Posted on 10/27/2005 7:19:19 AM PDT by sumocide
Woo-Hoo! I predict a stock split in my future! :)
Some of this does not make sense.
I'm all for market-based profits, but it must be a truly free market. It mustn't be interfered with by labor, management, or government.
Cartels, deals, schemes, or price controls are not a "free market."
Glad I own this stock as well, yippeeee!!
Look, oil is a cyclical industry. When prices are down, and the oil companies are laying people off left and right, nobody feels bad for them and suggests that people should pay more at the pump. Nobody, including the oil companies, thought that oil would be this high now, they are making a lot of money, but the profits will come down as that money is reinvested at much higher costs.
My grandaddy was a wise man. Thanks Grandaddy!
Like I said, I have no problem with free market profits.
But cartels, deals, schemes, price controls, etc....no matter who messes with the market for whatever reason....are not an indication of a free market.
My guts tell me something is being manipulated BEYOND the cartel (which we already know makes this a non-Free market.)
How does it look going back to 1974?
Would be capitalists here seem not to understand that.
That's where I think the manipulation is. As they say, "If it looks too good to be true....it probably is." They also say, "follow the money."
I've watched PBS, foundations, politics for years now, and I'm constantly amazed at the support big oil gives to the most liberal of causes. It's like they were funding their own demise or something.
So, the Sierra Club opposes refineries and the oil companies get rich. Is that it?
Tree hugging, radical environmentalists block drilling, coal, oil exploration, refineries, etc., etc.
As a result of all that oil companies have radical, enormous profitability.
If I were an oil company, I'd be hiring infiltrating the environmental movement to fake "being opposed" to by "desire" to build more refineries.
Unless...of course....they already have.
I think you have to look beyond the MSM announcement of "record profits" and break it down to how much comes from Exxon selling oil it has pumped (At a fixed cost) to the world market (at record prices), as opposed to how much "record profit" comes from the oil it must buy on the world market to refine to gas, oil, diesel etc.
As long as we use more oil than we produce, we will always be subject to the vagaries, and uncertainties of they world market.
If I were an oil company, I'd be hiring infiltrating the environmental movement to fake "being opposed" to by "desire" to build more refineries.
Unless...of course....they already have.
If I were an oil company, I'd be HIRING SOMEONE TO INFILTRATE the environmental movement to fake "being opposed" to MY "desire" to build more refineries.
I have this stock and I'm glad I do
So If i was given $5,000 worth in 1974, and it was at about $2 per share, that equals approx 2500 shares. Assuming all of the 5 spilts were 2 for one spilts, that works out to 80,000 shares now. So at $60 per share, that's 4.8 million.
Nice, but after Cap Gains, etc., it's still not enough to retire at 40.
OK so let's get the cap gains tax eliminated!
Hell yeah, then I can retire at 40! (No way, i'd be drunk & dead in a year!).
Cap gains and "the death tax" are the worst. followed by the progressive tax on the sweat of our brow. The more you work, the more you pay. Sure doesn't seem fair.
"The more you work, the more you pay."
I'm on track to retire in 10 years at age 55. Sooner, if at all possible. Grandpa retired at 55, Dad at 53.
How have I done this? By following the Good Example set by my elders who have lived The Good Life. I've always lived below my means, gave 20 years of my youth to the military, invested in a tax-deferred retirement fund since I was 20, watched my tax base like a hawk when I was both single and (currently) married so I'd know how much or how little to earn, and I cut back to part-time as DH's salary kept growing over the past decade and it was actually COSTING us money in taxes for me to work full-time.
I've always had a business on the side for tax deductions, had rental properties in the past that always lost money *wink* and basically stayed under Uncle Sam's radar all these years. DH & I just started another business this past spring, and are on track to sell it within 5 years if it pans out as we've planned. Then it'll be 6 months in Mexico and 6 months in Wisconsin. Or Hawaii. Or Alaska. Or...
It can be done. But if you're already nearing 40 you gotta get busy now, LOL! :)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.