LifeNRA Posted October 28, 2005 Report Share Posted October 28, 2005 I heard on the radio that the oil companies had made a record profit this quarter! Something like over 9 BILLION dollars!!! Because of increased oil prices! This is our money that made them RICHER!!!!!!! Maybe its time the federal goverment should step in and start regulating oil prices. This is BS!!!!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slugshooter Posted October 28, 2005 Report Share Posted October 28, 2005 Re: Oil Companies Made HUGE PROFITS This Quarter!!! There's a thread about this in the lounge. Exxon I think made over 9 Billion last quarter, BP Amoco made over 6 Billion. I should have bought stock in oil companies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Phaseolus (BeanMan) Posted October 28, 2005 Report Share Posted October 28, 2005 Re: Oil Companies Made HUGE PROFITS This Quarter!!! Do you remember when George Bush said he would prosectue any company guilty of price gouging? **** hasn't froze over yet. BeanMan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slugshooter Posted October 28, 2005 Report Share Posted October 28, 2005 Re: Oil Companies Made HUGE PROFITS This Quarter!!! [ QUOTE ] Do you remember when George Bush said he would prosectue any company guilty of price gouging? **** hasn't froze over yet. BeanMan [/ QUOTE ] He also said he would fire anyone INVOLVED in the CIA leak probe, then, when he realized his good buddy Rove was involved, he changed it to if a crime was committed, he's gonna have a hard time firing people when it involved Cheney, Rove, Libby and who knows who else. I bet even if Rove or Libby are indicted, tried, and convicted, he still won't fire them, he'll either ask for their resignations, or say that they were convicted on baseless facts and it was all a partisan witchhunt. I'll admit, the mans got backbone when it comes to despots on the other side of the world that he's never met, but he wilts like a flower in the Texas heat when something hits close to home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevebeilgard Posted October 31, 2005 Report Share Posted October 31, 2005 Re: Oil Companies Made HUGE PROFITS This Quarter!!! just more reasons conservatives don't like bush. he's way too far left. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hutchies Posted November 1, 2005 Report Share Posted November 1, 2005 Re: Oil Companies Made HUGE PROFITS This Quarter!!! 9.2 Billion to be exact and slugshooter hit it on the head. When it hits close to home he doesn't want to talk about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markyj987 Posted November 4, 2005 Report Share Posted November 4, 2005 Re: Oil Companies Made HUGE PROFITS This Quarter!!! [ QUOTE ] I heard on the radio that the oil companies had made a record profit this quarter! Something like over 9 BILLION dollars!!! [/ QUOTE ] Brace yourselves...some of you won't like what I'm about to say! GOOD! I can't believe in a relatively conservative venue that there is such anger over big business doing what it does--try to make money! Ask someone who works for an oil company how they feel about their jobs in the future. These companies create American jobs--and we pay them by buying gas. Granted, those who bought a big truck or SUV just to keep up with the Joneses are really paying for it now. Why didn't I hear people gripe when GM and Ford had great profits? Aren't they just as greedy? What about Parker Brothers having a monopoly on the game Monopoly? Isn't that unfair? C'mon people...get with it. WE are the main reason that gas prices are high because we live in a free-market economy and can choose the kind of vehicle we drive--whether it's a gas guzzler or an electric car. It's really the price we pay. I am wondering if some of you might be happier if like in some countries the government told us we could only buy 1.1 liter engine Ford Escorts--oil companies wouldn't get rich then! The forces behind gas prices are Economics 101--supply and demand. Inelastic versus elastic demand. Consumer expectations and restrictions on supply. Gas prices are on the way back down--it just the price to jump so high for consumers to change their behavior. Of course, on the supply side, refining capacity is a problem for three main reasons--OPEC restrictions on crude production, government regulation when it comes to building refineries, and the whole NIMBY philosophy. For those who haven't heard NIMBY, it means "Not in My Back Yard." It's the mentality of "I want cheap gas so they should build refineries--but I don't want it in my area because of reason X, Y, or Z." Now that Ford and GM are starting to tank, I really wonder what will happen when layoffs really start. Then it will be their fault too for being greedy as well? Maybe...but maybe not. Maybe it's the greed of the workers via labor unions--MANY of whom get paid (in this area) $35-$40 an hour with a SWEET retirement package doing a job that requires absolutely no skill. Layoffs and pay cuts in the