"I am very angry, frankly, at the oil companies not only because of the obscene profits they've made but at their failure to invest in alternate energy to help us eliminate our dependence on foreign oil."

"I believe there needs to be a thorough and complete investigation of speculators to find out whether speculation has been going on and, if so, how much it has affected the price of a barrel of oil."

"There's a lot of things out there that need a lot more transparency and, consequently, oversight."

You've probably already read these quotes and you know that they are not Barack Obama speaking at a fundraiser in San Francisco, but John McCain at Federal Hall, in the very shadow of the New York Stock Exchange.  The very place where investors and, yes, evil speculators have created and realized wealth and prosperity for both the rich and the working class for generations.  Fellow investors and speculators, can we countenance this shot across the bow of free-market capitalism from a Republican?  Does he mean it or is he really economically illiterate?

From an editorial in the New York Sun June 13th, 2008:  "If Mr. McCain thinks an 8.1% profit margin is "obscene," what would befall the American economy if he becomes president? Politicians should be in favor of American companies making big profits; they end up in the pockets of shareholders, which, just for the record, increasingly in recent decades have included the pension funds of the employees of private companies and public institutions."

When you get down to it, with one side socialist and the other side incoherent, do any of you see real market risk regardless of who becomes our next president?  Are any of you planning to adjust investing strategies in the leadup to November?  When all I hear is "cap and trade,"  "windfall profits tax," "oversight," "expiring tax cuts," "raising capital gains taxes," etc, makes me not a little uneasy.

What you have to remember is that whoever is running now is only trying to be 'NOT BUSH' so they will and do say whatever they need to get that point across. Anything said up until and including really about 3 months into the first term holds very little weight.

What they actually do after that does. Unfortunately, as is most often the case, what happens after that doesn't even come close to what was said trying to get into office. There are rare occasions when this occurs to some degree, but more times than not that is based on some event which forced their hand and left them with no options.

The problem with corporate America in general is that it has a hunger that can never be satisfied called PROFIT. If Joe Blow has a company and makes a million dollars profit every year consistently for 10 years, he should be quite happy as a business owner.

Corporate America would see that as stagnant, and heads would most certainly roll. Instead constant and continual increasing profits is the goal and when they can't be had legitimately, manipulation comes into play. There are a wide variety of reasons why this is true, including the overall corporate culture and mindset. My point is that until this changes, we will be at the whim of the market manipulators and the best we can do is figure out how the game is played and bet (i.e. invest) accordingly.

This stays the same no matter what side of the aisle you are on.

Well Will, I hope I don't tick you off here, but according to your theory, cigarette companies should be allowed to keep killing people with their product because it is legal to sell them and have no social responsibility for the products they sell?

I think this is the underlying point of the whole oil price debate. At some point, it is the responsibility of the companies selling the product to change with the times or get left behind. In this case, oil companies are given special consideration by the powers that be to continue making money with NO social responsibility. Even the cigarette companies have been called to task by  having to put money into non-smoking campaigns, in order to keep selling their product.

The main problems related in some fashion to oil are it's effect on the economy and it's effect on the environment. If the oil companies would at least make an effort and publicly support alternative fuels of say 5%, or even 1% of these unprecedented profits or even to help offset the price people are paying at the pump, at the grocery store and in the economy in general, people would be much less likely to be attacking them. All the public sees is that they are personally giving up more and more just to survive, and the oil company execs give up nothing.

Yes they are legally entitled to conduct business the way they do, but if we had a real choice the way we do in other aspects of the economy, we would be able to go elsewhere effectively making them change their ways with our purchasing power as free choice consumers. As it is we don't have a choice, and the oil companies are protected from change by lobbyists and their government cohorts who can't separate themselves from large campaign donations.

People need to survive and unfortunately gasoline and more generally oil is so entrenched in our daily lives that you just cannot survive by simply getting rid of everything that uses oil in some way. We do however, also have a social responsiblity to also do our part to protect the world we live in which includes conserving as well as asking for a better system from our elected officials. I think as Americans we are all at least trying conserve so where is the effort on the part of our elected officials, even a small one?

Regardking oil, I'm not angry about the price of gas or oil.  If anything,  I'm facinated about this situation and how it's playing out - especially changes in consumer behavior.  For years,  we haven't done jack to solve our dependency on oil.   We made our own bed.   I believe all this should be played out in the market.  Any time the goverment tries to step in and fix something,  they just break it even more.

I don't plan to adjust my investing strategies regardless who becomes president.   I am completely against raising the capital gains tax though.   I don't want to see that happen. 

McCain is trying to counter Obama's populist-pull with the labor (unions) pool with a mass appeal--tapping into a general fear of high gasoline prices.  McCain seems less likely to raise the cap gains tax than Obama.  My fear is that Obama is much more of a radical than his soft spoken and charismatic speeches belie.  (A man is known by the company he keeps?)  Who knows?

I doubt McCain will make much of economics over the next few months.  His greatest ally would be a summer rally.   ...like that eye-rhyme?  :)   haha

Obama needs the market to continue to flounder at least until the fall.  With a strong market, he has one too few speaking points.

I think I'll wear a McCain t-shirt. 

Well Snowman....The oil companies still made, are making, continue to make, unprecedented profits. NOT from better business practices, not from new products lines, not from anything other than market manipulation. This is why people are upset. If new exploration, investment in alternative fuels, researching how to better refine heavy crude, anything at all was being done besides sitting back and taking the money, people would pay the price for gas and grumble a lot less.

When the Saudi's themselves are saying this is not right, which happened last week, something is wrong. Whoever is not making money along the way is responsible for fighting for their own piece of the pie. This is about the oil companies and the level of profits they are making and in turn where that money is going.