Satire inspired by these headlines: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-u-s-price-gap-measures-to-be-announced-1.2865235 http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/information-commissioner-pleads-poverty-tory-mps-say-raise-fees-1.2861052
Continue readingTag: price-gouging
ParliamANT Hill: C’Antada-U.S. price gap measures to be announced
Satire inspired by these headlines: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-u-s-price-gap-measures-to-be-announced-1.2865235 http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/information-commissioner-pleads-poverty-tory-mps-say-raise-fees-1.2861052
Continue readingParliamANT Hill: C’Antada-U.S. price gap measures to be announced
Satire inspired by these headlines: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-u-s-price-gap-measures-to-be-announced-1.2865235 http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/information-commissioner-pleads-poverty-tory-mps-say-raise-fees-1.2861052
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: New report: Canada falling further behind global counterparts on Internet access
This week, experts at the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) – the body that oversees Canada’s .ca domain – released their 2014 Factbook, which chronicles Canada’s advancement on Internet issues over the past year. The Factbook investigates how well-positioned Canadians are in the areas of access, cost, and usage. read
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Rogers hits senior with an $800 bill for Internet she never used
Rogers hit this B.C. senior with a whopping $800 bill for Internet she never even used. It seems not a week goes by without another story of Big Telecom price-gouging. Tell us yours in the comments below. Article from CBC News A senior citizen in Chilliwack, B.C., is angry about
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Should Rogers be allowed to block us from watching Hockey Night online?
Big Telecom is running scared of cord-cutters – and is doing what it takes to block them from watching their favourite shows online. It looks like Rogers is even planning to block Canadians from watching Hockey Night online. They want to trap Canadians in expensive and outdated service plans –
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Ben Klass complaint against Bell prompts CRTC to review mobile Internet rules
Several months ago, we let you know that Manitoba resident and OpenMedia community member Ben Klass had filed a complaint with Canada’s telecom policymaker, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). Ben’s complaint claimed that telecom giant Bell was unfairly stifling certain types of mobile content over their wireless networks
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: As Big Telecom ramps up lobbying, will government cave?
It looks like Big Three telecom giants are fighting hard to maintain their stranglehold over our wireless market, and over Canadians’ wallets. The Big Three have been on the back foot since pressure from tens of thousands of Canadians won positive new customer protection rules last year, along with a
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Huffington Post: Rogers accused of charging for internal Internet traffic
“Outright theft.” That’s what Canadians are calling this latest alleged attempt by Big Telecom to price-gouge us. Speak out against Big Telecom price-gouging at https://openmedia.ca/deadweight Article by Daniel Tencer for the Huffington Post Canada Rogers Communications is denying online accusations that it charges its internet customers for internal traffic on
Continue readingNEW MEDIA AND POLITICS CANADA: Big-Oil Monopolies Engage in Price-Gouging
Last week Exxon-Mobil announced their 2011 third-quarter earnings, reporting $10.3 billion in profits, which is an increase of 41 percent from the same period last year. So far, Exxon has earned over $31 billion in profits in the first nine months of the year. It needs to be noted that
Continue readingNEW MEDIA AND POLITICS CANADA: Big-Oil Monopolies Engage in Price-Gouging
Last week Exxon-Mobil announced their 2011 third-quarter earnings, reporting $10.3 billion in profits, which is an increase of 41 percent from the same period last year. So far, Exxon has earned over $31 billion in profits in the first nine months of the year. It needs to be noted that
Continue readingNEW MEDIA AND POLITICS CANADA: Big-Oil Monopolies Engage in Price-Gouging
Last week Exxon-Mobil announced their 2011 third-quarter earnings, reporting $10.3 billion in profits, which is an increase of 41 percent from the same period last year. So far, Exxon has earned over $31 billion in profits in the first nine months of the year. It needs to be noted that Exxon-Mobil is also one of the big five big-oil companies that spends the most money muddying climate-change science – to add to their long list of egregious behaviour.
The people at Shell are also onto good times. Royal Dutch Shell announced their 2011 third-quarter earnings, announcing profits of $6.98 billion, like Exxon-Mobil more than double their profits posted a year ago, bringing their total profits for 2011 to over $21 billion.
In fact he big 5 oil companies have made $102.85 billion in profits since January 1. The massive increase in oil company profits year in and year has nothing to do with market forces but with good old fashioned monopolistic price-gouging. A report from the CFA (Consumer Federation of America) says:
The spike in oil prices has not been caused by natural market supply and demand. In fact, U.S. demand for oil has declined since 2005, while global demand has grown less than 4 percent. In addition, global oil reserves have been growing faster than consumption and the reserve-to-consumption ratio now stands at a higher level than it has been in a quarter of a century. Today, OPEC spare capacity is almost three times as great as it was in 2008.
The CFA also estimates that crude oil is about $30 a barrel higher than costs or historic trends justify, which generates needlessly high prices for petroleum products that drains about $200 billion out of the US economy.
The reason for this is speculators buy and sell as much oil as possible to make quick and easy profits. Speculators might trade a barrel of oil more than 20 times before it is ever used – the price going up with each speculative trade, and consumers picking up the final tab.
And let me close by reminding you that this kind of unregulated speculation has everything to do with what the Occupy Wall Street movement is all about::
Lobbyists and special interests (have) used their influence in Washington, D.C. to weaken regulations on oil trading. For example, in 2000, Enron convinced Congress to overhaul 60-year-old commodities rules that formerly provided checks and balances on oil speculation. This loophole allowed speculators to manipulate and potentially corner the market.
Wouldn’t it be great if governments paid as much attention to consumer groups as to lobbyists from big-oil and Wall Street? Maybe if they could afford to ante up the same kinds of bribes they’d be listened to.
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