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$141.000 per day!
alledan
Member Posts: 19,541
Are gas prices based on demand or season?
Oil company execs say they are not the ones making huge profits from gas prices that are increasing so fast the sign changers are working 24-hour shifts.
While many of us have reverted to our teen habits of getting $5 or $10 of gas at a time just so we don't have to face the shock of the cost of filling the tank, and while those who live 20 minutes from their jobs are paying as much as $5,000 per year just to get to work, one oil company CEO is being forced to survive on $141,000 per day.
That's the amount former Exxon CEO Lee Raymond makes after receiving combined packages and bonuses, including a $400 million retirement package and stock options. He also maintained perks, such as use of the company jet.
Raymond is the same guy who trotted out the "We're all in this together line" for Congress last year after explaining high prices were the result of supply and demand.
"We" who? Not many folks make $114,000 per year, much less per day, and even they are having to budget a huge chunk of nest egg for gas.
Record profits continue to be posted by companies such as Exxon, ConocoPhillips and Chevron, which reported total earnings $15.7 billion for the first quarter of this year.
And each summer, between Memorial and Labor days, prices jump even higher. Why? Do oil companies get the same break as hotels and resorts, which are able to charge seasonal rates? Surely, if prices were based on demand, they would increase after heavy summer travel began and not jump simply because a date on the calendar changed.
Some pundits say gas may reach $5 per gallon, which we can only hope won't ground Raymond's jet, leaving him forced to sit poolside, watching the gas signs change.
Oil company execs say they are not the ones making huge profits from gas prices that are increasing so fast the sign changers are working 24-hour shifts.
While many of us have reverted to our teen habits of getting $5 or $10 of gas at a time just so we don't have to face the shock of the cost of filling the tank, and while those who live 20 minutes from their jobs are paying as much as $5,000 per year just to get to work, one oil company CEO is being forced to survive on $141,000 per day.
That's the amount former Exxon CEO Lee Raymond makes after receiving combined packages and bonuses, including a $400 million retirement package and stock options. He also maintained perks, such as use of the company jet.
Raymond is the same guy who trotted out the "We're all in this together line" for Congress last year after explaining high prices were the result of supply and demand.
"We" who? Not many folks make $114,000 per year, much less per day, and even they are having to budget a huge chunk of nest egg for gas.
Record profits continue to be posted by companies such as Exxon, ConocoPhillips and Chevron, which reported total earnings $15.7 billion for the first quarter of this year.
And each summer, between Memorial and Labor days, prices jump even higher. Why? Do oil companies get the same break as hotels and resorts, which are able to charge seasonal rates? Surely, if prices were based on demand, they would increase after heavy summer travel began and not jump simply because a date on the calendar changed.
Some pundits say gas may reach $5 per gallon, which we can only hope won't ground Raymond's jet, leaving him forced to sit poolside, watching the gas signs change.
Comments
Do you have something against capitolism? The government makes more off of gas than he does. Why aren't you complaining about the government?That is so much horse * that it is rediculous. The only reason the gas taxes are high is to fund other things that the oil industry are responsible for. For example, all the environmental cleanups that have resulted from gasoline tank leaking around the country for the last 75 years. It also goes to build and maintain highways around the country. Many other services that are supported and occur on a daily basis if these taxes were not in place. I can just see all the moaning that would start by all these people that believe that if the gas taxes would just go away everything would great, especially when they have to start paying for all these other services via another tax that would have to be levied.
Wake up, oil companies are making a killing off of us and most of us are just too stupid to beleive it. Read the numbers, billions and billions in profit is just that billions and billions in profit. Our solders are dying on foreign soil and these b astards get healthy retirement package.
Give me a frigging break!!!!!!
I'm not trying to highjack or flame/inflame, just an "observation"?
Boomerang said, "Our solders are dying on foreign soil...." or did you mean to say, "our soldiers are dying FOR Foreign Oil"???
I'm not trying to highjack or flame/inflame, just an "observation"?
