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.
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 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.
