Quote:
Originally Posted by devilsknight
Way to go CAW !
Rant over...
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OPEC is actually an oligopoly, not a monopoly (if we want to get technical here). It's not just also about increasing total barrel production that's at play as well; politics also affects how the price of oil is driven as well. When two of your top three OPEC oil producers are composed of Iran and Venezuela, politics also plays into it. Venezuela's expropriation of foreign oil company assets(in Venezuela) didn't exactly help reduce the speculation on the price of oil.
I'm not sure which companies you're alluding too, but the Canadian oil industry raked in about 7.3 billion as at May2008; that is more a result of them importing the oil down to the US than making it at the pumps. While those stickers aren't the most accurate, they're pretty close; feds take an excise rate of about 10 cents/litre, provinces vary but average around 15 cents/litre, then the GST that's there plus places like Victoria, Vancouver and Montreal get additional surtaxes at the provincial level. Now you'd think we'd be hopping mad about this; unfortunately, as unbelievable as it may be, Canada enjoys some of the lowest prices still in the Western World (Europe always got the shaft from the get-go anyways).
The only lasting solution for all this mess really is to start cutting back; unfortunately, thanks to the urban sprawl not everyone can just cut back in the flick of a switch. You'll have to setup RELIABLE transit systems to handle the people that are willing to leave their cars parked in the garage. It also doesn't help that better alternatives such as smaller or more efficient cars aren't always a more cost effective alternative to everyone; while it would be nice if everyone drove a Prius, not a whole lot of people can afford to drive them because of the sticker price.
The GM/Oshawa workers strife currently in the works is for another thread.
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