I know you are tired of high gas prices too!

Demiurge

SLOCOOKN wrote: »

I am not banging on them for the money!!!!!!!!!

Second how much risk is there when you say the demand is so high it is driving up the price.....RISK??????? I don't think so!

I would gladly spend 520 billion to PROFIT 40 billion if that is what you are asking!

Your lack of perspective is unbelievable.

The profit margins in the examples I posted were .5% -- POINT FIVE PERCENT. 12-13% is just okay.

You try to run a business on a .5% profit margin and I'll visit you at the cemetary after your first heart attack.

SLOCOOKN

Demiurge wrote: »

Your lack of perspective is unbeliebable.

The profit margins in the examples I posted were .5% -- POINT FIVE PERCENT. 12-13% is just okay.

You are telling me that being in business if you could produce those results you would not do it?

OIL INDUSTRY EXAMPLE ONLY...per say

nobody sells tv like that they are a durable good!

Gas is a weekly commodity for most.

jdhdiggs

Someone doesn't understand NPV's....

jdhdiggs

SLOCOOKN wrote: »

You are telling me that being in business if you could produce those results you would not do it?

Post whoring is fun today...

I'd rather make $40 Billion on a $40 Billion investment like big pharma can...

SLOCOOKN

jdhdiggs wrote: »

Post whoring is fun today...

I'd rather make $40 Billion on a $40 Billion investment like big pharma can...

I was just thinking the same thing!:D

SLOCOOKN

jdhdiggs wrote: »

Someone doesn't understand NPV's....

net present value...understanding the long term cost of a project..

zombie boy 2000

I love when the same people that complain about the price of gas going up 10 cents a gallon scream bloody murder while stocking up on king-sized Snickers bar standing in line to pay for said gas. Put down the 9-liter of vintage Crystal Pepsi and lottery tickets. Penny saved. Penny earned.

Then again, I spend money on sound. So toss my advise into the circular file.

We are talking about Global Warming, right?

F1nut

Its the fact the we are going to ruin the economy if prices continue to rise. And the price will continue to rise.

And that is the bottom line. Anyway you look at it, we're all getting **** by Big Oil.

SLOCOOKN

F1nut wrote: »

And that is the bottom line. Anyway you look at it, we're all getting **** by Big Oil.

The Calvary has ARRIVED!

reeltrouble1

Olive Oil?????????????

well, a little thin, but hey, any warm port in a storm.

RT1

bobman1235

zombie boy 2000 wrote: »

Put down the 9-liter of vintage Crystal Pepsi

I used to LOVE Crystal Pepsi! Granted, I was 10 at the time.. but man...

zombie boy 2000

bobman1235 wrote: »

I used to LOVE Crystal Pepsi! Granted, I was 10 at the time.. but man...

Rest knowing it loved you too. It loved you too....

It's so haaa-rd
To say gooooood-byeee.
To yester-daay.

I liked it too:D

SLOCOOKN

My over all thoughts of todays conversations.

1. We need to be able to compete in this "Global Economy" we can't compete while being a slave to oil. WHAT EVER THE REASON on the cost.

2. The only way to secure our future is to find a cheaper energy alternative.


3. Dinosaurs died and left us oil. Its time to let oil die its death before it
strangulates us.

4. I mean no disrespect to any one or their ideas, jobs or points of view.

God Bless America!

krabby5

jdhdiggs wrote: »

Wow... Ok, the pint is everyone gets freaked out when someone says "They made $40 Billion dollare, that's too much, their ripping us off!!!" Demi's point, if I may be so bold, is to point out that getting $40 Billion when you had to spend $480 Billion to get it is a meager profit margin. Far lower than virtually every major industry. The profits are so large ONLY because the scale of business is so large and not because they are "ripping us off".

I know..but profit is still profit..

SLOCOOKN

krabby5 wrote: »

I know..but profit is still profit..

http://www.econbrowser.com/archives/2005/10/oil_company_pro.html

interesting read

Demiurge

krabby5 wrote: »

I know..but profit is still profit..

...and the problem with businesses making a profit is....?

This guy really doesn't exist...

Demiurge

SLOCOOKN wrote: »

http://www.econbrowser.com/archives/2005/10/oil_company_pro.html

interesting read

I noticed you have a lot of articles from 2005, which talking points website are you pulling all of these outdated articles from?

