Comment Text:
Dear Sir/Madam:
I am an partner, owner, operator of a Mom and Pop oil company in Putnam County, New York. We employ seasonally up to thirty five people and at a minimum twenty four. We still manage to provide full medical and dental benefits to our staff and must be current with pay grades. We paid over $360,000 dollars in taxes last year.
Frankly right now we are on the very edge of going out of business. If we do not receive a loan we will not be able to continue doing business this summer and will not have the revenue to deliver oil next fall. We have over 6000 active home heating oil accounts. This is only due to the massive increase in costs of product within the last three months. Critical months for the heating oil business as the profit from this carries the remainder of the year. Never have we come out of the winter owing money until now. Every oil dealer we have spoken with is in the same position. We are all teetering on the edge of solvency. We have over $300,000 in receivables from tax paying home owners, middle income home owners who are telling us daily they simply do not have the money to pay their bills. Frankly main street is dying, the lack of enforcement and regulations on the hedge funds and forward contracts is killing middle tax paying Americans. What are you waiting for, we are the tax base, we are going under.
The only people who have profited from this huge increase in revenue are the oil producing nations and Wall Street. The people actually paying for the infrastructure of this country are sqeezed beyond relief. I realize that the increase in wealth is and lack of standards is supposed to trickle down or increase over all wealth and make us competitive overseas however this time the run is just too costly and too far. Wood and natural gas cannot be easily installed in the North East, oil is the best choice for heating home. We have become a biofuel blender and installed at great cost storage for alternates, we employ a solar vendor. They too will cease operations if this continues. Right now the average home owner simply does not have the money to put into this technology regardless of tax incentives. We signed on for energy audits, no one is buying. How far do you intend to let this run until Americans simply cannot afford to drive to work? The push to develop alternates is wise however the lack of regulations on the forward contracts is devestating. Please do something now.
