NationStates Jolt Archive

Description: In the interest of every citizen of every nation no matter the income of that individual or family, we hereby wish to enact a petroleum gas price cap.

Realizing that Petroleum companies are making record profits at the expense of average citizens.

The cap would only allow petroleum companies to make a 50 cent profit on every barrel of petroleum. This hereby will lower gas prices.

Economies will be better off if this cap is enacted due to the fact that products will be cheaper and consumers will have more money to spend on other goods and services.

Considering that gas prices aren't necessarily set by the company but rather by market value (as in, what are buyers willing to pay for these products), and this is determined by a simple supply and demand curve, and that demand is increasing at an obscene rate, and that we really need to cut demand as supply is limited, and that forcing the prices down will only lead to a shortage of fuel and that (in RL) supplies have been temporarily limited thanks to the double whammy in the oil production industry.....

From a logical, economical and logistical point of view, no

This is before my personal beliefs about fuel prices come into play.

I agree with Forgottenlands. And will add these comments. What size are the barrels? I mean nobody currently says barrels are XX size. So maybe to make more profits they'll just start shipping out 8oz barrels at .0002 cents to produce and a profit of 49.9999 cents they'll make out like buttah. Also, they may just close down production after doing R&D in other things and then what are you going to do with that good ole' gas using car when the companies have no incentive to drill for crude oil and refine it?

demands for gasoline do effect eh price...but gas companies are making record profits in a time when lowering their prices will allow economies of nations to grow and rebuild.

One gas company made a record profit of $10 billion. Its rediculous, this price gauging should be stopped.

demands for gasoline do effect eh price...but gas companies are making record profits in a time when lowering their prices will allow economies of nations to grow and rebuild.

One gas company made a record profit of $10 billion. Its rediculous, this price gauging should be stopped.

*sighs*

Ask yourself, why does supply and demand effect price?

If supply stays static while demand increases, a competition starts between those that want the oil. Everyone is desperate for those barrels of oil. As such, since the companies can sell the gas for more, they do. This isn't cheap or unfair, its simply that they would be out of stock if they sold it for a certain, lower price. All of a sudden, they don't have ANY barrels of oil, they just sold the last one for about half of the value to their customers

If this price increases, those that can afford the increase will stay in the bidding. Those that can't will drop out, artificially lowering the demand and levelling it out so that the demand does not exceed the supply. With oil and gas, the consumer that normally drops their demand is the average citizen. People consider a lot more heavily about the amount of gas they purchase when prices go up. Different people have different limits based upon the cars they drive. It also hits various other areas where we in the industrialized societies are way too comfortable with (heating and AC are not supplied to third world nations).

If you have the situation you see in the US where the oil production sector gets hit, the supply drops while the demand is static (it actually is increasing slightly). As such, oil prices increase since the demand has to be artificially lowered even more than it was before.

OPEC continually increases supplies for oil. They do this because the demand for oil continues to grow. Something to remember.

Another thing to note is that the prices are regulated at an international level. You, of course, always have access to see these prices, and these are the numbers you hear about in the news when they talk about record highs on oil and gas prices (because they aren't talking about the pumps). These numbers work by determining global supply and demand.

I don't care whether the oil company is making record profits or not. I blame the consumer for being so bloody oil hungry. If I was dictator of the world, the gasoline prices would be held at a minimum of $5/litre (~$20/galleon), and the extra money would be funnelled into research programs specifically oriented towards alternative energy and/or climate change. But I'm not so I'm just going to argue against forcing gas prices down because people are sick of paying so much of the oil companies price-gouging - both of which I would, as I said before, blame on the consumer long before I'd blame the oil company.