Oil Company Profits

[sraun]

At what point do profits become excessive? We have laws against usurious interest rates - does this mean that there is a point at which private profit becomes a public hazard? If so, where is it?

(Prompted by Bush optimistic about fuel supply, which would lower my opinion of the man if it were possible.)

Comments

[jbru.livejournal.com]

I think the point where they become excessive is where they begin to hurt the rest of the economy. If, for example, businesses are going bankrupt because they can't pay their heating bills, something's desperately wrong. Mind you, I think it's bad, but not necessarily excessive if individuals have to choose between heat and food.

One thing I think we should be looking at is how much of the profit oil companies make comes from outside the U.S. If they are making big profits by importing oil and selling it to us, lawmakers should look at the implications of that.

[ndrosen.livejournal.com]

I've put up my thoughts on oil company profits on my LiveJournal.