Response to Moskowitz letter- Letters to the Editor

By Carl Kem Green River

Dear Editor,
In a recent Letter To The Editor by D. Moskowitz of Londonderry, N.H. he spoke of the increased fuel prices, and how the recent shutting down of several refineries is a cause. Yes, I agree wholeheartedly. Shutting down the refineries does not help with the cost at all. Like anything else however, equipment must be upgraded. Changes made. I suppose if you look at each individual refinery, you may see the reasoning.
In some cases people will allege the producers make only pennies per gallon of profit. That could very well be true. Then some talk about the fuel tax that, the last time I asked the State of Utah to account for, apparently flew off to Never Never Land.
In the capitalist empire America has become, the market prevails. That’s good. Then the oil speculators are blamed for the fuel price increase.
Sadly Mr. Moskowitz, and those alleging government interference is not seeing the picture for what (I think) it is – price fixing.
Explain this to me. In 2010 ExxonMobile, Chevron and ConocoPhillips pulled some major profits. Guys, I ain’t talking a few bucks here and a few bucks there. I’m talking about $30.5 billion for ExxonMobile, up a “mere” $11 billion from 2009. Yeah. I think that’s a bit of a profit, don’t you? Their VP of investor relations (David Rosenthal) said he was “very pleased” with that. Oh yeah, Baby. I’d be a bit on the happy side, myself.
Chevron pulled a sweet $19 billion which is a smidgeon more than the measly $10.5 billion they sweated long and hard for in 2009. ConocoPhillips had a hard time getting $8.8 billion instead of the $4.9 billion they earned in 2009. (Source: http://technorati.com/business/article/as-gas-prices-rise-oil-companies/).
Pardon me for my lack of understanding ladies and gentlemen, but I’m having a hard time understanding this. People blame the fuel tax for the rise in fuel costs. Well, if so much money was made because of the fuel tax, I think the roads would be in much better shape than they are now. I think our cops and sheriff’s deputies would have the equipment they need in order to protect us from the criminal element.
When you look at the profits made by the “Big Oil”, it’s kind of hard to focus on anyone else being the cause for the prices. Mickey Mouse. Mickey Mouse and his co-conspirator, Donald Duck. “Why those two?”, you ask? I can’t imagine anyone else we can blame since the corporate owners are not only bigger and better than everybody, but above the law.
Now you ask how they are above the law….It’s called price fixing. If I was in such a position as those boys, I guarantee you, I would not try jerking every last penny from the public, making the economy even worse. But they are. If anything, they are making the economic crisis much worse through their greed.
It’s pretty bad when regular unleaded costs $3.849 per gallon in Green River and $3.639 in Price, only to be told by managers at several establishments that they are charging the same as everyone else no matter where they are.
If they think I’m that stupid to believe that line, they must have been smoking the wrong batch of weed (again). If they want to argue they aren’t smoking anything, I suppose it’s too hard for them to fess up that they think customers are that stupid. Gets you to wonder if you really want to buy anything from them now, doesn’t it?
So there you go Mr. Moskowitz. That is, what I think, the cause is for the fuel prices. The big cheese in the corporate system that can do whatever they want and the managers on the bottom of the ladder that prefer to deficate on the trust the public has for them.
Carl Kem
Green River