There's always a silver lining...

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Obama's New "57 State Patriotic Pin":




Sayeth John Drake - 10/13/08: "OK, you're right, I admit to LYING"

Why shouldn't a company be able to generate a profit?

If the heating oil buying public is paying that $3.00 increase, then it's not unsupported. It's supported by people who the fact that there are people willing to pay it...

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Obama's New "57 State Patriotic Pin":




Sayeth John Drake - 10/13/08: "OK, you're right, I admit to LYING"

That's not how it works, there is basically one process that the crude goes through, and the various products are taken from the different stages of a multi-stage distillation column. But there is no difference in cost for the various products, you put a barrel of oil in and you get so much of each product, you can't make one product without producing the whole spectrum of products.

The problem with petroleum is that there is no real free market in oil.
90% of the production is controlled by governments, and the refining, distribution and sales are controlled by a small number of firms who collude to produce monopoly profits.
All the free market blather you hear about oil and gas is just to provide cover for the politicians who allow these cartels to extract monopoly profits from the public.

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“ The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state.”

Adam Smith , The Wealth of Nations 1776

"We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics"
FDR's second Inaugural Address

You must have winced today when crude futures topped $100.