Also 'not to inflame' but everytime I hear some liberal, whining, 'give America away' left winger say "It's a war for oil man!" I just want to grab them and slap the chit out of them for not getting the bigger picture. It is without argument, a war for our very lifestyle. The are so stuck in 'wannabe 60's protest mode' that they are missing the fact that everything, and I mean everything, from their earth shoes, to their food, bottled wussy water, computer that they whine on, wipe their azzes on, read, watch listen to, the 'peace now' shirts they wear, the cardboard that they print their little self important slogans on, ALL COME BY DIESEL! Made from OIL. when DIESEL is $5.00 a gallon, everything you need to live on's price will rise. which will trigger inflation, which will essentially wreck our economy.
essentially, the oil companies admitted, on capital hill,and too cowardly to do it under oath, that they 'did 'short' some distibuters in the south west to 'drive up prices to avert a shortage'. HUH? That's 'price fixing AND RAcketeering' by definition! and that's a federal offence, yet they sashayed to their private jets laughing at us! free as birds!.
Oil is a utility, pure and simple and needs to be regulated. the deal is, all this 'new' exploration that is going on, is being paid for buy us. remember the '$20,000 hammers and $600 toilet seats we were slapped with by the military in the 80's? same thing. We're paying for them to make more money later!
It's like this. I open a convenience store. I need to get back my investment, so my snickers bars are $19.00, and Smokes are $31.00. when the customers scream, then I tell them it's 'procurement costs'. How long am I going to be in business? a week at most! but, because I did it, then every other store jacks their prices up, the public is screwed. it's the same as a gas station raising the price on gas already in the ground, bought at a lower price, making more profit, then not lowering it until well after the expensive, following loads are gone, and gas boght at a cheaper price goes in.
Are we being GOUGED? YOU BET!!!!!!!!!!!
Another tax has already been levied, Do you know how much a truck pays in taxes every year supposedly to build and repair highways? Do you know how much you and your neighbors pay each year to maintain your street? Do you know how much the government spends on maintaining your street?
Read The Numbers The Government is screwing us and you are the problem.First, please learn how to use the reply with quote button. It will make reading your posts easier.
Second, I never said the government did not screw us. This has been going on for years. Nothing new here, ask Hairy or BR.
Third, Don't let your hate / dissapointment in and for the government blind you to the fact that, as rcrxs old lady noted, we are being gouged by these oil companies.
Do you have something against capitolism? The government makes more off of gas than he does. Why aren't you complaining about the government?
Notice the trend? The percentage of the cost of a gallon of gas that is due to taxes went DOWN 4% while the percentage that is due to oil company profits went UP 3%, and that doesn't even include 2005 or this year. What do you think the percentages look like now?
You trot out "capitalism" as if anyone who opposes high gas prices is a communist. I must have missed the part of the definition of "capitalism" that says businesses making record profits are entitled to BILLIONS in subsidies from the government. That's right, Big Oil get billions in subsidies from the federal government, not to mention the environmental protections that are lifted for them and only them. If it were true capitalism, then Big Oil would not need government subsidies. Not to mention that Big Oil is making their record profits during a time of war, although I'm sure strife in the Middle East has NOTHING to do with gas prices, right?
quote:Originally posted by Mooseyard
Do you have something against capitolism? The government makes more off of gas than he does. Why aren't you complaining about the government?
Notice the trend? The percentage of the cost of a gallon of gas that is due to taxes went DOWN 4% while the percentage that is due to oil company profits went UP 3%, and that doesn't even include 2005 or this year. What do you think the percentages look like now?
You trot out "capitalism" as if anyone who opposes high gas prices is a communist. I must have missed the part of the definition of "capitalism" that says businesses making record profits are entitled to BILLIONS in subsidies from the government. That's right, Big Oil get billions in subsidies from the federal government, not to mention the environmental protections that are lifted for them and only them. If it were true capitalism, then Big Oil would not need government subsidies. Not to mention that Big Oil is making their record profits during a time of war, although I'm sure strife in the Middle East has NOTHING to do with gas prices, right?
Very good graphic. I can fill some gaps. For the most part, the gas tax is a fixed amount per gallon, not a percentage per gallon. So with a little extrapolation, at cost of $3.00 a gallon the gas tax is now approximatley 14% of the total cost. Lazerus, care to guess who made up the 10% share in the cost. Let me help you, hmm let's think about what group is making billions and billions in record additional profit. Hmm, NO new exploration, no new advertising and marketing. True crude oil has gone up, but who is that owns the crude oil plays? Hmm, could this also be oil companies. So Lazerus, just who is the problem here??????
And please note that my stats are current, they are not from 2003-2004.
141.000??
just put 141.00
one hundred and forty one dollars a day is'nt much..
