Completely agreed. Exxon's profits were the highest in history. not just their history, anyone's history. In two quarters, they went from like #4 on the wealthiest company list to #1. Same for the other US oil companies. Their total dollars went up (as would be expected by the rise in oil prices). But their profit PER DOLLAR went up significantly. So not only were they passing on every penny of their cost increase, but they tacked on their own profit increases at the same time. That is a luxury few businesses can afford. During a time of increased costs, not many companies can also add record profits to that and still sell out. And then they whined that things were tough for them, and the government is being too mean.
At the very same time, they are saying that refining capacity is what is driving up the prices. But during this latest price increase in the past few months, they have gone from using 85% of their capacity down to using only 70% of their capacity. They have cut back their refining to create an artificial scarcity at exactly the same time the prices are increasing. And still their profit margins are increasing. Again, an enviable position. Good thing they are getting tax breaks and subsidies. How can they possibly stay in business? Poor things. For me, the good thing about a tax (in theory) is that it can be removed at will. If the $.50 would help drive down costs, remove it for the summer. The same with the excise tax on foriegn oil. If the oil companies were less greedy, they could have raised these prices slower, and like a lobster in a slowly boiling pot, the people for the most part would have never noticed. They must be afraid that they might lose their seats in the whitehouse, and want to grab as much while they have control as possible. On 4/27/06, Robert Munn <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I read that BP profits were way down last Q. I don't know about Exxon, but > the bottom line is high crude prices are bad for them, not good for them. > $75/barrel is $1.50/galllon for crude. Tack on transportation and refinery > costs and no wonder we're paying $3/gallon. When oil was $25/barrel > ($0.50gallon) for crude, how much was gas? I don't know, but it wasn't > cheap. Our problem is that we've been hooked on cheap oil forever. > > What is ironic to me is all of the pro-conservation folks who talked up the > ideas of increasing the national tax on gas by up to $0.50/gallon. Now they > are the biggest whiners about gas being so expensive. > > I would much rather have gas stay this price and force our country to > develop alternative fuels. Then we could tell shithole governments like Iran > and Venezuela to go screw. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:205568 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
