Why aren't oil companies considered a public utility and subject to profit regulation?
Answers:
They can be charged under the Federal anti-price gouging laws. Some have.
I believe it is because they do not provide a public service. They basically are wholesalers of their products.
Because that would be socialism and that doesn't work. Just look at the countries that are set up this way. They pay WAY more for gasoline than we do. Compatition helps drive down price. Government oil means no competition and high wages for an unskilled/unmotivated workforce a disasterious combonation.
They are in Venuzulea since Chavez took them over. If you like that idea, try living there.
To quote another person who answered, because that's socalism (sp?). As it is, the oil industry is one of the most tightly regluated industries in the USA. Primarly because poltictions like to make 'big oil' into an enemy, like wal-mart and most fortune 500 companies. Heck it's so tighly regluated that no new oil platforms have been built in the Gulf of Mexico for DECADES. Not because physically building them wouldn't be worth the invesment, but because it would not be worth the company (miltary size) of lawyers they would have to hire for 5+ years to go through all the red tape getting it legalized. Do you remember all the hassle that the Alaska pipe-line went through?
Fact is, if you look into the price of gasoline at the pump and trace what makes up that price, something like over 40% of the price is government padding. Taxes, seller's license, government safety inspectors, making state specfic blends of gas, etc.
Heheh, and just as a side note here, with all the worry about the pipeline blocking moose migrations, its actually extended the mating season of moose. Apprently the heat from the pipe-line is making the land more habitable for moose, and more moose calfs are born.
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