If the current oil giants were to lower their profit margins, (which they have a lot of room to do), I couldn't say things like I've been saying.  They know and admit to an oil pinch.  Supply and demand.  They know they can, in a Free Market, demand higher prices at the pumps.  They also know we will B***h about it.  But we will pay.  It used to be companies reacted to a lot of B***hing and lowered their margins in a competitive effort to stay the "Good Guy" and win the largest shares of consumerism.  I'm not seeing that much anymore.  In a lot of companies.  Oil or otherwise.  "You will pay what we charge or you don't get none!"  That is one of the changes I'm sensing.  Have you seen the meal menu's at Burger King lately?  And that ain't just about oil.  I can get a large pizza for the same price of 1 sandwich, a drink (medium), and a (medium) order of fries.  I can get twice the burger meal down the street at the "Mom and POP" place.  Their fuel prices effect their profits just as much as Burger Kings does.  It's profit taking. It won't stop till we stop supplying the profits.  That is our only control mechanism.  But it could get as bad as prophecy suggest.  You will not be able to by or sell without a number. One that you are branded with.  The number of the beast.  I'm not trying to sway this conversation into the religious, Nostradomous, arena.  But to those who have wisdom.....    

Tosk (6/24/2008)

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New Century Financial Corporation ... ENRON ... why do people keep buying into these "to good to be true scams"? ah yes, human Greed ... the something for nothing dream ... a fallacy that does not exist ... someone has to pay, someone always pays ... and by far and away it is the one who did not do their homework before taking the to good to be true offer.

Being tracked?? Yep 99% or more are ... but you know that it is not illegal to create a alternate identity ... as long as it is not used to defraud ... lets see, people I know that are hooked to the WWW through TaosNet, Donald Rumsfeld, Julia Roberts, Lynn Anderson, to name a few ... could Tosk really be one of them with an alternate identity? Nahhhh.
But you do not have to be tracked ... Jap will stop it cold, there are also other ways, reporting false information to sniffers, manually closing all ports except the one you are using, the list is long.

Please send me the list of Anti-tracking!  My E-mail is posted in my profile.  I'm very interested in denying access too me by those not honest enough to just ask.  Hell, I'll tell 'em what I do and prefer.  But I don't want or like someone putting there hands in my pockets without my okay!  (Well maybe the cute girl in the pub:cool  Thanks Tosk. Or Brad Pitt?

The quote was neccesary!  And it in no way changes or influences the direction of discussion here.  Besides it's my rule and I can break it if I want to.  (Tho I did allow quoting to carry forward a point.  Hoping it isn't over used.  Just not outside quoting.)

Black Owl, I do not want to give the impression that I think business should be allowed to run wild.  Without some government control, there cannot be a free market either.  You'd have something more akin to the Black Market with companies using intimidation techniques against other ones.  There is a line where I think government control goes too far.  Perhaps that line is where we differ.  There is some difficulty in a world market when you have many different countries with many different ideas of what this global market should be.  You can set up HQ in the country which is the most accomodating.  This is competition on a national scale I suppose.  I don't know what kind of a solution we'd need for that.

I am gratified that you understand my point.  And I never assumed in any of your statements that you would purpose Big Business without controls in place.  I'm only concerned that Governmental controls may not be enough one day, or even Free Market ideals.  Big Business is begining to not so much look for holes in those controls, but to go around those controls completely by moving HQ.  Even to the point of HQ's existing only in Cyberspace.

Indeed, how do we control that?  A worrisome thing in my opinion.

ADDIT:  It may be helpful to keep in mind that Big Business is not just about profit.  But the power that comes with profit.