And we’re paying HOW MUCH MORE for gas?
Exxon Mobil Corp said on Thursday soaring oil prices pushed its second-quarter earnings up 14%, again breaking its own record for the highest-ever profit by a U.S. company.
What was it that drove up profits? “Soaring oil prices”.
All the whining. Take the issue of Lee Raymond’s $400 million payout from ExxonMobil. That was his package for more than 10 years of service in which he saved both companies (Exxon and Mobil) from extinction by merging them.
Meanwhile Oprah Winfrey is worth $2.5 billion yet she never has produced one drop of oil. Who is more valuable to America? I’ll take Raymond any day of the week.
Why don’t all the enviro-kooks stop complaining and actually produce some energy. Actually, they can’t because their ideas, from ethanol to windmills, DO NOT WORK. In Texas this Spring, 1,100 megawatts of power simply disappeared from the grid because the wind stopped blowing the windmills down there.
I’d rather trust the future to ExxonMobil any day.
Proof that Colmes is a Bolshevik who hates capitalism. He should be a dishwasher earning $7 an hour rather than an overpaid purveyor of lies, but his wealth accumulated on the backs of dead Arabs and muzzled European Christians doesn’t bother his conscience one iota because he doesn’t have on in his godless diseased mind. What a selfish ungrateful jealous little pathetic control freak, his Jewish bankers profit everyday off of the work of decent folk and he never demands that they be taxed for their theft and deceit. I will enjoy knowing you burn in hell you pathetic trash.
That’s why this could be called treason. But the pols are afraid of the oil execs.
What other business could charge you RECORD prices while making RECORD profits?
If it’s supply and demand, the cost to the oil companies would also go up.
The dictionary defines price gouging as:
noun
pricing above the market price when no alternative retailer is available
Ok, for whoever wants to get pissed off, here’s another shining example of our government at work. Besides the FDA f ups. We have thousands of people we pay in government to do their jobs, thousands….read this crap
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-07-28-unpaidtaxes_N.htm
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Everybody keeps saying they can’t do anything about gas prices, which is bull, because way back when Nixon put a freeze on wages and prices both.
July 31st, 2008 at 11:47 am
I read an article about a loophole that congress has yet to plug. Over 24 foreign and domestic oil companies owe American citizens billions of dollars of royalties. I asked my representatives about this in one of my letters. I’d like to see if I get an answer. What’s going on with these big corporations is bullshit and depending on the industry shows us which group of congressmen/women and senators we’re getting screwed by. It’s both parties.
July 31st, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Maybe Alan could help us and explain profit margins, how much the oil companies are profiting off a gallon of gas and how much the government is “profiting” off a gallon of gas via taxes.
That would be an interesting read.
Or interesting silence.
July 31st, 2008 at 12:50 pm
From what I’ve been listening to with all these politicians, it depends on who you ask. Some economists say it’s record profit, some say it’s a small percentage. All I know for sure is they are all doing a good job in keeping us ignorant and squashed down.
July 31st, 2008 at 1:00 pm
I’m not disagreeing with record profits, there are more people buying gas than ever before. Of course there would be record profits.
If pet rocks were sold today the creators of the fad would also make record profits, there are many many many more stoopid people today than yesteryear.
July 31st, 2008 at 1:47 pm
The major oil companies are buying back stock as fast as they can; instead of paying dividends.
July 31st, 2008 at 2:14 pm
I’m not happy with their record profits, but it needs to be noted that the profit margin for oil companies is less than 10%, which is average for businesses. So they’re not increasing their profit margin.
Here’s an example of things that we should take issue with-
the $400 million salary and retirement package received by Exxon’s CEO in 2006. Other oil execs received salaries of about $10-20 million (about average for corporate CEO’s).
Here’s an article from THE NEW YORK TIMES, dated Feb/2008.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/01/business/01cnd-exxon.html?hp
July 31st, 2008 at 2:43 pm
As Truth2Power noted above, the government makes a good deal of money off their gas tax. Everytime you hear about an oil companies record profits, remember that that means record profits for Uncle Sam, too.
http://www.taxfoundation.org/publications/show/1139.html
the above link covers stats through 2004, but I can assure you that it hasn’t changed much. The government continues to pull in money.
