BP oil is spending billions to clean up the oil spill. How long will it take for them to start charging us for their efforts?

The began charging us about a decade ago !!
I don’t think they can raise gas prices much more as it is back to $3 a gallon in most of the country which it’s pretty much the limit of what most people can afford !
They would love to raise their prices to $5 per gallon but they would end up getting strung up !

* I believe they will have to build a expansion wing in Hell to house BP executives !!

They should use Bounty! It’s the quicker picker upper!

Since there is a bit of competition (not as much as I would like) in the market prices probably won’t fluctuate much. Most of the cost of the clean-up will come from profits. And BP has a ton of profit.

But in the long-run this is going to raise prices since there will (and should) be tighter regulations on off-shore drilling and that will be over the entire industry.

@Pretty_Lilly I just paid 3.18 on an Illinois toll road, so your $3.00 estimate is off a little. I think a higher price for gas is appropiate but the money should be in taxes, and not paid to the oil companies. Anything that would encourage the use of real electric cars is a good thing.
My wife only uses her car to go back and forth to work (about a 6 mile round trip). We would never have to fill up a hybrid that could do 20 miles on a battery.

I unfortunately drive at least 3000 miles a month for business. Airports suck and I can drive to a customer’s site faster than fly. I would take a train but they are few and far between.

That plan is already in motion.

I saw gas go to $4.50 not too long time ago and there was no uprising.
People just complained more at the pump.
Why wouldn’t unethical petrol execs charge us more if we just keep buying whatever they’re selling?

@Captain_Fantasy unfortunately, you are right. Isn’t it funny that Halliburton is a major player in the oil rig business?

Not surprising.
I want to believe in the good of people but lately, I’m just not seeing it and seeing a whole lot of the opposite.
Kinda disillusioned over here.

@Captain_Fantasy ” want to believe in the good of people ” I know what you mean but I think most people are good or at least well meaning. I have found people at this site to be kind and mostly polite (I expect that some of that is due to the moderators). It seems that the meanest and most callous are at the highest levels of government and industry. You have to ask yourself why. I submit that they are a result of the “me generation” . They were taught that greed is good, capitalism is self correcting, government is bad, and rules are made to be broken. I admit that I thought this way on occasion. My breakthrough came when Reagen was elected and proceeded to support terrorists in South America, vastly increase military spending, and eviscerate the government.

There are millions of people in THIS country that think he was one of the greatest presidents.

I did two things to correct my attitude, I stopped going to church and quit the Republican party. All of a sudden I saw that we are a country with social obligation to our fellow citizens and no one organization had the sole responsibility for mandating what was good and evil.

@Ron_C
Ronny supported terrorists in South America ? That’s a new one !
Who was that ? Osama Bin Juan !?

@Pretty_Lilly how soon we forget. Don’t your remember the Contra’s. There was also Iran gate where he sold arms to Iran to pay for operations down south. Don’t you remember his fixer, Oliver North the traitor?

@Ron_C
All kidding aside,I guess we have a different definition of Terrorist !
As far as the US,,,,,the government has always supported evil doers !! What else is new !
I cannot recall his name nor do I have the interest to look it up but I remember years ago there was a dictator in a small country in Africa,,the good ol’ US of A ,,helped him get in power,made him a very wealthy man and he ended up destroying the country !!
I recall he was a tiny nerdy looking man,he had a custom made statue of himself made of gold paid with US money!!!

@Pretty_Lilly we have a long history of that. Our CIA was instrumental in overthrowing the democratically elected president of Iran and installed the Shah of Iran. We also trained his secret police. Is it any wonder that the people of Iran don’t trust or like us?

Oil companies do not need a reason to increase the cost of petroleum products, especailly gasoline. they have it, we need it and they know it.

3… 2… 1… Bam. It started already.
Heating oil futures

Frankly, & I know this isnt very British of me, but I think the US government should effect a compulsary purchase of BP, force the company to pay for the entirety of the clean up, & if there’s nothing left…. asset strip the firm. Let companies like this know that allowing this sort of thing to happen in the future is unacceptable.

They charge all along for such cleanups. They either self-insure or pay for disaster policies with commercial insurers. Raising prices after a spill is just an excuse for profiteering.

@JeffVader Are you obama under that helmet? What else should be done?

@Tomfafa @JeffVader I don’t have a problem with BP running and paying for the show as long as the Obama administration holds its feet to the fire. I don;t want then getting off, like Exxon when the job is half finished. I frankly don’t care if the corporation goes bankrupt. It must use all of its assets to clean up this disaster. It will also make other oil drillers more likely to use the proper safety apparatus.

@Tomfafa Hehe, Im not quite that skinny!

I think the US government should be in charge of and do all the clean-up, hiring only folks from the communities affected, and charge BP for every penny of the cost. Sadly though, I am fairly certain that multiple corporations such as Haliburton and the likes, will somehow profit from the clean-up. I cannot bear to see that kind of gain and profit from something like this…again. One stock goes down, another stock goes up, but those who are truly affected will no doubt suffer…again.

@forestGeek That sounds like a good plan except for the fact that previous administrations seceeded regulation and technology to the oil companies. There is much blame to go arround starting, at least with Reagan all the way up to Obama.