Posted on 04/26/2006 6:35:00 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants
Okay, I have seen a LOT of threads claiming that oil companies aren't really making that much on each gallon of gasoline.
Oh, really? (blink, blink) Then explain the record profits by the oil companies.
Why sure. First, US oil companies don't import all of their oil. In fact several companies actually import very little. Where do they get it? Why, from wells on private and federal land that they drilled on years and years ago. What is the extraction cost to get it out of these wells? You can be darned sure that it is nowhere near $75 a barrel. In fact, I read that it is somewhere around $7 to $15 a barrel. Add to this cost a small royalty that they pay the federal government or private land owner and refining and transportation cost and you come up with maybe $25 a barrel.
Now, mix in the oil they bought 3 or 4 months ago at $52 a barrel that is just now coming to the refinery and you have an average of between $25 and $40 a barrel.
So what we have is huge profits at the expense of the consumer. How long will it last? The prices will start to drop once they feel they are starting to harm the economy. Congress and the media and the consumers stop bothering them and they look for the next opportunity to do it all over again.
Wish I knew where so many of you all are getting this incorrect factoid that the "cost of production hasn't risen much". Where is that coming from?
Ever hear of the profit motive? They are in business to make a profit. That's why they are there. What gives you the right to decide what is a fair profit for someone else's business? Your right is to buy their product - or not - to express your pleasure/displeasure at the way they do business.
I lived through the Carter Oil Embargo of the 70s. Given the choice of having no fuel at prices set by the government and lines around the block EVERY DAY or having plenty of fuel at prices set by the marketplace, I'll take the latter.
The government can't keep the Post Office, Amtrak or Veterans Hospitals afloat and you think their taking control of oil companies will help?
Don't you think it's probably Opus Dei? And that Karl Rove is the new president or bishop of it? I believe that's his eye on the top of the pyramid on the $ bill. At least, it looks like it to me.
Go a month without consuming any oil. No products created, transported, fertilized, packaged with the benefit of oil.
Done? Tell me again that oil is irrelevant?
I do get your point that the leftist chant was no blood for oil, but I didn't see them walking to those protests either.
Move to a new location. Walk or run instead of driving. Ride a bike. Start your own mass transit company.
You see, you do have choices!
Ahhhh no thanks on the dump I am not the dump kinda person.
BUT not only do FReepers ques that so do our Senators
and BTW my Daughter has worked for Shell for over 10 years
and yes she does have stock. Now I am sorry I didn't get it and reap the benefits , how much do you contribute when you buy gasoline? Love to benefit off of your purchase.
WASHINGTON - A Senate committee Wednesday announced an investigation into taxes paid by major oil companies and asked the Internal Revenue Service for the companies' tax returns.
http://www.comcast.net/news/index.jsp?cat=GENERAL&fn=/2006/04/26/377893.html&cvqh=itn_oil
Who created the tax spaghetti problem? Who is going to come riding in on their white horse to save us? What GOOD guys they are. Aren't they just wonderful to look out for the "little" people?
Companies pay accountants to take full advantage of our tax laws. They didn't create the hoops to jump through. Want to end the games? Simplify our tax laws. I don't like corporate welfare, period. Hiring people to find the best route through the tax maze is not corporate welfare.
The solution is to take away the life or death power our politicians have over our businesses. By granting tax breaks to some and creating obnoxious regulations for others is how the politicians line their re-election bank accounts.
Trim this power to what was allowed in the constitution and we'll make some progress. With the added benefit of an economy that will prosper like you have never seen in your lifetime. Companies that will rethink fleeing the USA in search of more business friendly climates.
Well said comrade!
I'm one of those people that doesn't believe in property taxes...I figure if I bought the land, I own it...So I think you're a bit confused in calling me comrade...
Apparently you support the idea of the gov't owning the land, even after you've paid for it, and the gov't owning the natural resources...
I'll say again
Here's a shovel. Go get "your" oil.
And do you have a separate number the share holders can call to let you know how they feel about your metric?
I'm one of those few people that still thinks I own the gov't as opposed to the status quo...So yes, if the oil companies refuse to build new refineries, I'll tell my gov't to build some...
And it won't cause a shortage of gasoline as some suggest because someone will refine oil for a billion dollars profit per year instead of 40 billion...
I'm a capitalist but not to the point that I will burn my furniture to stay warm while an oil exec makes half a billion dollars in wages on the oil I can't afford...
Nationalizing our health care has done wonders for the costs. Why should a government built refinery have a different result as the nationalized health care?
And it won't cause a shortage of gasoline as some suggest because someone will refine oil for a billion dollars profit per year instead of 40 billion...
How many years will that "billion" dollar profit sustain your company during the years when profits are slim to none?
A billion dollars profit just waiting to be plucked. I wonder why no one has jumped at this opportunity?
I'm a capitalist
What is the motive for the capitalist to build a refinery?
In a nutshell: ExxonMobil paid over $23 Billion in corporate income tax. That's a 39% income tax rate. ChevronTexaco paid 44%.
There are many small domestic companies that don't own the refineries...But the larger one are now International companies...And the Arabs who sell the crude own a pretty large share of what we perceive as American Companies...
And you, I or anyone else will probably never again see an independently owned gas station...
No relationship whatsoever to the two items. The bottle water "analogy" has been beaten to death. And it is still worthless.
It falls in line with the liberal argument that because Japan pays twice as much for gasoline, we should be grateful we are only getting raped for $3 a gallon.
BTW, in WalMart you can by bottled water for 75¢ a gallon. So where's your outrage at the cost of gasoline?
so am i. those are not fine memories.
Instead of looking, why are you not making money on this information.
Lets take the oil companies profit away. Instead of $3.10 a gallon for gas, it's now $2.99.
Now, how long will the oil companies survive while not making a profit? So they shut down operations in the USA, move the companies offices, refineries and employees to a more business friendly country.
We still need gas. So now we buy it from Exon Mexico. What did we lose here? All of the payroll and SS taxes paid by the oil companies employees AND the CEO, hundreds of thousands of good paying jobs and over two trillion dollars in corporate and other taxes that the oil companies have paid in the last 25 years.
Is the gas any cheaper? Nope, because your still dealing with worldwide demand for gasoline.
Typical leftist solution to a problem. Making everyone equally miserable.
Ayn Rand: "Yes. And your point is?"
The war in Iraq is not about oil. We use cash to buy oil and the military to oppose criminal thugs. The fundamental motivation for sending the military into Iraq is to destroy the criminal jihadi enterprise that operated in Iraq. That enterprise was not the oil market, it was export of death, destruction and terrorism. Oil is irrelevant.
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