You can google “fuel tax” or “gas tax” if you want more info.
July 31st, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Very good points here. CEO pay needs to be in line with dividends paid out. But isn’t it shareholders responsibility to watch over this and vote? See, it all comes down to us not paying attention. We’re greedy, us humans. If its good for us we don’t care. Only until it starts going bad, then we start screaming.
July 31st, 2008 at 3:33 pm
The record profits our govt is making from the Fuel Tax is being used to fund the war. Funny, isn’t it? Our oil (imported, but taxes paid by us) is paying for a foreign war that was supposed to be paid for using the foreign oil.
This is ri-damn-diculous.
July 31st, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Gas prices here dropped to a perilously low $3.89 a gallon (from $3.99) in the past week or so. The oil companies better hurry up and jack up the price another 20 or 30 cents lest their profits don’t reach record breaking levels next quarter. And even though we all might feel like we’re getting screwed, let’s remember that what’s good for the richest oil barons and executives (read: the Bush administration) is ultimately good for all of us!
July 31st, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Besides for those that are jealous of others, who cares how much an oil ceo makes? It’s not as if their paycheck is funded by my tax dollars.
All I know for sure is they are all doing a good job in keeping us ignorant and squashed down.
Who’s the “us” you are talking about, you got a frog in your pocket?
July 31st, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Point of order, Cheryl.
Government taxes so much per gallon; whether that gallon costs $1 or $4.
The profit margin (~10%?) rises and falls with the wholesale price.
Some retail segments (groceries) does well with a profit margin of ~2%.
July 31st, 2008 at 7:20 pm
Hahah T2P, if you’ve read my posts you know that the we isn’t me and my froggie. It’s the public in general. There are many of the power that be who think we’re stupid. It’s hard to fathom how they would think so many millions of people would be stupid, but the crap they’re pulling and trying to pull proves it.
July 31st, 2008 at 7:54 pm
I love my bike.
July 31st, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Ok, for whoever wants to get pissed off, here’s another shining example of our government at work. Besides the FDA f ups. We have thousands of people we pay in government to do their jobs, thousands….read this crap
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-07-28-unpaidtaxes_N.htm
July 31st, 2008 at 8:02 pm
What other business could charge you RECORD prices while making RECORD profits?
If it’s supply and demand, the cost to the oil companies would also go up.
The dictionary defines price gouging as:
noun
pricing above the market price when no alternative retailer is available
July 31st, 2008 at 9:41 pm
That’s why this could be called treason. But the pols are afraid of the oil execs.
July 31st, 2008 at 10:29 pm
Proof that Colmes is a Bolshevik who hates capitalism. He should be a dishwasher earning $7 an hour rather than an overpaid purveyor of lies, but his wealth accumulated on the backs of dead Arabs and muzzled European Christians doesn’t bother his conscience one iota because he doesn’t have on in his godless diseased mind. What a selfish ungrateful jealous little pathetic control freak, his Jewish bankers profit everyday off of the work of decent folk and he never demands that they be taxed for their theft and deceit. I will enjoy knowing you burn in hell you pathetic trash.
August 1st, 2008 at 1:25 am
All the whining. Take the issue of Lee Raymond’s $400 million payout from ExxonMobil. That was his package for more than 10 years of service in which he saved both companies (Exxon and Mobil) from extinction by merging them.
Meanwhile Oprah Winfrey is worth $2.5 billion yet she never has produced one drop of oil. Who is more valuable to America? I’ll take Raymond any day of the week.
Why don’t all the enviro-kooks stop complaining and actually produce some energy. Actually, they can’t because their ideas, from ethanol to windmills, DO NOT WORK. In Texas this Spring, 1,100 megawatts of power simply disappeared from the grid because the wind stopped blowing the windmills down there.
I’d rather trust the future to ExxonMobil any day.
August 1st, 2008 at 10:23 am