| Comment Number: | 535819-00033 |
| Received: | 5/9/2008 9:39:07 AM |
| Organization: | |
| Commenter: | Alan Stark |
| State: | MI |
| Agency: | Federal Trade Commission |
| Rule: | Prohibitions On Market Manipulation and False Information in Subtitle B of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 |
| No Attachments |
Comments:
There is obviously no check at all on the oil industry by The Congress or any Commission appointed by them so far.The White House seems paralyzed as well. The steady rise in the price of gasoline has been unmerciful. I can't imagine any other business or industry being allowed to raise their price daily. If this were the medical profession or the insurance industry, there would be immediate action and laws passed to ensure that the public interest was protected. I have watched all of the gas stations in my metropolitan area raise their rates within an hour of each other. There rate was raised for the gas that was already purchased by the station and in the ground. There was no new shipment of gasoline, but the stations all raise their prices within a penny of each other as soon as there is any news relative to oil, good or bad. It is amazing to watch the stations raise their prices by .35 to .50 per gallon, and over the course of four or five days, drop it .10 per gallon and call this market sensitivity.. If this isn't price manipulation at the retail delivery level, then it should be called what it really is, MONOPOLISTIC THEFT. The oil industry has a death lock on the economic health of this country and our congress and state lawmakers let them get away with it. I understand the threat of gas shutdowns, but I ask you, Why hasn't the FTC investigated this in earnest? Why has our Congress not encouraged and subsidized the developement of hydrogen fuel engines? Why hasn't our FTC investigated the crude oil from Alaska being allowed to sit in Tankers offshore awaiting the rise in oil prices, or divert it elsewhere? Where is our protection from the gauging that we are experiencing by the Oil Industry? Why has gasoline jumped $1.50 per gallon in one year? Why are we allowing OPEC to get away with $125.00 per barrel of oil? Why aren't we raising the price of a bushel of wheat and corn and other crops to OPEC member countries so they have to pay back the high rates they are charging. The United States, Australia, and Canada are leading exporters of food materials to the rest of the world. The World Community has an obligation to break the back of OPEC, by creating economic stress on them as they have on us. I understand supply and demand. Lets use that same economic principle on OPEC, and the gasoline suppliers so that they don't drive this country to economic ruin. We need regulation and protection from the Oil Industry, not collusion between them and the Congress and the Commissions that the Congress appoints. I would not be against another $1.00 per gallon tax with the money collected going to alternative fuel sources. It could be used to supply grants to Universities to develop Hydrogen fuel engines.I would want assurance that all of the money collected went only to this end and very heavy prison time to any one diverting even one dollar of this to line their pockets. I would expect that any barriers by Congress would be eliminated and any and all elected officials or civil servants would be held highly accountable. I am tired of the protection given to the Oil Industry and OPEC by The White House and The Congress. It is high time they start to watch out for the best interest of The American Citizen. Alan R. Stark Michigan