OK......SeventySeven250 touched on it, but no one else answered post #27......

Do you guys consider a 10% profit excessive?

And since you keep harping on the "billions and billions" in profit....Well...if the company is 100-billion and they make a 10% profit, then it's going to be 10-billion.....Which would equate to "billions and billions".........

Other companies (including oil companies) made higher profit margins..........Some of them produce food (a product that people absolutely need....right?)....

So what exactly is y'alls problem with Exxon again?......

 

i don't consider 10% profit excessive at all, but, if so, what was their profit in 1999 then? also, i am no business expert, but i can imagine they can hide alot of profit in other projects.

problem with exxon? the same problem i have with most other oil companies, lack of enviromental care and responsibility.

 

Why only companies that import from world markets? And not others.

If those other companies are able to produce gasoline at lower prices, then why aren't they doing so, putting those other guys out of business, taking over their refineries, and producing cheaper gasoline?

My bet is other companies are already producing gasoline for the lowest possible cost, because that is what free enterprise does. Find a cheaper way of doing business.

And they are selling it to us for a higher cost and making $40 billion a year, because that is what capitalism does. Maximize personal profits.



You said price controls on gasoline wouldn't work, would cause shortages instead. I agree. And going after companies with high profit margins would be equally foolish.

Here we have a marketing board decides how much a litre of milk costs. But they don't just say this is what a litre of milk costs in the store. They go out and buy the milk from the farmer for whatever price per tonne or cubic metre, then the milk and cheese and ice cream companies can have all the milk they need, at a price that is right for everybody.

Proposing price controls on gasoline, is like saying we're going to regulate the price of cheese at .99/lb, even though the milk that goes into the cheese costs $1-2/lb. Then the cheese factory goes out of business, and you can say I told you price controls wouldn't work.

If you really want price controls to work then I would suggest price controls on OIL, not gasoline. Organize a marketing board will deliver oil to all refineries and small companies on equal terms.

The refineries never had any trouble making $1/gallon gas when they had cheap oil to work with. Refineries aren't the problem. It's the oil companies delivering the oil, saying it costs $50/barrel they're the problem.

 

You want gas prices to go down? Stop speeding--everybody. Every time I get on the interstate, I see trucks and SUVs rocket by me at 85-90mph. Virtually every vehicle I've ever driven gets 10% better mileage at 65mph vs. 75mph. Reduce the demand and the price goes down.

I'd like to see it be a patriotic concept to adhere to the speed limit.

Don't make unnecessary trips and combine errands to reduce usage as well.

Jason

 

i agree and that is the number one easiest way for everyone to save gas. i actually now do see the effects of the gas prices on people in my area, i live along a busy truck route (I-75) and i now see the trucks going the speed limit, if not even slower now. i heard that alot of trucking companies are giving incentives to help reduce fuel costs.

 

Maybe I just don't fully understand the HOW's of everything. So, when Katrina hit and gas was over $3 a gallon dipping into peoples budget really hard (and still is), Exxon couldn't have dropped their profit margin a bit to help keep the price of a gallon of gas and diesel down? Like I said, I may just not understand it all and I should just pay the price of gas and quit replying to these threads. Demand goes up and supply goes down to make things more expensive. Yes that's common sense. What I was getting at and probably should have worded it a bit different, is why wouldn't Exxon lower their profit margin to keep the expense at the pump down a bit. So they make a few billion dollars less in profit. They are still making billions.

Do you really think that the price of fuel would drop that much if supply exceeded the demand? IMO, no because then the refineries would just slow down the production and keep the price of fuel at a higher price to make billions in profit.

 

Last I heard Exon Mobil was not a non-profit corporation.

 

They have an obligation to thier shareholders to maximize profits. to do otherwise would be unethical.

 

i find it hard to beleive the demand for oil has doubled and almost tripled in the last 6 years, but the price of oil has. the supply and demand aspect doesn't fit into that equation.

 

It's not a linear relationship. The price simply rises until demand goes down enough to meet supply. If demand doesn't go down very fast (like for oil), the the price has to go up faster to discourage consumption.

I'm probably not explaining that very well, but hopefully you see what I'm talking about.

 

Might want to rethink that idea. Hay Burners are high maintenace and that's if you DON'T ride them everyday. Besides, I bet you forgot to work in the cost of the pooper scooper that will have to follow you on the city streets! goldendually

 

Exactly. I think people believe them to be a charitable organization, though, since there is a hue and cry (from politicians AND citizens) for Exxon to give away billions to alternative fuel research and environmental cleanup.....

If you want Exxon to give you money, buy some of their stock and reap some of the dividends......

 

The oil companies must spend about 400 billion to make 39 billion. How is that a huge profit considering the outlay necessary to make it.

 

I love how people say that their profit was too high. If it was a million some people would say that it was too high. That's why we live in this country for the free market. These same people probably think that it was ok when Bill Gates got the screws put to him. I used to think that way but thankfully my eyes have been opened. I say use all of the middle easts oil before we ever consider tapping into ours in alaska and other places!!

 

free market? we live in a mixed market society. and they spent 400 billion to make 439 billion, and part of that 400 in operational costs gets absorbed in r&d and other things.

all the power to them, i am sure them and everyone else could actually assist and help out not to have such huge oil spikes, but as someone said, their responsibility is to shareholders, which is a very unfortunate trend among todays corporations. they seem to have forgotten who actually help build these comapnies in the first place, and it wasn't baba khan in india.