He can't....no one on here can. It's the Al Gore syndrome around here.... "I wanna protect you from Big Oil! Big Drug! Big Global Warming! Big Fast Food! Big Rich Microsoft! Big Walmart! Big SUV's" No data......just hatred and ignorance.
Pardon me. My entry was directed at the overall price of oil, not just US oil companies importing it here. History dictates that the price of crude oil skyrockets when there is trouble in the Middle East. However, in regards to domestic oil companies, it's very likely that they tend to overexaggerate 'pump cost' in accord with this phenomenon. If they've reported record profits, it's reasonable to assume that the gap between cost and price has increased. As an aside, are the 'US oil companies' not typically multi-national entities? BP kind of goes without saying. And I know that Exxon had to change their name from 'Esso' because the latter is apparently an offensive Turkish phrase. This is not to insinuate anything further, but a legitimate inquiry. To whomever (?) was talking about Al Gore, let's try staying on topic instead of acting like a child.
Pardon me? You said powers that be have an excuse to jack up oil prices......I didn't say that, you did. Backtrack if you want to, but you said powers that be, "Big OIL!" have an excuse to jack up oil prices. The other guy said how can they do that? I said you couldn't explain it and on demand, you can't. Record profits doesn't mean any nonsense about gap of cost and price. It's supply is lower and demand is higher. The lower supply, the higher the demand = higher price. Any hysteria, not just war, can increase the price of oil. Just because it's trading at $75 a barrel doesn't mean that that is a legitmate price no more than Google trading at $400 is. But that is how much oil companies can sell their stock for a buy other's oil to refine. The only thing Bush can do about this is call somebody at OPEC and "ask" them to pump more damned oil to help meet demand, therefore lowering the price somewhat. Red listed earlier things that effect gas prices. The real list is a whole bunch of government restrictions placed on oil drilling, taxes, EPA crap on building and operating refineries....basically government garbage precluding oil companies from making a profit by drilling for oil and refining domestically. That list has been and will be the overarching reasons behind why the US cannot and will not be able to have an ounce of leverage in the cost of gasoline. That list has caused us to be at the mercy of supplies generated by our enemies.
The point is that voters don't give a chit about the price of gold, but they damn sure do about the price of gasoline. It is clear that oil prices immediately affect our economy and they are of vital national concern. The obvious point is that the oil companies made $ billions of windfall profits during an oil crisis while the ordinary citizens who suffered the high costs paid for it to the detriment of the country in general.
Because they are taking a profit on the increased price of OPEC crude in addition to taking profit on their actual costs of producing the gasoline. More money for doing the same amount of work. Windfall profits that cost the consumer $ billions at the pump. Give me a break, LC. Do you even read the papers. Do a googlesearch and you'll find plenty of articles to enlighten you. How about this one. Would you consider a Republican senator proposing to eliminate the anti-trust loopholes for oil companies to be someone on this planet? :lol: Senator proposes oil company windfall profits tax Associated Press April 24, 2006 WASHINGTON - The government should consider a tax on oil companies if they make excessive profits amid rising gasoline prices, a leading Republican senator said Sunday. Last week, crude-oil prices hit record highs and average gasoline prices nationwide neared $3 a gallon. Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said a windfall profits tax, along with measures to stem concentration of market power among a few select oil companies, could offer eventual relief to consumers hurting at the gas pump. "(Oil companies) get together, reduce the supply of oil, and that drives up prices," he said. "In the short run, it's hard to deal with it for tomorrow. But I think windfall profits, eliminating the antitrust exemption, considering the excessive concentration of power are all items we ought to be addressing." Read the rest of the story Did you even read my first post? Taxes did not go up during the oil crisis because they are tied to gallons sold. Corporate profits are not tied to gallons sold, but to the price of the raw product they purchase. Oil Companies have no profit motive to produce more gasoline to make money. They make more money if supplies are tight and overseas oil goes up in price. You want to talk economics. Lets remove the anti-trust exemption from the oil companies and make them compete on a true free-market playing field instead of running cartels to keep them all profitable at the expense of consumers.[/QUOTE]
Meaning what? What do you want to do with oil companies when they make a profit at the expense of us poor, sheeplike citizens? You want to punish them? You want them to do what? We have to have drugs too right? What would you do with those company profits? Want to punish them too for a profit? Please enlighten.
[/quote] Good Lord Red. You had a list of things you said effected the price of gas. One of those was oil company profits. Explain to me again how oil company profits effect the price of gasoline? I know these commies want to take Exxon's profits.....I get it. Explain your list because I said their profits do nothing to the price of gas dude and you did. So they shouldn't take a profit on refining the oil when they own the plant? They are paying the increased price also to purchase oil to refine it. Hence, the increase in gas prices. You are making no sense here.
Show me where I said 'the powers that be = big oil.' I used that particular language intentionally so as to exclude either entity (whether it be OPEC, Exxon, etc.) in the question posed by TigerWins. Maybe review the last few posts.
That's not the point. There is little we can do about what OPEC charges for oil. The problem is that the U.S. oil companies merrily keep adding the same high percentage of override on each barrel as the price goes up. It doesn't cost them any more to refine or transport the gasoline, they are just taking advantage of high source prices to gouge the consumer. These foreign oil producing nations need our money just as bad as we need their oil, but our oil companies have no profit motive to resist and challenge their pricing when they are getting incredibly rich, even as the nation suffers. Huge excess profits that are born by the citizens and that do not go to the foreign seller. They go to oil company profits like the $400 million retirement package that the former CEO of Exxon got during a time when the public is suffering prices that are 30% higher than last year.
