Originally Posted by maxxm
No, not at all. But a limit on the inventive excuses and mendacious misrepresentations of the oil industry would be refreshing for a change. I understand that the First Amendment protects liars (Enron and Countrywide and the tobacco companies come to mind), but a dose of brutal honesty the next time these greedy corporations complain about their business environment would serve a salient and sanitizing purpose. The endless dissembling practiced by oil company executives invites precisely the kind of over-reaction that you question. Wise businesses understand that, but these dinosaurs have done it for so long that they've concluded they're immune. People and companies whose partners are Hugo Chavez, Vladimir Putin, the Saudi oil sheiks and the Iranian mullahs, though, might want to be a little more careful about picking the pockets of the American public. Two straight years of all-time record profits when the rest of the country is facing a probable recession is not a recipe for increasing public faith in the veracity of the groans, gripes and grumblings of the oil industry.
so you're ok if they do what you consider to be price gouging as long as they say that's what they're doing?