Seriously, he earned it all. A board of Directors, responsible to stock holders have to OK the deal. Its private business being ran in a society that claims it loves freedom for all.
The Feds will take about $53,500 A DAY in taxes from him too.
Then when he goes to Wal-Mart to buy a new 10-22 the feds get 12% more in excise tax on the gun. The State gets the sales tax and income tax on top.
I'm surprised the guy can even afford to get a new 10-22, he may have to wait for a clearance sale
If you guys don't like it, then don't buy it. Nobody is forcing you to buy gas. Buy a bicycle, or an electric car. If you do buy the electric car, will you be whining about the power company screwing you when your bill doubles because you have to plug your car in at night. The oil company profit margins are actually low compared to other industries. The total profit is made in volume, not price gouging. If I sell guns and mark them up 8% I will make a lot more money if I sell 10000, instead of 10 guns. If I sell 10,000 guns, do you think the government should step in and make me lower my mark-up to 5%? Big oil is a private business, the government, has no right telling them what their profit margin can be. Price fixing by the government doesn't work.
And please note that my stats are current, they are not from 2003-2004.
Since you appear not to grasp the big picture, I care not to respond anymore. As Forest would say "Stupid is as Stupid does."
quote:Originally posted by Mooseyard
If you guys don't like it, then don't buy it. Nobody is forcing you to buy gas. Buy a bicycle, or an electric car. If you do buy the electric car, will you be whining about the power company screwing you when your bill doubles because you have to plug your car in at night. The oil company profit margins are actually low compared to other industries. The total profit is made in volume, not price gouging. If I sell guns and mark them up 8% I will make a lot more money if I sell 10000, instead of 10 guns. If I sell 10,000 guns, do you think the government should step in and make me lower my mark-up to 5%? Big oil is a private business, the government, has no right telling them what their profit margin can be. Price fixing by the government doesn't work.
And please note that my stats are current, they are not from 2003-2004.
Since you appear not to grasp the big picture, I care not to respond anymore. As Forest would say "Stupid is as Stupid does."
It is sad that because you can't argue facts you have to start calling names.
No matter what, the government makes more per gallon than the Oil Company.
I heard once that Steven Spielberg was making $1,000,000 a day after one of his big movies came out. Should we also limit his income? You can't just pick and choose which company you want the government to screw. If you want the oil coimpanies to make less money, then buy less gas. If you were really smart you would be holding a bunch of Exxon stock, and then everyone could complain about how much you made.
The Oil Co.s employ MILLIONS and produce a worht while product. Our GOVT. can not even keep slow A++ Pregnant invaders out.
It is sad that because you can't argue facts you have to start calling names.
No matter what, the government makes more per gallon than the Oil Company.
I heard once that Steven Spielberg was making $1,000,000 a day after one of his big movies came out. Should we also limit his income? You can't just pick and choose which company you want the government to screw. If you want the oil coimpanies to make less money, then buy less gas. If you were really smart you would be holding a bunch of Exxon stock, and then everyone could complain about how much you made.
You are absolutely right, oil companies don't need to apologize for making record profits. It's their right to do so. And it's also their right to pay the taxes on that money that all the other businesses have to pay, no more billion dollar subsidies. Surely you support revoking all the subsidies for Big Oil, correct? I don't think Steven Spielberg gets subsidies to make movies, why should Big Oil get subsidies so they can make RECORD profits and give out $400 million retirement packages.
It's guys like you that were defending Enron when they were purposely cutting the flow of power to California so they could jack up prices, their executives were even recorded laughing about all the "little old ladies" who were without power because of the rolling blackouts caused by Enron. It would be great if Big Business could make profits by being responsible and following the rules that everyone else has to follow, but they don't. They break laws, they ignore rules and regulations, they will dump poisons and toxins in our lakes and rivers if it will save them a buck. Mine companies would rather let mine workers die rather than spend the money to provide them with things like working air packs. Keep defending Big Oil, I'm sure they really give a rip about you.
quote:Originally posted by Mooseyard
It is sad that because you can't argue facts you have to start calling names.
No matter what, the government makes more per gallon than the Oil Company.
I heard once that Steven Spielberg was making $1,000,000 a day after one of his big movies came out. Should we also limit his income? You can't just pick and choose which company you want the government to screw. If you want the oil coimpanies to make less money, then buy less gas. If you were really smart you would be holding a bunch of Exxon stock, and then everyone could complain about how much you made.
