If gas went to $100 gallon, would congress do anything?

Thats a question I have for any member of congress, from any party.

If gas went to $100 a gallon, and the oil companies were making massive, earth shattering profits... would congress do anything about it?

If so ....

What would congress do??


Just asking

Kelley

The more the oil companies rip us off for, the more money they have to buy Congress.

n/t

That's my guess.

edit ambiguous pronoun

If gasoline prices rose to that level because input prices rose that far through normal causes, not much could be said.

Oil companies make unbelievable profits now through the sale of a good with high global demand. As investors hide their money from the falling dollar in oil, it increases the demand beyond that of those who buy it to refine into gasoline.

What would Congress do to British Petroleum, or Yukos, or Petrobras, or any of the other major oil companies in the world that don't have their HQ here in the USA?

Bottom line, the only solution is to stop using the stuff. I'm looking forward to watching what happens to oil prices when the first electric or PHEV vehicles really go mass market. It will be a blip at first, but it will affect demand eventually.

If gasoline got to $100, demand would fall so sharply that sales would stop. For gasoline resellers to stay in business, they would have to reduce the price to the point that people will purchase it. However, if their cost to buy the refined gasoline to sell to you is $99/gallon, guess what. They're not going to sell at a loss.

The only thing that this would cause is a bunch of idiots here in the States to start clamoring for us to drill up every drop we can find here. Considering the MASSIVE investment it takes to locate, build and light up an oil production site, it's not happening.

Actually, you asked what Congress would do. They would give money to an oil company to drill in Alaska, they would give money to another company to build a refinery in a poor neighborhood "to create jobs."

that's what they'd do.

I do concur.

Seriously. The price of oil is being set in world markets over which Congress has no control and little if any influence. The could set higher CAFE standards, but the higher price of gas is already creating huge demand for cars that offer better gas mileage (and to think people were saying I was foolish to pay $3K more for a Civic Hybrid than a standard in Civic in 2003--they argued that the price differential wouldn't be worth the better gas mileage unless gas exceeded $2/gallon). They could offer more subsidies to oil and gas exploration firms to find more "juice" but I wouldn't support that measure. They could waive the federal gasoline tax, saving @ 18.4 cents/gallon, after which the oil companies could increase the price by the same amount and significantly fewer dollars would be going into the highway fund to repair our public highway infrastructure (which is badly in need of repair). Finally, they could come up with better incentives to promote alternative energy technologies, but there's already lots of that going on and it will take quite a bit of time before these technologies make much of an impact.

The best thing we can do is recognize Congress cannot help much with the current problem; it's up to us to buy smaller, more fuel efficient cars, carpool, telecommute, use public transportation, and support alternative energy technologies.

I may be wrong on this, but I've heard a lot of discussion in the media about the impact of the declining dollar in the rise of oil prices. The dollar just buys less and less in the international market, including oil. If the shrinking value of the dollar has played a role, even a minor one in the rising price of oil, isn't there some policy that the U.S. government could put in place to prop up the dollar's value, such as raising interest rates and balancing the budget?

So the answer to your question is that the decline of the dollar does indeed have a lot to do with the price of gasoline.

Congress can't raise interest rates, at least not directly; I'd support raising taxes and cutting spending in a responsible fashion, but those two actions taken together are political dynamite for most US congressmen and women. In addition, while gas prices may not have risen in Europe as much as they have in the U.S., prices in Europe were already much higher than they were here.

If gas prices are increasing by huge margins, and oil profits are also increasing by huge margins

You are being price gouged. Duh!

Investigate it, make the oil executives testify under oath, and take appropriate action. If its clear they are robbing Americans blind then prosecute and put them in prison.

If the oil companies continue to rob Americans blind (and they will) then nationalize and regulate the entire US oil industry.

If that isnt possible (they would fight tooth and nail to keep robbing you).. then tax all windfalls... that would take the incentive and profit out of any price gouging and robbing Americans of their money.

That would put an end to it.

Many many times. Look it up.

there would be no congress.

and you would be happy you purchased those guns and that ammo...

If it happened in the course of a few years the global and national economy would pretty much die. The only economies would be local unless you were just plain rich enough to move yourself or something from one place to another.

if gas goes from $4 to $100?

heh. there won't be discussions, or investigations, or congressional anything...

just dog-eat-dog chaos.

so the op's question has a very simple answer...

If so, I've been thinking the same thing. Fuel prices have an increasingly large number of people becoming desperate, and $20 a gallon seems unthinkable, but is it? Is somebody really come and save the day before our lives are dramatically changed for the worse?

I think oil is around $120 a barrel, and lately almost everyone who listens to the news at all has heard some predictions of $200/barrel before too long. One thing I think is certain. If they're talking about now, it WILL happen, and oil will cost $200 a barrel. That sounds unbearable enough to me, but are we then going to hear talk of 3, 4, $500 a barrel? Boy, I really just don't know anymore. I'm 57 and I've never felt this genuinely concerned about the future before. It's really a mess and none of the politicians have been saying much that really inspires me that they're going to save the day.

Not too awful long ago your question would've been dismissed as preposterous. Now it's a question we all ought to be asking.

?

There'd be a breakdown in supplies and services as farmers couldn't afford the fuel and fertilizers for their fields, truckers couldn't afford to move what produce there is to market and little else of the economy would be functional.

I could see us dealing with a huge black market and barter society...people doing what they needed to to survive. The government would be short-circuited as people would do whatever it took to get what they needed and resisted those who tried to stop 'em.

If the price shot that high, it meant the government couldn't do anything...and the price would signal a total collapse of the dollar. If gas costs $100 a gallon...milk wouldn't be too far behind.

They would all jump up in the air shouting "YaaaaY!! YAaay! YAAAY!!"

then work towards doubling it.

The country would have imploded into civil war long before that.

SUVs