Sounds good at first....

[MMDad]

"Thousands of low-income Massachusetts residents will receive discounted home heating oil this winter under an agreement signed Tuesday with Venezuela, whose government is a political adversary of the Bush administration."

"Citgo is the Houston-based subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil company and has about 13,500 independently owned U.S. gas stations."


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051122/ap_on_re_us/venezuela_us_cheap_fuel

Use your own judgement. This is a way to vote with your money.

 

[Sparx]

Never fear the bush administration will say the oil is unsafe. Much like the low cost medications millions of Canadians take every day.

 

[SamSpade]

Never fear the bush administration will say the oil is unsafe. Much like the low cost medications millions of Canadians take every day.

Like a lot of things - you don't see the whole picture. For one thing, there's not a chance that Chavez is doing this as a humanitarian gesture, anymore than Castro's offer to assist Katrina victims was sincere.

Second - the winter hasn't hit yet. In the past, administrations have tapped into the national petroleum reserve in times of crises, particularly when the winter was *dire*. You're making hasty judgments on something that hasn't occurred yet, based on prejudiced opinion.

Third - low cost of prescription drugs in Canada is due to a LOT of things - and you're mixing two issues. *Online* distributors of "Canadian drugs" have been overwhelmingly proven to be frauds - and it IS true that the buyer must beware of these - because even though they *claim* to be from Canada, the majority have NOT been. They're from all over the world, cashing in on ignorant Americans who think they've found a real deal, when they're just getting a raw deal. (Another reason is that American pharmaceuticals have chosen to recoup the high cost of developing their drugs by charging the American population - their primary consumers. Overseas, they can afford to drop their prices - since otherwise, they wouldn't be able to compete there. When and if Canadian pharmaceutical companies develop their own drugs - instead of relying on *us* - they can do what they like. In the past, they haven't been so "generous").

 

[MMDad]

Like a lot of things - you don't see the whole picture. For one thing, there's not a chance that Chavez is doing this as a humanitarian gesture, anymore than Castro's offer to assist Katrina victims was sincere.

Second - the winter hasn't hit yet. In the past, administrations have tapped into the national petroleum reserve in times of crises, particularly when the winter was *dire*. You're making hasty judgments on something that hasn't occurred yet, based on prejudiced opinion.

Third - low cost of prescription drugs in Canada is due to a LOT of things - and you're mixing two issues. *Online* distributors of "Canadian drugs" have been overwhelmingly proven to be frauds - and it IS true that the buyer must beware of these - because even though they *claim* to be from Canada, the majority have NOT been. They're from all over the world, cashing in on ignorant Americans who think they've found a real deal, when they're just getting a raw deal. (Another reason is that American pharmaceuticals have chosen to recoup the high cost of developing their drugs by charging the American population - their primary consumers. Overseas, they can afford to drop their prices - since otherwise, they wouldn't be able to compete there. When and if Canadian pharmaceutical companies develop their own drugs - instead of relying on *us* - they can do what they like. In the past, they haven't been so "generous").

If bush actually cared about Chavez, he'd slap tariffs on their oil and shut them down. We can do the same - choose wisely when you shop for gas. This is just posturing by Chavez in order to inflate his perceived importance in his own country.

The other factor in Canadian drugs is the simple law of supply and demand. There are only like fifty people in Canada, so they have low demand. If Americans started buying drugs from them, the supply would drop and prices would rise. That is grade school economics.

 

[SamSpade]

We can do the same - choose wisely when you shop for gas.

Doesn't work. Gasoline is a "fungible commodity". Oil companies sell gas to EACH OTHER if sales should drop significantly. So, if you don't buy Citgo's gas at a Citgo, you may end up buying it anyway at a WaWa.

 

[MMDad]

Doesn't work. Gasoline is a "fungible commodity". Oil companies sell gas to EACH OTHER if sales should drop significantly. So, if you don't buy Citgo's gas at a Citgo, you may end up buying it anyway at a WaWa.

On the other hand, low sales at Citgo will make their owners put pressure where it belongs.

 

[ylexot]

Why is the gas station on base a Citgo?

BTW MMDad, I don't think Chavez is doing it to "inflate his perceived importance in his own country". I think he's doing it to stick a finger in Bush's eye.

 

[FromTexas]

You are right on the supply/demand of Canadian Drugs, MMDad. In addition and for similar reasons, Canada has said they don't want us buying their drugs. They don't want their own supplies poached. Also, who here thinks the drug companies are stupid? When everyone starts shopping Canada to not pay extra here, where do you think the drug companies are going to start exporting those costs to? I love how people are found of solutions in a bubble... as if they have no effect on the anything outside the problem being fixed.

 

[2ndAmendment]

... When everyone starts shopping Canada to not pay extra here, where do you think the drug companies are going to start exporting those costs to? ...

Good. They should pay their share. U.S. consumers should not have to bear the brunt of the development costs.

 

[chuckster]

Never fear the bush administration will say the oil is unsafe. Much like the low cost medications millions of Canadians take every day.

It figures that the Kennedys would have their hands in this....

Kennedy Clan Profiting from Hugo Chavez's Oil?

A prominent member of the Kennedy family is joining forces with one of President George Bush’s most ardent foes – Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez.

A subsidiary of Venezuela’s national oil company will ship 12 million gallons of discounted home-heating oil to Massachusetts in a deal that former U.S. representative Joseph P. Kennedy II helped to arrange.

The $9 million worth of oil will go to 45,000 low-income families and institutions that serve the poor, such as homeless shelters, said officials from Citizens Energy, an organization founded by Kennedy in 1979.

When the oil arrives next month, Citizens Energy will help screen recipients, according to the Boston Globe
http://newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/11/22/171616.shtml

 

[Bruzilla]

Just another level of lowness for the Democrats.