You are absolutely right, oil companies don't need to apologize for making record profits. It's their right to do so. And it's also their right to pay the taxes on that money that all the other businesses have to pay, no more billion dollar subsidies. Surely you support revoking all the subsidies for Big Oil, correct? I don't think Steven Spielberg gets subsidies to make movies, why should Big Oil get subsidies so they can make RECORD profits and give out $400 million retirement packages.
It's guys like you that were defending Enron when they were purposely cutting the flow of power to California so they could jack up prices, their executives were even recorded laughing about all the "little old ladies" who were without power because of the rolling blackouts caused by Enron. It would be great if Big Business could make profits by being responsible and following the rules that everyone else has to follow, but they don't. They break laws, they ignore rules and regulations, they will dump poisons and toxins in our lakes and rivers if it will save them a buck. Mine companies would rather let mine workers die rather than spend the money to provide them with things like working air packs. Keep defending Big Oil, I'm sure they really give a rip about you.
Sir,
You are part of the problem. Just what makes you think the oil Companies owe the rate of taxes they do pay to the Government. Everybody from your side forgets the matching Social Un-Security they pay the medicare and state taxes on employees payroll. Lets not forget seperation taxes and state royalties to boot. The oil companies are heavly regulated to death. They could not build a refinary if they were begged to. The enviornmental whack-balls would sue them and tie up millions for decades.
You cheap shot of working air packs is a typical liberal off subject, unsubstantiated rumor. I live very close to where those men died. Air packs are not the reason they are dead.
I don't expect oil companies to give a wet fart's care about me. They are in business to make profit. They are doing that in a reasonable manner for the owners of the company. If you don't like the price of gas stop buying it.
You darn well may be one of the people benifiting from the profits if you hold Mutual Funds.
Sir,
You are part of the problem. Just what makes you think the oil Companies owe the rate of taxes they do pay to the Government. Everybody from your side forgets the matching Social Un-Security they pay the medicare and state taxes on employees payroll. Lets not forget seperation taxes and state royalties to boot. The oil companies are heavly regulated to death. They could not build a refinary if they were begged to. The enviornmental whack-balls would sue them and tie up millions for decades.
You cheap shot of working air packs is a typical liberal off subject, unsubstantiated rumor. I live very close to where those men died. Air packs are not the reason they are dead.
I don't expect oil companies to give a wet fart's care about me. They are in business to make profit. They are doing that in a reasonable manner for the owners of the company. If you don't like the price of gas stop buying it.
You darn well may be one of the people benifiting from the profits if you hold Mutual Funds.
And you sir are a sheep. Dateline NBC just ran an excellent special about alternative fuel. It was about Brazil, a country that just recently became energy self-sufficient through the use of ethanol. They have been using ethanol for the past 30 YEARS! They went from a nation that imported 70% of their oil from the middle east to a country that will now become an oil EXPORTER, all because of ethanol. Three out of four new cars in Brazil are flex fuel, they can run on gas, ethanol, or a gas/ethanol combination, and these cars are made by Ford and other American automakers. Every gas station in Brazil offers ethanol as well as regular gasoline and a mix of the two, it's up to the consumer to choose between the three based on price.
So why can't we have this in America? Why can a South American country obtain energy self-sufficiency, but the richest nation on earth can't? What is stopping this country from investing in ethanol? Oh, imagine my surprise when they revealed that it was the OIL COMPANIES who were opposed to ethanol and have been preventing widescale use and development of ethanol. Big Oil have been using their monopoly on this nation's energy usage to dictate national energy policies. The Big 3 Automakers won't make flex fuel cars for Americans because there aren't any gas stations that offer ethanol at their pumps, it doesn't cost Detroit much more to use flex fuel engines instead of regular ones. The gas stations aren't adding ethanol to their pumps because the oil companies have said it would be too expensive to make the necessary changes to the pumps, storage tanks, and tanker trucks to allow them to carry ethanol. This coming from companies that are making record profits thanks to $3 a gallon gas.
