[Piwoslaw]

Originally Posted by bestclimb

I would be with you if you can explain why oil companies making a profit is bad,

Because the extra money will go to shareholders and CEOs, not to ecoinvestments. It's rich people getting even richer and most likely spending that extra money on things that cause more pollution (travelling, sports cars, etc.). IF every penny of that saved money went into increasing efficiency, then OK. But companies usually invest in efficiency when costs go up and income goes down. In this case it's the other way around.

Originally Posted by bestclimb

and why expensive oil eating into people's expendable income is good?

Whether it's good or just not bad (or not worse) depends on how it eats into who's income. Yes, expensive oil increases transportation costs, raising prices of goods. There may be people who will have to buy less food than they should. Hopefully they will find help in one form or another. On the other hand, maybe other people will buy (and eat) less junkfood.
Expensive oil will eat into the income of people who travel alot, but maybe that will help many of them make a change in their lifestyle (switch to a more efficient car, drive less, ecodrive, move closer to work, work at home, etc.). Maybe a price hike will reduce oil consumption in areas that cause lots of pollution, but do not play an important role for humanity as a whole (unnessesary travel, racing, inefficiencies in transport, etc.)

I know that the price of oil dictates changes in many branches of the global economy (mostly because of our dependence), and those changes may influence the day-to-day lives of millions of people, increasing/decreasing poverty/wealth in many places, rising/lowering prices, increasing/reducing unemployment, but that's a discussion for a another thread.

Originally Posted by tim3058

So if Exxon makes 10% on a gallon of gas, and NYS and County make 25%, where's the real greed driving up oil costs?

But ExxonMobile didn't build the roads you drive on, or the school your kids go to, or the sports field you go to in the evening, or the hospital, or the muni water/sewage system, or the public bus system, . . .