Originally Posted by foundit66

Your first sentence ignores something incredibly unequal about the second sentence.

All men may be CREATED equal, but a 30% tax to a guy who makes $20,000 has a clearly unequal impact than on a 30% tax to a guy who makes $200,000, or $2,000,000.

Originally Posted by cnredd

It's still unequal representation through taxation...

Originally Posted by foundit66

"competition"?
Take your competition and show it to the gasoline price industry.

Or to HMOs ...

"Competition" works when people are competing to please the customer.
In today's economy, the fight is more to please the stock-holder

Originally Posted by foundit66

Your first sentence ignores something incredibly unequal about the second sentence.

All men may be CREATED equal, but a 30% tax to a guy who makes $20,000 has a clearly unequal impact than on a 30% tax to a guy who makes $200,000, or $2,000,000.

Originally Posted by Adept1

The gasoline prices have been jacked up by the middle east and other major suppliers and if the conflicts are ever settled and it stops actually costing so much to "get" the oil from that region the prices will fall back to a somewhat normal level.

Originally Posted by Adept1

You cannot deny that it is more the fault of the fact that 60% of our oil comes from foreign sources is the reason for the costs being so high.

Originally Posted by Adept1

The laws of competition are absolute. They cannot be refuted.

Originally Posted by Adept1

They can however be totally interfered with by politicians and lawyers. If you can make the rules you can do anything you want with prices. Example......cigarettes are more than $5 a pack in NYC. Do the tobacco companies make all that profit? Don't the people of NY buy their cigarettes on the "black market" at a lower price whenever they can? Black markets are a direct result of government interference with the free market. Soon we will be getting our best healthcare from the black market.

Originally Posted by teacher

Are you saying...?

Originally Posted by foundit66

And the sheeple keep on repeating the lies of the big business.
I remember when I lived in San Diego, every once in a while there would be an "investigation" into price gouging.
And then miraculously, the gas prices would drop quickly.
And when the news went away, gas prices went back up. Everywhere. Between companies that were not "related" to each other...
So you actually believe that the rest of the world has NO INFLUENCE on oil prices?......and which investigation found the illegal acts? It has been my experience that the laws of SUPPLY AND DEMAND are irrefutable except with government interference. Hugo sells oil in his country quite cheap so why does he sell it to us at a high rate.
"jacked up by the middle east"?
As the U.S. oil companies report record numbers as gas prices climb?
Give me a freakin' break.those records are at NO HIGHER % than before. They are the result of higher prices and more costs(oil is not cheap to them either).

Last summer when oil traded at a record high near $79 a barrel, gas at the pump went for about $3.03 a gallon. Today, crude's about $65 a barrel and a gallon of regular unleaded costs $3.10
Doesn't seem right, does it? The price of a barrel of crude ought to be a better benchmark for what you pay at the gas pump.

Gas: The price-per-barrel disconnect - May. 16, 2007check the current prices. Try comparing the cost of milk it has skyrocketed lately and the cows don't make any more money than they ever did.




The logical fact that it has ALWAYS BEEN THAT WAY clearly negates such a pretense that the 60% causes our oil prices to go up.
The true FACT that IT HAS NEVER BEEN THAT WAY is much more logical. We have NEVER imported a greater percentage of our oil. So the imported oil has a greater reflection in the cost of gasoline.


And yet, they have been, because you fail to recognize that the "competition" isn't just for the "consumer".
There is also competition for the investor.
Competition for company profits.
Yup...I believe they call that Capitalism perhaps you should make an investment.


Who the heck said anything about "black market"?
Stay on topic, or there is no point in talking to you...

It was exactly ON TOPIC.....I was demonstrating that especially in America that if it can be done cheaper and easier and someone make a profit on it then YOU CAN'T STOP IT because someone will.

No.

Originally Posted by foundit66

The United States' second-richest man has delivered a blunt message to the Bush administration: he wants to pay more tax.
Warren Buffett, the famous investor known as the "Sage of Omaha", has complained that he pays a lower rate of tax than any of his staff - including his receptionist. Mr Buffett, who is worth an estimated $52bn (£25bn), said: "The taxation system has tilted towards the rich and away from the middle class in the last 10 years. It's dramatic; I don't think it's appreciated and I think it should be addressed."

During an interview with NBC television, Mr Buffett brandished an informal survey of 15 of his 18 office staff at his Berkshire Hathaway empire. The billionaire said he was paying 17.7% payroll and income tax, compared with an average in the office of 32.9%.

"There wasn't anyone in the office, from the receptionist up, who paid as low a tax rate and I have no tax planning; I don't have an accountant or use tax shelters. I just follow what the US Congress tells me to do," he said.

Mr Buffett also took a pot shot at hedge fund managers. He said: "Hedge fund operators have spent a record amount lobbying in the last few months - they give money to the political campaigns. Who represents the cleaning lady?"

His intervention comes amid an increasingly rancorous debate on Capitol Hill about tax. Shortly after taking office, President Bush pushed through $2 trillion in temporary tax cuts, including sharp reductions for high-earners. These expire at the end of 2010 and the White House wants to renew them.

A leading Democrat, the Harlem congressman Charlie Rangel, published alternative plans this week that would impose a 4% surcharge on people earning more than $200,000 a year, while delivering tax relief to 90 million working families.
I should pay more tax, says US billionaire Warren Buffett | Business | The Guardian