Ethanol is better for the environment. It's cheaper than oil thanks to new technology. It would take all the billions of American dollars that go to Muslim OPEC nations that support terror and give it instead to rural American farmers who grow the crops necessary to make ethanol. It would give the consumer a choice at the pumps, imagine that, actually having a choice! Isn't that capitalism, having choices and letting the marketplace decide, instead of being forced to buy one product because the producer of that product uses it's clout to prevent any competition from entering the marketplace? But we will never see ethanol, because the oil companies will make sure we never see ethanol or any other alternative fuel that would threaten their monopoly. Instead they give us "hybrids" that get 25 MPG instead of 20 MPG, to make American sheep like you will believe that they are concerned about energy efficiency. Brazil is proof positive that the Big Oil is the problem, or do you honestly believe that America is 30 years behind some crappy 3rd world nations in terms of alternative energy development and it has nothing to do with the bottom line of a certain industry?
I, personally, do not have enough of the facts about the energy industries or any other of the industries on the chart formerly posted on this topic to profer an opinion on particular actions or individuals' behavior.
I do know human nature and history in regard to what happens when the advantaged classes become so cold-hearted and exclusive that they live in secure enclaves, feasting and partying while the poor and their children lie dying outside their walls. As a matter of fact, the United States of America was born from rebellion against this very type of oppression. The rulers and rich taxed and stole and made it impossible for the masses to exist in decent condition.
They told themselves that they were a better class of people and that God blessed them because they deserved it and poor people were just too stupid to deserve a good life and it was ok to make them work 16 hours a day in mills and mines while endebting them at the company stores exhorbitant prices so that they and their children would never be out of debt. Nowadays, the excuse of "Capitalism" is used in the same moral argument they use to excuse the same kind of behavior that crushes the middle class and divides us into two classes, the "Haves" and "Have nots".
We HAVE to buy gas to get to our jobs. We have to buy insurance to own homes or drive cars. We have to pay exhorbitant interest to borrow money, and our protectiion against debtors prisons is being washed away gradually by a Congress completely controlled by the insurance, finance, energy, etc. industries.
It just boils down to the same old human nature story. The Fat Cats have fixed the game and are squeezing the life out of everybody and everything in their lust for power and riches and pleasure. It has been repeated over and over again throughout history and it is going on full scale right now. They even claim to be religious and righteous and think God favors them, while they conveniently overlook
the verses instructing them to treat servents (working people) as family and reward them with wealth and land of their own.
In the financial game, instead of helping people who have misfortune and sickness preventing timely repayment of debts that they have had to make to have homes, cars, educations, and live well enough to work and care for their family, they mercilessly add exhorbitant finance charges and raise interest rates, doubling and tripling the total amount of the debt in short order so that even after getting well physically, a person finds themselves an indentured servent for life, with bad credit to boot. Truthfully, they don't care if you are put out on the street to die in a cardboard box. They want your house. Chances are that you will be receiving offers for their credit cards trying to trap you further while you lay there dying if you happen to have a mailbox!
Its called a "free market".
Even at $5 a gallon that's still cheaper than the price of gas in most of the world.
If you think gas is too expensive, park your Hummer in the garage and ride your bike to work.
Or better yet, if you think the price of gas is too high, go find your own oilwell and refine it into gasoline, you lazy @#$$.
If you think oil execs get paid so much, why dont you go find a job as an oil executive?
quote:Originally posted by warriorsfan
quote:Originally posted by Mooseyard
It is sad that because you can't argue facts you have to start calling names.
No matter what, the government makes more per gallon than the Oil Company.
I heard once that Steven Spielberg was making $1,000,000 a day after one of his big movies came out. Should we also limit his income? You can't just pick and choose which company you want the government to screw. If you want the oil coimpanies to make less money, then buy less gas. If you were really smart you would be holding a bunch of Exxon stock, and then everyone could complain about how much you made.
You are absolutely right, oil companies don't need to apologize for making record profits. It's their right to do so. And it's also their right to pay the taxes on that money that all the other businesses have to pay, no more billion dollar subsidies. Surely you support revoking all the subsidies for Big Oil, correct? I don't think Steven Spielberg gets subsidies to make movies, why should Big Oil get subsidies so they can make RECORD profits and give out $400 million retirement packages.
It's guys like you that were defending Enron when they were purposely cutting the flow of power to California so they could jack up prices, their executives were even recorded laughing about all the "little old ladies" who were without power because of the rolling blackouts caused by Enron. It would be great if Big Business could make profits by being responsible and following the rules that everyone else has to follow, but they don't. They break laws, they ignore rules and regulations, they will dump poisons and toxins in our lakes and rivers if it will save them a buck. Mine companies would rather let mine workers die rather than spend the money to provide them with things like working air packs. Keep defending Big Oil, I'm sure they really give a rip about you.