auto industry--in my opinion--would actually be a market correction. Though, as I said earlier--the "evil" corporations and their greed will be blamed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reloader Posted November 4, 2005 Report Share Posted November 4, 2005 Re: Oil Companies Made HUGE PROFITS This Quarter!!! I have no problem with the oil companies making money, Marky! What I have a problem with is them lying to us about why they have to raise prices. They kept saying that the huricanes damaged production and that all the price raising was due to shortages and damages to refineries or the war. unfortunately, the record profits prove they hiked the price much higher than any of those excuses waranted. You can price gouge me all you want as long as you admit you are being greedy it comes down to what am I willing to pay for your greed. But when you lie and claim you have no choice but to raise prices, that crosses a line to me...that is where it becomes a con game or scam not free enterprise! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slugshooter Posted November 4, 2005 Report Share Posted November 4, 2005 Re: Oil Companies Made HUGE PROFITS This Quarter!!! The only people making a profit off gas prices are the manufacturers and distributors. An old friend once owned a gas station. The barely made enough off of gas to pay for their light bill, most of a gas stations profit comes from the high priced crap they sell in there. Free enterprise is one thing, but that is just too much money to have made if oil reserves and things of that nature are in such poor states, maybe the oil companies, lets say Exxon put that 9 Billion to use and started researching and developing an alternate fuel source, they would be the first, and that would push the other companies into doing the same. Just because they are an oil company, doesn't mean they have to stay an oil company. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reloader Posted November 4, 2005 Report Share Posted November 4, 2005 Re: Oil Companies Made HUGE PROFITS This Quarter!!! one aditional thought: Its just like the wood shop owner I worked for in PA while in colege. We were making Lane cabinets out of pine and then staining them walnut and selling them for huge money. When someone in the shop did the math on man hours put into the work times the average wage in the shop, he found that the wages put into the work accounted for about 10% of the sale price. Workers in the shop had been asking for raises for quite some time and had been informed that the profit margins were so low that wage increases were impossible. When this guy made his calculations public, the owner retaliated by claiming that shop costs and material costs made up the vast majority of the sale price. When someone pointed out that the shop had been built by his father and was owned outright along with the tools and equipment, and electricity wasn't that expensive, the owner and forman had the audacity to tell the workers that WHITE PINE was the most expensive wood on the market and was the reason for the high sales price and low wages. For those of you who aren't carpenters...White Pine is the cheapest wood you can buy for cabinet work. The guy was lying his butt off to avoid paying wages above the $6.25 he was paying at the time. I told the owner and foreman that I had run my own furniture buisness for several years before entering college and that white pine was the cheapest and he was lying...I very quickly found myself getting poor preformance reviews and had the foreman claiming I wasn't working during shifts and counting pieces I built on other workers quotas in order to make mine look bad. Didn't take long for me to quit with all that going on. My point is that lying to employees or customers to make more money is WRONG! regardless of what buisness you are in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TM2FLI Posted November 9, 2005 Report Share Posted November 9, 2005 Re: Oil Companies Made HUGE PROFITS This Quarter!!! Ok free market? Why does the government have any control over it then? It's not like we the consumer have a choice, we can't choose from one gas to another. You couldn't start your own oil company, heck the most wealthy people in world can't either..the oil industry is a MONOPOLY. Gas is something that is a necessity in this country. If free market is your arguement, the oil companies would love to believe that. They could hike gas to $5 a gallon tomorrow, what can you do about it? NOTHING! Even if you do drive a econo car that uses 50mpg, you still MUST buy gas and must pay $5 a gallon. Since the oil industry is such a monopolized market you must have controls over what is accepted as a fair profit. When they hiked the prices due to a disaster that was already a drain on the country, the greedy bastards use it as an excuse to raise their prices. They are always looking for an excuse and it's rediculous. Free market my arse! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.