SLOCOOKN

Demiurge wrote: »

I noticed you have a lot of articles from 2005, which talking points website are you pulling all of these outdated articles from?

I am starting in the past and working forward. You can go to the web site and look around.

I am just trying to educate my self and share. No hidden agenda's DEMI.

They are not outdated articles. These are facts on how there business is being run.

Did you read it through? Or did you just look at the date?

jdhdiggs

The articles you link do have an agenda. Notice they have no quotes from the oil company themselves, and if they do, it is very short.

If you want to educate yourself, you need to go work for O&G or talk to those who do (not just press releases). There are too many morons running around claiming to be "experts" who aren't. I mean, how many times have we seen the GWB and big oil connection with the infinately wise: "GWB is an oil man, you do the math" type comments. If that's the best someone can do, they should keep their freaking mouth shut.

The myth of big oil is VERY similar to Global Warming in that there is so much misinformation on one side that you need to be careful looking at the source. There is just enough truth in the conjecture of both to lead the uneducated astray into a political viewpoint rather than a factual.

MacLeod

I dont have the attention span to read all 4 pages so forgive me if I cover old ground here BUT:

The price of crude oil is going up fast because environmentalist wackos and gutless politicians have stopped all attempts at drilling here in the US. We havent built a refinery in over 25 or new nuclear plant in over 25 years. However, the population and world demand have steadily increased.

Now when supply is so low that demand jacks the price up, it costs Exxon more to make gasoline. So the price rises along with their profits but their margin remains the same.

For example - say you sell widgets for $7 each and they cost you $5 to make. Now say your cost jumps to $12 to make a widget because the cost of materials jumped up and you sell them for $14. So instead of making $7 a widget, youre making $14! You evil, greedy corporate ****! Raping the poor innocent consumer that needs those widgets. We should tax your "windfall" profit for the good of mankind just like my hero Karl Marx. We should boycot you for your price gouging. The price of materials are going up making it harder on consumers but youre making record profits!

Sound familiar?

Now look at the fine print. You were making $2 a widget. Cost of materials doubled so you raised your price accordingly but youre still making $2 a widget.

This is a drastically simplified example but its the same principle. When the price of crude skyrockets due to stagnant supply and increased demand, and you use crude to make your gasoline, well youre going to have to raise your prices.

The average "big oil" company profits LESS THAN A DIME on each dollar it takes in. The gas station profits less than a dime for each gallon it sells. The government profits $.50 on each gallon!

So the government is making all the money AND refusing to do whats necessary to increase supply and lower the price.

On a side note, the oil companies have been investigated countless times by various government agencies for price gouging or any illegal behavior and have NEVER been found to have done anything wrong.

SLOCOOKN

Some basic things. Exxon mobile alone over 135 billion in profits since 2001.
This is an free market. I have no problem with this in its self.

Where is information on your side. I read conoco/phillips site and there way oversimplified charts....What a joke.

Show me some information....PLEASE....I will read it...!!!!!!!

Everyone has an agenda, they are being bought and sold everyday on Capitol Hill.

jdhdiggs

You have PM.

dudeinaroom

car pool, ride bikes, ride a motor cycle, walk. sure not all will work for every one. Lets say you and your neighbor live in town x and you work in town y, but you don't work at the same place so what. Ride with him in the long run you guys are going to use half the gas. **** mu boss will pick me up if I want him to, and I don't have to pay for the gas. You guy think you have it bad, Try having to work 14.5 hour just to fill up you vehicle once. Another thing you can do to offset you gas the price you are paying for gas, Stop smoking, don't got to the restaurant for lunch, pack a lunch, I can eat lunch for over two weeks and it cost me less than 6 bucks. Don't stay on your computer for hour on end fighting about gas prices(do you know how much power your computer eats). Don't sit around for hours on end watch tv/playing video games, Have a couple friends over, play some card, play a board game.(TV eats a lot of power too.)Don't use that hair dryer, us a towel. Use a manual razor instead of your electric. Do you really need a cell phone(seems like we all got along fine before they came around.) Their are tons of things you can do to offset the price you are paying for gas if it is too high for you.

SLOCOOKN

Why can we subsidies airlines that go bankrupt with CEO's making millions, Why can we subsidies Oil companies to build refineries, search for new oil and only require small royalties to use public land to make their money but we can't subsides car manufactures to build more efficient vehicles?