Sir,
You are part of the problem. Just what makes you think the oil Companies owe the rate of taxes they do pay to the Government. Everybody from your side forgets the matching Social Un-Security they pay the medicare and state taxes on employees payroll. Lets not forget seperation taxes and state royalties to boot. The oil companies are heavly regulated to death. They could not build a refinary if they were begged to. The enviornmental whack-balls would sue them and tie up millions for decades.
You cheap shot of working air packs is a typical liberal off subject, unsubstantiated rumor. I live very close to where those men died. Air packs are not the reason they are dead.
I don't expect oil companies to give a wet fart's care about me. They are in business to make profit. They are doing that in a reasonable manner for the owners of the company. If you don't like the price of gas stop buying it.
You darn well may be one of the people benifiting from the profits if you hold Mutual Funds.
Well, gee. I think business ought to have respect for and concern for the welfare of it's customers, and for the stability of the economies of the countries that they do business in.
I'm also reasonably certain that I could have devised an emergency mobile supplemental oxygen supply system for a few thousand dollars that could have been a lifesaver for many mineworkers who have died in mines due to contaminated air. I also know that it's comtemptable that companies who have made enormous profits mining haven't had the consideration to devise and employ such systems voluntarily.
If you guys don't like it, then don't buy it. Nobody is forcing you to buy gas. Buy a bicycle, or an electric car. If you do buy the electric car, will you be whining about the power company screwing you when your bill doubles because you have to plug your car in at night. The oil company profit margins are actually low compared to other industries. The total profit is made in volume, not price gouging. If I sell guns and mark them up 8% I will make a lot more money if I sell 10000, instead of 10 guns. If I sell 10,000 guns, do you think the government should step in and make me lower my mark-up to 5%? Big oil is a private business, the government, has no right telling them what their profit margin can be. Price fixing by the government doesn't work.
And please note that my stats are current, they are not from 2003-2004.
Boo frickin' hoo.
Its called a "free market".
Even at $5 a gallon that's still cheaper than the price of gas in most of the world.
If you think gas is too expensive, park your Hummer in the garage and ride your bike to work.
Or better yet, if you think the price of gas is too high, go find your own oilwell and refine it into gasoline, you lazy @#$$.
If you think oil execs get paid so much, why dont you go find a job as an oil executive?
Hey, Beantown[:0][:D] Was this shot directed at me or at Albert Lum?
Boo frickin' hoo.
Its called a "free market".
Even at $5 a gallon that's still cheaper than the price of gas in most of the world.
If you think gas is too expensive, park your Hummer in the garage and ride your bike to work.
Or better yet, if you think the price of gas is too high, go find your own oilwell and refine it into gasoline, you lazy @#$$.
If you think oil execs get paid so much, why dont you go find a job as an oil executive?
Welcome to the fantasy world of the members of GB. Most of these guys can't spell supply and demand. How do you expect them to understand the invisible hands which regulates the economy.
Would it surprise you to learn that President Bush has received almost 2 million dollars in campaign contributions from the oil companies? That the oil companies have spent over $420 million in the past six years on lobbyists and politicians? The Oil companies make the laws in this nation, because they own the politicians. That's not how capitalism is supposed to work, that's not how democracy is supposed to work. Why can't some of you see this? There are people in Idaho right now who are riding horses to work because they can't afford the price of gas. There are school districts that have been forced to cut the school week to 4 days instead of 5 because they can't afford the fuel for the school buses. High fuel costs are driving up the price of consumer goods. But hey, keep spouting those buzzwords like "free market" and "invisible hand", they will sustain you through the tough times.
It is not rocket science. You can drive less than you do. If it costs you more to operate you business because of the expense of gas, raise your prices. The ancillary (sp) expense of doing business is not a surprise.
Don't expect too much out of the government....It consists of people who can't do anything else.
