Supply and demand don’t explain high oil, gas prices

Supply and demand don’t explain high oil, gas prices

EDITOR:

Recently on CNN I watched a news program where some supposedly well informed businessmen were discussing the reasons for the price of gasoline nearing $4 gallon. Once again they were espousing the theory that supply and demand drove the price of oil to where it is today. If that is truly the case then I need some things explained to me. The demand for gasoline in the United States has gone down more than 2 percent in the past three months. President Bush asked Saudi Arabia to produce more oil, but they refused because they said the demand is not there. I think based on this news that you would expect the price of oil to drop, but is that the case? No. The price of oil has gone up about 25 percent in three months.

The facts in the matter are that oil is a monopoly and the providers can charge whatever they want. I truly believe that the CEOs of the large energy companies meet somewhere each Saturday morning and discuss how much they think they can safely increase the price of gasoline in the coming week. I think each week they decide to increase the price by 10 cents on Monday or Tuesday and if the outcry is not too much they increase it another 5 cents on Thursday or Friday. There is very little you and I can do about this because our government doesn’t care and our vehicles (for the most part) will not run on anything but gasoline.

I have a feeling that we are on the verge of losing a couple of our major airlines in the United States. I don’t see how they can continue to operate when the cost of fuel eats up all the revenue, leaving nothing for the rest of the airline expenses. We are already seeing the result of the ridiculously high costs for diesel fuel in the trucking industry. Just take a look at the price of groceries and how they have increased in the past couple of years. Fruits and vegetables are now so costly that many consumers cannot afford to buy them. Our economy faces a severe downturn if something is not done to curb the energy companies soon.

GEORGE GRIM

Boardman

GM shows trust in Valley

EDITOR:

General Motors is putting its trust in our Valley to produce its new compact car profitability. Hopefully, our Valley will reward that trust by buying General Motors products. The G.M. logo should proudly adorn the vehicles purchased by local government agencies, by business fleets, and by the citizens who are employed because G.M. Lordstown has invested in our community.

Thank you to Herman Maass, Rick Wagoner, Al Ali, Jim Graham and all those who are responsible for insuring a future for G.M. Lordstown and, ultimately, for our Valley.

CHARLEEN C.L MALONE

Poland

Economy is going down fast, and there are lots of reasons

EDITOR:

Let’s consider the U.S. economy for a moment. It’s going down fast. But this didn’t happen overnight.

A multitude of reasons stretch back decades, and the country has only itself to blame for today’s problems. When Ronald Reagan fired the air traffic controllers it became the death knell for unions in this country. It’s no secret that union workers made higher wages than their nonunion fellow workers. Slowly but surely unions began a decline that they are still in today.

Since consumer spending drives the American economy there was less money to spend. Then came all the free trade agreements our presidents agreed to and our Congress ratified. Our jobs began going overseas at an alarming rate that is still happening. The promise of jobs for Americans because of increased demand for American products by people in these free trade countries has simply not come to be.

So the American jobs continue to go overseas and wages are driven down in this country. The dollar has been weakened to the point that many other currencies are now worth more than the U.S. dollar. Since oil was bought and sold in American dollars the price of oil has skyrocketed further, weakening the dollar on the world market. Americans pay more for gasoline and no longer have extra money to spend on consumer goods and consumer spending drives the American economy.

Couple the skyrocketing national debt with a war whose funding is treated as an emergency expenditure that hasn’t shown up as a debt item yet and it’s no wonder the United States is in the shape it’s in. The American people are not faultless in this whole debacle either. We just couldn’t buy an American car. We rushed to “The China Store” (Wal-Mart) to buy the cheaply priced and cheaply made Chinese goods.

Now the Chinese are using their power they’ve gained economically as a weapon against us, using the very dollars we’ve spent on their products.

Osama Bin Laden once said “the way to bring the United States to its knees is not militarily but economically”. It appears he was correct.

TOM HALL

Lisbon

Trip to D.C. an eye-opener

EDITOR:

I was privileged to be asked to travel to Washington, D.C., to sit in on hearings before the ITC (International Trade Commission). Along with a busload of 50, I had the opportunity to see how these committees work. They were hearing arguments on both sides, on China’s dumping of their pipe and tube products. After hearing all of the senators and representatives speak on behalf of the pipe and tube companies and company presidents like Bill Kerins of Wheatland Tube Co., there is no doubt that the pipe and tube industry proved its case.

A decision will be handed down on June 20 and hopefully it will be the right one. I worked at Wheatland Tube Co. for 38 years and watched as the Sharon Plant went under the wrecking ball due to cheap Chinese imports. The workers in all of the Wheatland Tube plants (Wheatland, Warren, etc.) can’t sit back and say that that can’t happen to me, get involved. Vote for people like Tim Ryan and Charlie Wilson, and definitely “don’t” vote for a guy named John McCain because he would continue the policies of G.W. Bush, and you see where that has got us.

BUD McKELVEY

Hermitage

East meets Rayen and Wilson

EDITOR:

I had the privilege to attend the East High School “A Spring Celebration Of Music And Song” May 22, and the performance was spectacular. This event was not well attended. Parents, family and friends, where were you?

Congratulations to the choir director, the orchestra director, the band director and last, but not least, all the students who participated.

Also, there was a great showing of art work — job well done. Hats off to this school, which is a combination of students from East, Rayen and Wilson high schools.

Even though most of us do not have children or family in the city schools, let us not forget our roots.

Parents, we need your support in a positive way to work with us and then and only then can we help our children become all that they can become.

Remember, we can’t pick and choose. Our city school system truly has an awesome task.

MARILYN PARKMAN WRIGHT

The Rayen School, Class of ’51

Youngstown

A Titanic success

EDITOR:

“Titanic” was absolutely the best play that the Playhouse has done. The orchestration, the singing, the costumes, the lighting, the staging and the directing — all excellent. I had goose-bumps and tears throughout the show.

This could compare with any Broadway show. It’s wonderful to see all the great talent that we have in this area.

PAT OLSON

Youngstown