Do you know how I would go about finding out which of my neighborhood gas statio

1. 50

   notgonna0posted 13 years ago

   Do you know how I would go about finding out which of my neighborhood gas stations are American...
   
   owned and operated?

   replyreport
2. 79

   Wayne Brownposted 13 years ago

   Good luck! Gasoline is distributed from large tank farm systems.  The trucks from all suppliers line up for their turn at the pumps.  They throw in their additives when required and head off to deliver the order then return to pickup another load. You could also find "American gasoline" which is all refined here but it is made with "foreign crude" so the joke is still on us. This is what we get when we abandon domestic drlling and lose our common sense to resource management all in the name of gaining votes from the environmental lobby. WB

   replyreport
3. 77

   American_Choicesposted 13 years ago

   Wayne Brown is correct the source of the crude is foreign but the question we can control is where are the profits going?  Where do the executives live?  Where are the administrative jobs that support this local gasoline station?  And more importantly, where does this company pay corporate taxes - what country.
   
   Look for the headquarters and the corporate charter.  For instance, BP and Shell are headquartered and chartered in the UK.  CITGO has a US base but the corporate site is foreign.  Chevron and Mobile have corporate headquarters currently only in the US.  They may also have global sites but the center of their operations is with Americans holding administrative jobs; additionally, they are paying corporate taxes to Uncle Sam and helping our national debt.
   
   For instance, if the corporate headquarters is listed as Delaware (as Accenture used to be before becoming a "Double Irish" corporation) is clearly American - they are paying US corporate taxes. 
   
   If the company is incorporated overseas, have a satellite corporation on the US soil, the administrative jobs can be centered overseas.  More importantly, their corporate profits are funneled back to the country where they are incorporated leaving Americans paying more for the national debt.
   
   For more information, check out "Double Irish" - see how Microsoft, Google followed Accenture's lead and how they are now incorporated in Ireland and have reduced their corporate taxes by 30% - that is 30% less towards the US national debt.
   
   This tax avoidance costs each of us Americans.  Yes, the stockholders are making more money and may reside in America but our American corporate tax structure is no longer competitive for the new global world.
   
   We as Americans can choose.  I have changed my local gasoline station and wherever I stop when traveling I pay close attention.
   
   My actions may not save millions of jobs but IF we could save just one job, it may be a family member's or a neighbors.  Every penny counts, every job is important to us.  We need to start voicing our power as consumers.
   
   I am not advocating protectionism, I am advocating "consumerism" - let the consumer make an intelligent choice.  If the UK based gasoline station is the best for your travel patten so be it.  If it is next to a station that is incorporated and headquartered in the US and the prices are competitive, what choice would you make?

   replyreport