I base my opinions in fact and real world experience. My father has worked at an oil refinery for 25 years, and he'll be the first to tell you that the oil companies are pure evil. And it has nothing to do with his political leanings, he's pure Republican (loves guns, hates gays, wants to deport anyone named Juan, etc). His opinions are based on what he has seen for the past 25 years. He has heard the speeches from the suits, he has dealt with corporate headquarters, he has had to deal with the refinery plant managers. Would it surprise you to learn that he and other employees were ORDERED to ignore federal safety guidelines? After 25 years, he could tell you stories that would chill you to the bone regarding how these people operate, they care for no one but themselves and their profit margins.
Would it surprise you to learn that President Bush has received almost 2 million dollars in campaign contributions from the oil companies? That the oil companies have spent over $420 million in the past six years on lobbyists and politicians? The Oil companies make the laws in this nation, because they own the politicians. That's not how capitalism is supposed to work, that's not how democracy is supposed to work. Why can't some of you see this? There are people in Idaho right now who are riding horses to work because they can't afford the price of gas. There are school districts that have been forced to cut the school week to 4 days instead of 5 because they can't afford the fuel for the school buses. High fuel costs are driving up the price of consumer goods. But hey, keep spouting those buzzwords like "free market" and "invisible hand", they will sustain you through the tough times.
If you don't want supply and demand, Adam Smith's invisible hand, and free market to determine the price then what is your suggestion? Please try to refrain from inflamatory conjucture and anecdotal heresay in your answer.
quote:Originally posted by beantownshootah
Boo frickin' hoo.
Its called a "free market".
Even at $5 a gallon that's still cheaper than the price of gas in most of the world.
If you think gas is too expensive, park your Hummer in the garage and ride your bike to work.
Or better yet, if you think the price of gas is too high, go find your own oilwell and refine it into gasoline, you lazy @#$$.
If you think oil execs get paid so much, why dont you go find a job as an oil executive?
Hey, Beantown[:0][:D] Was this shot directed at me or at Albert Lum?
It wasn't really directed at anyone in particular, just the whiners that are complaining about how markets work. There is no secret conspiracy to increase the price of fuel, just constantly increasing demand without increasing supply. If you don't like how much gasoline costs, don't buy it. Lower demand = lower prices.
quote:
There is no free market on oil here in the US.
Could have fooled me. Who is controlling the prices on the world oil market, then? (By the way, its not oil, but gasoline that is the limiting product here).
quote:
The higher prices in eruope are mainly due to goverment taxes, if you think the folks of india, and china are paying that you are dumb.
I'm not "dumb" enough to believe that most Indians or Chinese are driving cars AT ALL (let alone sucking gas down in Cadillacs and Hummers like there is no tomorrow!)!
But hey, if you think they have cheaper gas in China why don't you move there and enjoy it? Or better yet, go import your "cheap" gasoline from China and sell it here and make a zillion bucks.
quote:These people make 30 US bucks A month. There is no way they can afford it.
What? So you're saying they do just fine without gasoline then? Go figure.
quote:
Try riding a bicycle 35 miles one way to work if you think it is A good idea.
What part of living 35 miles away from where you work is a "good idea"? (I used to skateboard to work, incidentally).
Ever heard of carpools?
I hear Harleys get 40 miles per gallon. . .
http://www.cycleconnections.com/articledetail.asp?TypeID=7&ID=568
Motorscooters get 60 miles per gallon. . .
http://www.gmimotorsports.com/resources/motor-scooters/gas-motor-scooters/Is-a-motor-scooter-in-your-future-gas-motor-scooters-848.shtml
So? Twice the MPG = half the commuting cost. Problem solved.
quote:Originally posted by bpost1958
Sir,
You are part of the problem. Just what makes you think the oil Companies owe the rate of taxes they do pay to the Government. Everybody from your side forgets the matching Social Un-Security they pay the medicare and state taxes on employees payroll. Lets not forget seperation taxes and state royalties to boot. The oil companies are heavly regulated to death. They could not build a refinary if they were begged to. The enviornmental whack-balls would sue them and tie up millions for decades.
You cheap shot of working air packs is a typical liberal off subject, unsubstantiated rumor. I live very close to where those men died. Air packs are not the reason they are dead.
I don't expect oil companies to give a wet fart's care about me. They are in business to make profit. They are doing that in a reasonable manner for the owners of the company. If you don't like the price of gas stop buying it.
You darn well may be one of the people benifiting from the profits if you hold Mutual Funds.
