked in July.

"By the way, the NC gas tax is per gallon,"
By the way, do you even know what you are talking about? Or do you just randomly post about subjects you have no clue and claim falsehoods as truth? NC gas tax is not per gallon, any simple google search would have told you that. "North Carolina’s gas tax is estimated every six months based on the wholesale price of motor fuel during the preceding six-month base period.
While the tax has been increasing along with the wholesale price of gasoline, if the wholesale price decreases over a six month period, the gasoline tax will be reduced.”

“so higher prices don't help the state at all."

"The tax increase is good news for the Department of Transportation. The Department of Revenue estimates the two-cent increase will bring in an extra $105 million between now and June 30 - raising the total funds to the DOT from the gas tax to $754 million in six months. The Department of Transportation estimates the increase will bring in an extra $52 million." http://www.aaacarolinas.com/Newsroom/Pressrelease/012405.htm?zip=27406

So glad to know that an extra $52 million from just 2 cents doesn't help the state at all. Oh and since you enjoy paying higher taxes, have no fear because as is the law our gas tax is reconfigured every six months so come Jan, you will be paying a nice high tax seeing as how the wholesale price of gas was selling around $3 a gallon, not $1.70 like the previous six months that the current tax was based on.

Trish, thanks for saving me the time to refute Howies inaccuracies.

Here is some more interesting info Howie:

http://www.northcarolinagasprices.com/tax_info.aspx

I glanced this site and found NC to have the 13th highest tax. The other 12 are CA, CT, ID, KS, ME, MT, NE, PA, RI, UT, WA, & WI. Note that none of these states are in the South, so we can proudly proclaim that we pay the highest gas tax in the South!! Maybe Easley can get us into the top ten??

I also found this to be of interest:

http://www.taxfoundation.org/publications/show/1139.html

If you want to know who is gouging consumers, look no further than the Federal and state governments.

Forgot to mention howie, on the NC gas tax site its says "Rate adjusted quarterly based on 17.5 cents + 7% of wholesale price" so higher prices do help the state.

Here's my question..I've heard the oil executives try to defend themselves by saying that when oil was 10 dollars a barrel, their profits were lower. Makes sense. But I seem to remember that when oil was 10 dollars a barrel, gasoline was around a dollar a gallon - a ratio of 10%. When oil went to 71 dollara a barrel, gas was around $3.50 - a ratio of just under 5%. They say they're not screwing us now. I guess they must have been doing it back then. Anybody else thought about this??

Trish:

Welcome back, we've missed you, luv.

I think Howie was saying that the gas tax is a fixed rate, adjusted on some schedule, but not a percentage of the something. It would be like a flat $.25 cents on a gallon of milk vs. 7% of the $3.57 gallon at the corner store. Same result, different formula. Maybe in 6 months the it goes to a flat $.24 or $.26.

PERSONALLY - I think the gas tax should total exactly the amount needed to maintain and improve roads and bridges. To be fair, it would be a logarithmic relationship, because heavier wheeled traffic does more damage and would need to pay proportionalty more.

This would solve a lot of problems - including fairness to all road users, and it would also make local goods more economical, helping us all.

JDR, did you see my 11:16 post? 17.5 cents + 7% of wholesale price. That to me means the state will always get their 17.5 cents, but when the wholesale price goes up so does the tax.

Heavy vehicles do pay more tax as they consume more fuel no?

Yea, I saw it, and assumed - without checking - that was the (6-month?) scheduled adjustment Trish was showing us.

If that assumption holds, so does my post.

If that 7% changes with each shipment price, i.e., as the oil companies change their delivered price, then my assumption - and post - are both in error.

Thanks

I wish all of you knew who this guy is. I also wish you could know the kinds of vehicles he drives and the amount of gas he uses every week tolling down to his 4000 square foot beach house at the coast. He and his son and his sons wife all drive nice big gas guzzling suvs and want to complain about the cost of fuel. Mr. Rucker is obviously still stinging from the few thousand dollars he lost when the Burlington Industries Stock he bought while in bankruptsy didn't pay off for him, no matter how many little funny postcards he sent out. Look in to the guy a little and you will see what I mean. This is just the latest in a long line of tirades that he uses to take up his post retirement time.

buddabuddy, how do you know this guy? Does he have a nice big boat at his beach house that holds a couple hundred gallons?

If what you say is true it's the classic "do as I say not as I do" hypocrisy. Kinda like Arianna Huffington railing against gas guzzling SUVs while she hops on a corporate jet.

Thanks JDR for the welcome back. However I regret to inform you that Dan has it right. NC motor fuels excise tax works like this: there is a flat rate of 17.5 cents plus 7% of the average wholesale price. The wholesale price is adjusted every 6 months and cannot fall below 3.5 cents.

Regardless of what Howie meant he still posted something as fact when it was not. Not only did he get it wrong about how the tax is calculated, he also got it wrong that NC is not in the top ten of highest tax. We are number 7. Heck even the State government admits we are one of the highest. Way back in 2002, NC was ranked number 10 in the nation and 1 between the six mid-southeastern states. All this figures can be found in a pdf report done by the state. The link is here: www.osbm.state.nc.us/files/pdf_files/2002_Tax_Guide.pdf
This report is from 2002. To get the tax rate today this from the Dept. of Revenue has them listed: http://www.dor.state.nc.us/taxes/motor/rates.html

As a side note from the above link this is listed: "In addition to the road tax, every gallon of motor fuel includes a .25 cents per gallon inspection tax." I didn't even know about this, so I am seeing what I can find and that the bill# is. However our government website is not an easy thing to search, so it may take awhile. Does anyone here know if we are indeed paying another .25 cents on top of 17.5 + 7%?

I worked for him ,and later his son. He does in fact have a do as I say, not as I do attitude. Like so many other people he deos have a good side and so does him son. When I saw this though, I just had to laugh knowing what kind of life he leads. As far as a boat, I really don't know. Just found it funny to look in the paper today and see his name there. After you work with someone for a while you kind of get to know their style, and this is definatly him.