Vieira: 'Let's talk about the refineries for a minute because there's been a lot
of controversy about them. Maintenance problems at refineries around the
country. There are some people, consumer activists, some analysts and even some
politicians like Senator Schumer here in New York, who believe that the oil
companies are basically holding back the production of gas, they're slow on
repairs of their refineries, to keep the price of gas high. Senator Schumer has
not gone so far as to say that the oil companies are in collusion but he did
say, quote, 'that they wink at each other and do the same thing.' First I'd like
your response to that.'"
Where this falls apart is that this is asking the presidents of the oil companies to be very honest and open with each other, and trusting. The nature of business is that you always want to sell more than the other guy in the market. I find it hard to believe that on the one hand you say that they are dirty, but not so dirty that they would lie to fellow oil producers. Each producer would be secretly violating the oath, attempting to make money off the oil that it was believed the others were not selling.
The second thing is that these businesses are responsible to their share holders. If there was a deal of this nature it would have to be done without them knowing, or with them in on it. The larger you expand the circle of people who know about a scandal, the more you are likely to get a leak. No share holder would willingly accept getting less of a return than is possible for an investment.
I don't believe it.
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