i could not find the thread on which you discussed excess profits. this is me answer.
one of the reasons we have public utility commissions is to protect the consumer from price gouging.
enron figured a way around it.
if the PUC was not there, every producer of gas for the home and oil for the home and the phones, we use, would go after everyone's money. that's the american way. the PUC, as easily as it rolls over, is still better then nothing.
the sherman antitrust act (http://1tiny.com/3K9) was written, before the current almost total corruption of the congress and the senate. it was written by politicians interested in doing good for the country, the country meaning people, not businesses like the pharmacutical companies.
was the oil companies price gouging ethical, no. was it good business? it depends on how you feel about raising the price of something every one NEEDS, on some pretext, when there is no reason to, may be good business, but so is robbing houses in the middle of the day, when no one is there, if your career choice is thief. (which was one of james caan's better movies.)
the pretext the oil companies used was the "shortage of and or the price of oil." the evidence that it was a sham is the profit. if the cost of oil affected the price of gas, where oh where did all that extra profit come from if the price of oil affected the price at the pump? a dollar from you, a quarter from me, a nickle from someone else, all adds up. it helps if you control the market with no oversite by our elected officials.
when the oil executives disdained from appearing before congress, why didn't they use the power of the subpoena and drag their asses in. corporations exis at the will of the peoples representatives. they can be desolved and the assets sold off if the board that issued the articles of incorporation is dissatisfied with the way the corporation uses the gift from the state.
the real shame of it is the acceptance of the public.
during the 1970 "crisis", people were saying, "ok, raise the price to a dollar and turn on the pumps."
this time it went over three dollars with a lot of sighing, a lot of what can we do, and an acceptance of what was happening.
we built a country to protect us all from government abuse. we have come too far away from boston harbor.
Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the consent of the governed.
instead of just focusing on the 2nd amendment,
i suggest a complete rereading of the declaration of independence and the constitution. you will find we have become a different nation then the one the constitution prescribed.
incidently whenever the word militia is used it talks about government militia, soldiers, not hunters
with bazookas and machine guns.
did you know this is in the constitution:
The Congress shall have Power
To declare War and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
The privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended
no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince or foreign State.
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed,
they could not spell either, they spelled it "chusing."
sounds kind of suspect to me. maybe socialistic.
but someone should read it to the president, because he is violating the constitution at his pleasure.
