[Fredslist] Op Ed - Riverdale Review - May 3, 2005 by Howard Goldfluss, NYS Supreme Court Justice, retired

[Cynthia Brown]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Cynthia Brown 
To: fredslist at gothamnetworking.com 
Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2005 5:37 PM
Subject: Riverdale Review - May 3, 2005 by Howard Goldfluss, NYS Supreme Court Justice, retired


Dear Gothamnites,

This e-mail is being sent to you from fellow Gothannmite, Judge Howard Goldfluss

Ripped Off At The Pump - Riverdale Review - May 3, 2005
    by Howard Goldfluss, NYS Supreme Court Justice, retired

The figures don't add up.  The price of a barrel of oil, which has gone as high as $58.00 a barrel, has leveled off to about $50.00.  Oil futures are lower.  Of course, these figures change daily, but they have been lowered.  Why then do we see an increase at the pump?

Don't blame the station owners.  They have to make a profit or they close, and their prices reflect the basic cost that the oil companies fix.  Did I say fix?  A Freudian slip perhaps, but not an original thought.  John Crudele, the respected New York Post financial writer, make no bones about it in a recent column.  He write that the oil companies "that supply this car crazed country are the highway robbers of corporate America - they are sucking us dry".

These alegations are serious enough to be looked into.  First of all, as Crudele point out, the mergers of the titans stifles competition, and with a wink or a nod, nothing needs to be said to solidify the price of a gallon of gas for any particular day.

Do you remember when Exxon and Mobil were competing companies?  They have merged.  Do you remember when Chervon and Texaco were separate companies?   They have merged.  The same with Conoco-Phillips.  And more are veering toward the merger track.  It is not too much of a stretch to perceive that as competition is reduced, the gas pump prices that you and I pay can be anything they want it to be.

The smell that emanates from the oil companies is usually petroleum, but this odor relates to the possible price fixing practices, which upset the government so badly years ago that it ordered an end to the AT&T monopoly.  Almost immediately competing companies emerged, and the cost of telephone service to the average consumer was reduced.

It is troublesome that when it comes to oil, this government allows the oil industry to pursue mergers, which can only stifle competition.

In his recent prss conference, President George Bush detailed hi energy plans.  Building refineries on military reservations and seeking new sources to modify our dependency on oil from foreign sources is all well and good, but his proposals will have no affect on the economic problems we are facing now.  Americans Airlines recently announced that although their sales rose 5.3 percent,  470 million, resulting in an annual loss of 184 million, increased from 124 million a year earlier.  It is safe to assume that the airline industry is not the only one feeling this pinch.  Uncontrolled, the price of oil could do more than just increase losses.  Businesses dependant on oil, without the reserve of the airline industry, just won't make it.

This bears repetition.  Oil was $50 a barrel on February 18.  At that time, the average cost at the pump was $1.891 a gallon.  The barrel cost is back to approximately the same $50, but the cost has risen to an average of $2.251 a gallon.   Most of us here in the East are paying more.

Crudele calls the oil companies bloodsuckers.  They undoubtedly will protest that they are pure as the driven snow, and in no way conspire to fix prices.  The only way to resolve this is for the Justice Department to intiate an investigation into the possibility of price fixing, and Congress to hold hearings to make the same determination.  If nothing else, such actions would dispel the nagging thought that government and the oil copanies are in business together.      

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