Now here is an interesting delima...Any thoughts?

I hate government involvement. It is here and just to show you things in this country are really messed up from the top down.

I don't know what the answer is, but business as usual dosen't work for me!

markmarc

History tells us that the oil business has not been a strong moneymaker as far as profit margins are concerned. Now, at a time when prices at the pump have doubled in this decade, people see the doubling of the raw numbers (not margin). One can't be surprised that the public is up in arms when numbers get this big.

That being said, it is obvious that O & G industry doesn't need any special tax benefits other than incentives for alternative fuel development. All other subsidies must disappear.

As for the comment about the gov't 50cent profit, that is silly. that tax goes into funding roads, and other transportation necessities overall (I won't deny a few places have some stupid tax usages). But overall, the gas tax is a user tax, which is the fairest as the "direct" cost is placed on those who use the gas.

SLOCOOKN

markmarc wrote: »

History tells us that the oil business has not been a strong moneymaker as far as profit margins are concerned. Now, at a time when prices at the pump have doubled in this decade, people see the doubling of the raw numbers (not margin). One can't be surprised that the public is up in arms when numbers get this big.

That being said, it is obvious that O & G industry doesn't need any special tax benefits other than incentives for alternative fuel development. All other subsidies must disappear.

As for the comment about the gov't 50cent profit, that is silly. that tax goes into funding roads, and other transportation necessities overall (I won't deny a few places have some stupid tax usages). But overall, the gas tax is a user tax, which is the fairest as the "direct" cost is placed on those who use the gas.

I concur !

jdhdiggs

I'd agree that at this point O&G needs no help from the government in any form unless it's for strategic purposes. The problem is not that the government is/should be helping. It's that it's hindering O&G from bringing products to the market.

The problem as I see it is that when people get hurt in the pocket book, they blame the closest person to where they got hurt. In this case they're targeting XOM and BP. The problem is that they don't know WHY they're being hurt. If all the oil and gas companies brought you gas @ cost with no profits what so ever, you'd be at about $2.75 on average right now. Right now, I'd put the blame/fault: 40% consumer, 50% government, 10% OPEC. I'm not going to fault someone for trying to make a 10% profit on investement.

If the US wants to see gas prices come down it needs to look to new energy sources, stop consuming so much, and have the government remove itself from interfering.

If you changed every SUV and truck that has never been off road or towed a trailer with a Prius, I would garauntee you the price per gallon would be lower than if we kept demand constant and had big oil sell us gas at cost.

tonyb

Ummm...Guy's....Google made more profits than big oil.
Should we go after Google?
Goverment makes the pant load of cash.We have a war going on and they have to pay for it somehow.Can't just go to the U.S.Treasurey and say print me up a couple billion.While big oil has it's fair share of corporate ideots,greed,they are not the fall guy on this one.Suck it up and stop crying.

heiney9

markmarc wrote: »

History tells us that the oil business has not been a strong moneymaker as far as profit margins are concerned. Now, at a time when prices at the pump have doubled in this decade, people see the doubling of the raw numbers (not margin). One can't be surprised that the public is up in arms when numbers get this big.

Gotta disagree. When I hear numbers they are talking profit numbers not earnings or raw numbers. To me Earnings (-) Expenses (=) Profit. Every year the oil and gas companies record record PROFITS (not earnings) and just last quarter Shell had a 17% increase in PROFIT over last years first quarter (which was the largest in history). So it's not the raw numbers that I am seeing, it's PROFIT.

I understand the market forces involved so price seems to always flucuate and I also understand demand is and continues to be at an all time high, but this is getting scary crazy how high fuel prices are, but also how frequently (sometimes 3 times in a 24 hour period) the price changes. I don't feel it's fair to raise prices based on speculation about future events. They never lower the price when the future event never happens, that stink of scamming and finding excuses to raise prices today for some future event which in many cases never happens.

At $3.45 a gallon I am now finding ways to reduce my fuel consumption. I can afford to pay for gas, but I simply don't want to anymore. It's rediculous to be paying $3.45 a gallon. I'll consoildate my errands and stop driving home for lunch everyday as well as stop the frivilous trips out around town.

H9

jdhdiggs

Um, they are earning record earnings numbers...