And you sir are a sheep. Dateline NBC just ran an excellent special about alternative fuel. It was about Brazil, a country that just recently became energy self-sufficient through the use of ethanol. They have been using ethanol for the past 30 YEARS! They went from a nation that imported 70% of their oil from the middle east to a country that will now become an oil EXPORTER, all because of ethanol. Three out of four new cars in Brazil are flex fuel, they can run on gas, ethanol, or a gas/ethanol combination, and these cars are made by Ford and other American automakers. Every gas station in Brazil offers ethanol as well as regular gasoline and a mix of the two, it's up to the consumer to choose between the three based on price.
So why can't we have this in America? Why can a South American country obtain energy self-sufficiency, but the richest nation on earth can't? What is stopping this country from investing in ethanol? Oh, imagine my surprise when they revealed that it was the OIL COMPANIES who were opposed to ethanol and have been preventing widescale use and development of ethanol. Big Oil have been using their monopoly on this nation's energy usage to dictate national energy policies. The Big 3 Automakers won't make flex fuel cars for Americans because there aren't any gas stations that offer ethanol at their pumps, it doesn't cost Detroit much more to use flex fuel engines instead of regular ones. The gas stations aren't adding ethanol to their pumps because the oil companies have said it would be too expensive to make the necessary changes to the pumps, storage tanks, and tanker trucks to allow them to carry ethanol. This coming from companies that are making record profits thanks to $3 a gallon gas.
Ethanol is better for the environment. It's cheaper than oil thanks to new technology. It would take all the billions of American dollars that go to Muslim OPEC nations that support terror and give it instead to rural American farmers who grow the crops necessary to make ethanol. It would give the consumer a choice at the pumps, imagine that, actually having a choice! Isn't that capitalism, having choices and letting the marketplace decide, instead of being forced to buy one product because the producer of that product uses it's clout to prevent any competition from entering the marketplace? But we will never see ethanol, because the oil companies will make sure we never see ethanol or any other alternative fuel that would threaten their monopoly. Instead they give us "hybrids" that get 25 MPG instead of 20 MPG, to make American sheep like you will believe that they are concerned about energy efficiency. Brazil is proof positive that the Big Oil is the problem, or do you honestly believe that America is 30 years behind some crappy 3rd world nations in terms of alternative energy development and it has nothing to do with the bottom line of a certain industry?
Then you need to do something. You need to risk ALL you have, EVERYTHING you may ever have and make it happen. Instead you cast stones at some one else for making money. Brazil doesn't matter in this situation, who cares what they did. Smarty pants that think America business owes them something different need to move to France.
Quoting dateline as a source of information on the Oil companies is like asking Hitler about the jews. ABC, CBS and NBC are bastions of the liberal socialist eliteist washington know it alls. People that think they have all the answers to solve the problems facing our nation are disgusting self serving pigs. The government is the sole problem in this crisis as in most things that are messed up. The US government and the EPA specifically backed by the environmental whack-balls have completely stifled the American oil company from exploring for more oil within our borders and on our shores. Oil sands are rich in enough oil to feed America's needs for 200 years.
Why don't you pack up and move to the utiopia of Brazil and save some rain forests.
Oh how we can learn so much from poorly informed neo-pseudoeconomists on this board. Most of you would not know real economics if it hit you in the head. You just repeat what you are being fed. If this was truly a supply and demand issue, I would not be saying anything about it as that would be justified under the most economic models. This is price gouging from one of the oldest of human traits, greed. For the most part the tramatic increase in gas prices last summer and its continuation over the last seven months had nothing to do with supply and demand. Katrina was only an excuse to raise gas prices, and greedy opportunists have now ran with it.
By the way, high gas prices is only one portion of the economic equation. This ecomomy is oil based, and the price of everything and I mean everything will have to respond (go up) as a result of this doubling of gas prices. It does not take a rocket scientist to understand that when the price of goods go up and wages either stay the same or go down, that is called in inflation. Inflation leads to recession, recession leads to depression. Are you ready for that? If you have not figured that out yet, you are really not getting the big picture. Mooseyard, beantownshootah, AlbertLum, and lazerus; that is what I am referring to. Apparently, some of you do not understand this portion of the economic equation or youhave chosen to ignore it.
Many years ago, I remember a lecture in an economics class call 'Guns and Butter', now it should be called 'Gas and Butter'. Did any of you neo-pseudoeconomists every have this lecture, I think not. If you did you would know what I am referring to, and the concern that I have on this subject.