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The Big Oil price gouging myth (Freeper op-ed)
Freeport (Illinois) Ink
| 11 May 06
| Me
Posted on 05/25/2006 12:05:10 PM PDT by Mr. Silverback
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2
posted on
05/25/2006 12:05:39 PM PDT
by
Mr. Silverback
(Try Jesus--If you don't like Him, the devil will always take you back.)
To: Mr. Silverback
I read the other day, and I believe it, that "Big Music" makes more money on each mp3 song download off iTunes than "Big Oil" makes on each gallon of gas.
Where's the outrage, I ask you?
To: Mr. Silverback
I am to the right of Attila the Hun on most issues, but am not a fan of big oil. There are only realty five major oil companies that control the market.
They may not be price gouging, but I think it's fair to say they are not highly competitive at the retail level.
Dodge wants you to buy their vehicles over Ford or Toyota. They have aggressive advertising, test drive promotions and incentives Tell me what ConocoPhillips is doing to win your business from ExxonMobil or Shell. Every major oil company is very pleased with the status quo. They may not be very competitive, but they are all making record profits.
4
posted on
05/25/2006 12:15:49 PM PDT
by
BW2221
To: Mr. Silverback
All true...but you forgot to look at the traders extracting the "fear premium" or as theycall it in the car business..."added dealer profit".
5
posted on
05/25/2006 12:16:42 PM PDT
by
Wristpin
("The Yankees announce plan to buy every player in Baseball....")
To: Mr. Silverback
Good job. The collectivist legislators in the Congress think we're stupid. They'd better think again before trying to sell us their nonsense.
6
posted on
05/25/2006 12:19:32 PM PDT
by
blitzgig
To: Mr. Silverback
If you want real fun, try calculating hte price of gas over the last thirty years and comparing it to the per-capita fed gov spending, after adjusting for inflation. If the gas had kept up with government spending, we'd be paying $8/gallon!
7
posted on
05/25/2006 12:23:37 PM PDT
by
Fudd
To: Mr. Silverback
Bump for a great article. Bill O'Reilly is one of the demegogues. The cost of gasoline is close to what is was 30 years ago adjusted for inflation. Try that calculation on coca cola.
8
posted on
05/25/2006 12:26:26 PM PDT
by
groanup
(Shred For Ian)
To: Mr. Silverback
I wonder how the eight Republican Senators who voted to strip the Anwar Ammendment from the Budget Bill feel about it now. The resolution to strip it out was introduced by Nancy Pelosi and was voted for by the following Republicans: Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, both of Maine; Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island; Gordon Smith of Oregon; Mike DeWine of Ohio; Peter Fitzgerald of Illinois; John McCain of Arizona, and Norm Coleman, ashamedly from my home State of Minnesota. It passed 52-48.
Whereas I will vote for Coleman again, I will lose no opportunity to embarrass him in State and local caucuses for this foolish abberation.
To: Mr. Silverback
10
posted on
05/25/2006 12:28:42 PM PDT
by
facedown
(Armed in the Heartland)
To: JZelle
11
posted on
05/25/2006 12:29:27 PM PDT
by
Mr. Silverback
(Try Jesus--If you don't like Him, the devil will always take you back.)
To: BW2221
Dodges and Toyotas are not commodities. A commodity is something that you can take off of any shelf in any store and its qualities and characteristics are the same. If you want, you can buy all the gasoline you want in the futures pits. I think it trades in 40,000 gallon quantities per contract. Get a few friends together, build a storage facility and buy it. The oil companies have to pay the market rate for their raw materials and must charge a market price for their final product. They keep their profit margins the same. They must maximize profits for their shareholders.
If the margin is 3% on a gallon of gas then if a gallon costs 1.00 their marginal profit is 3 cents. If a gallon costs 3.00 their marginal profit is 9 cents.
12
posted on
05/25/2006 12:33:44 PM PDT
by
groanup
(Shred For Ian)
To: Mr. Silverback
Just look at that number two Democrat Senator Mr. Dick Durbin.
He tried to make himself a name with two oil company price gouging investigations on his home turf.
In both cases belated results of gouging turned out nothing.
What happened however was that Amoco gave up and sold out to British Petroleum.
In Dick's Illinois/Chicago backyard people lost their good paying jobs as not only Amoco's Petroleum Division, but the Chemical Division also went along.
Talk about forcing oil companies into selling out and deserting from fame seeking politicians the likes of Dick Durbin.
Competition anybody, not in Dick's backyard.
13
posted on
05/25/2006 12:44:05 PM PDT
by
hermgem
(The same)
To: Mr. Silverback
The big oil companies recently posted record profits, but they also recently reported record sales. Funny how those two things go together, isnt it? Increased demand in the face of higher price also contradicts the law of supply and demand. Higher prices drive demand DOWN, not up.
If anyone is immune from the law -- in more ways than one -- it's the oil companies.
14
posted on
05/25/2006 12:47:22 PM PDT
by
IronJack
To: BW2221
They may not be price gouging, but I think it's fair to say they are not highly competitive at the retail level. Explain to me how somebody gets a 3.3% profit margin from a no-competition situation.
Dodge wants you to buy their vehicles over Ford or Toyota. They have aggressive advertising, test drive promotions and incentives Tell me what ConocoPhillips is doing to win your business from ExxonMobil or Shell.
Since almost every gas station I go into seems to have a contest or a special credit card deal, it seems they are competing with incentives. But let's put that aside and have a lesson in fungible commodities: Tell me what aggressive advertising and incentives grain elevator A does to gain advantage over grain elevator B.
15
posted on
05/25/2006 1:06:06 PM PDT
by
Mr. Silverback
(Try Jesus--If you don't like Him, the devil will always take you back.)
To: trifona
16
posted on
05/25/2006 1:06:42 PM PDT
by
FreedomPoster
(Guns themselves are fairly robust; their chief enemies are rust and politicians) (NRA)
To: John Valentine
Where's the outrage, I ask you? Once upon a time, it was channeled into Napster memberships. :-)
Of course, we can't take the "steal it" approach with gas!
17
posted on
05/25/2006 1:07:12 PM PDT
by
Mr. Silverback
(Try Jesus--If you don't like Him, the devil will always take you back.)
To: blitzgig; Wristpin
Thanks for the suggestion and the kudos, guys.
18
posted on
05/25/2006 1:08:35 PM PDT
by
Mr. Silverback
(Try Jesus--If you don't like Him, the devil will always take you back.)
To: Fudd
19
posted on
05/25/2006 1:09:24 PM PDT
by
Mr. Silverback
(Try Jesus--If you don't like Him, the devil will always take you back.)
To: groanup
Yeah, I don't know if O'Reilly is just doing that for ratings or "Look at me, I'm fair and balanced" or if he was just asleep during econ at Harvard.
20
posted on
05/25/2006 1:10:26 PM PDT
by
Mr. Silverback
(Try Jesus--If you don't like Him, the devil will always take you back.)
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