Posted on 10/27/2005 7:19:19 AM PDT by sumocide
When the price of ____ goes up ____, then those who sell ____ will reap greater profits.
Exxon Mobil reported earnings of $9.9 billion, $1.58 per share, up 75% from the same quarter a year ago. The profit is more than what Microsoft reported in first-quarter sales after the bell today. Put it another way. The company earned $4.48 million an hour in profit during the quarter.
Big Oil: We don't need no more stinking refineries. We like the few that we have JUST FINE!
These obscene profits are the equivalent of an 8.4% return per share. Ghastly horrid greedy. NOT.
Exxon will use the profit to invest in more oil and natural gas development, and to upgrade refineries. That's their business, and that is what they do. Do we want to take the profits, call them windfall, and not have them available to develop petroleum resources? Is Hillary series about crippling the industry and giving us real oil problems?
If I made only an 8.4 % return on my work, i'd get fired!
Your cute little statement makes no sense.
Never been accused of being cute, you trying to get close?????
Send pictures and I will get back to you.
I thot so, just talk....
Back to your point. Even if the supply is controlled by a monopoly that does not mean it can control demand. And there are hundreds of independent producers of oil with thousands of small wells throughout the country. These are not always in operation depending on whether the price is high enough to justify pumping.
In any case the barriers to entry posed by governmental regulation work to the benefit of the larger companies.
However we are not speaking of widgets, we are speaking of the life blood of the world, in particular the United States.
Supply and demand keeps the widget makers in line. However oil affects everyone, immediately.
This fact allows a handful of people around the world to manipulate the market, thus supply and demand is skewed in their favor.
Still makes no sense.
Supply is controlled by producers (and governments) demand is controlled by consumers. Last month saw the greatest drop in consumer demand on record.
Contrary to popular opinion even demand for oil is subject to price elasticity.
There have always been relatively large corporations in the world economy. Before oil you had the East India Company, Railroad barons, Financiers with great power, Astor, the Rothschields, the Medici bankers, the Fuggers.
I'm pretty sure the chart shows the split-adjusted price, so you shouldn't multiply the number of shares.
Oil is so vital to world economy that a few cannot be allowed to determine "supply".
If they have that much power, why hasn't gas always been $5/gallon?
Hooray for Exxon Mobile! F-ck Bill O'Reilly (not even my neighbor's dog would want to).
Oil people well know what their limits are, overdo it and they will be taken over by government.
Then why wouldn't the value double at each split?
You and i mostly seem to disagree on stuff. Not here tonight.
See #12.
You raise a good point. With those kind of profits what exactly is big oil's impetus for building new refineries?
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