http://money.cnn.com/2008/10/30/news/companies/exxon_earnings/index.htm
10/30/2008 11:06:04 AM
Why all the hate? They don't set the price of oil, and they sure as hell aren't the ones restricting supply. Don't worry, they'll be struggling over the next few years as oil prices drop below $50 a barrel.
10/30/2008 11:08:52 AM
i hate people who make money, rawr, give money to me cause that would be fair, blah blah
10/30/2008 11:09:18 AM
Yeah man, fuck American citizens. I enjoy paying out the ass for fuel prices. I guess there was a reason for the high prices, right? I mean, they must be JUST BARELY making even if they have to raise prices so high!Oh wait, nevermind, they actually made record profits.
10/30/2008 11:13:43 AM
So, let's see. Americans buy "record amounts" of gas, but then somehow it's inexplicable that oil companies make "record amounts" of profits.It must be price gouging! Those evil, evil oil companies, making a product that despite all my complaining about the price, I still won't adjust my lifestyle to buy any less of!
10/30/2008 11:16:07 AM
Not just a profit, guys. QUARTERLY RECORD profit.Them having no influence on the price of their product or how much they make is complete bullshit.
10/30/2008 11:17:51 AM
10/30/2008 11:18:34 AM
I just want to get on the record as saying that I have no problem with oil companies bringing in record profits. If Americans want to see those numbers go down, they will look for/invest in alternatives or decrease the amount of gas they use overall. I've made several personal changes that have really cut down on the amount of money I give to the oil companies.
10/30/2008 11:19:47 AM
10/30/2008 11:22:26 AM
Actually, all you crazy conservatives, their production was down as was consumption. So they were, in fact, making more per unit of oil produced than they were when the price of oil was lower.For the record, I'm not hating on them. They're a company whose goal is to make as much money as possible. I'm not happy about it, but they're playing by the rules. I just had to point out that yall are wrong... again.
10/30/2008 11:24:09 AM
^^^ *ding*ding*ding*ding*ding*We have a winner. In the market of competitive commerce prices are set by the interaction of buyers and sellers. While oil is an inelastic good in the short term, long term structural changes will reduce our dependence on it.That being said, I'm not naive enough to believe that the fact that two oil men are running the White House, and the fact that the federal agency which regulates oil is apparently corrupt from the top down ( http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/10/14/oil.whistleblower/index.html ) has nothing to do with the current price of oil.]
10/30/2008 11:24:20 AM
10/30/2008 11:24:35 AM
that business is not hurting because the multi-decade global growth story is in tact, and energy prices will remain relatively high as a result.
10/30/2008 11:27:44 AM
Also, here's my citation for my earlier post:http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/pressroom/fhwa0817.htm
10/30/2008 11:28:06 AM
10/30/2008 11:31:54 AM
^Hi, fucking idiot, let me introduce you to the article in the OP:
10/30/2008 11:35:03 AM
^ and ^^Oil companies profits come from well head prices rather than pump prices.The story in breif, refinining, distributing and marketing gasoline is at best a zero profit business. In many cases it seems that money is even lost here.Most profits come from extraction, pulling the oil out of the ground. The oil companies have lease contracts which specify some amount they will pay for the oil they extract. Often this royality comes in the form of a percentage of the futures market price. The difference between the royality and the futures price is profit for the oil company. So higher prices mean higher profits, actually regardless of whether people drive or not. However, it is difficult to see how you can increase demand for oil substantially without increasing the demand for gasoline.[Edited on October 30, 2008 at 11:37 AM. Reason : .]
10/30/2008 11:35:24 AM
Where do you get this shit that the oil companies are raising prices? Honestly, how hard is it to understand supply and demand?Oil is a publicly-traded commodity. If supply is relatively inelastic in the short term (which it is), then the price of a barrel of oil is almost purely a function of demand. The operating costs, extraction costs, equipment, etc DON'T MATTER. The profit they make is the difference between those extraction costs and the price the oil sells for, and it's largely out of Exxon's control. You act like Exxon just arbitrarily decided to raise their prices at the pump, while conveniently ignoring the fact that they have nowhere near the kind of market share necessary to get away with any type of price-gouging. take a fucking economics class, for crissakes.[Edited on October 30, 2008 at 11:38 AM. Reason : 2]
10/30/2008 11:36:15 AM
^^^ efficiencies of scale, tight management of supply chain, tempered bonuses in overhead staff, sensible dividend payouts, etc.[Edited on October 30, 2008 at 11:37 AM. Reason : ]
10/30/2008 11:36:40 AM
Man, I can't wait until all of this wealth trickles down to me in the form of cheaper gas and better qualit*opens mouth, receives piss*
10/30/2008 11:38:50 AM
And McCain wants to give them a tax cut.
10/30/2008 11:39:21 AM
10/30/2008 11:39:29 AM
^^McCain wants to give all businesses a tax cut as an economic stimulus measure.Don't repeat that bullshit about 300 million in tax breaks for oil companies. His tax plan includes all businesses.[Edited on October 30, 2008 at 11:40 AM. Reason : 2]
10/30/2008 11:40:25 AM
*including oil companies
10/30/2008 11:40:58 AM
Do you think we should target specific industries and tax them more? Pigovian taxes perhaps?
10/30/2008 11:42:04 AM
10/30/2008 11:43:23 AM
There's the brilliant retort we expect from such a sparkling intellect such as yours.
10/30/2008 11:43:56 AM
I wonder if anyone could find a graph of the price of oil vs. the price of gasoline? That might help prove whether they're gouging us.
10/30/2008 11:46:54 AM
the ultimate fix to high prices, is high prices.a lot of the powerbrokers out there learned that this summer was a tipping point, and there was real demand destruction in the American consumer. furthermore, its lit a small fire that threatens to spread wild, and make those who profit from conserving the current way of doing business, lose a lot of value in the long run. there is real movement already underway in making free energy a practical reality (free energy = solar, wind, etc). you've got everyone from T Boone Pickens to the Chinese and German governments calling for, and more importantly funding, this movement.this has caused a lot of strife within opec, even to the point of countries cheating on their quotas. the crack dealers will be learning the hard way that when everyone's a junkie, while they're still stacking piles of cash, the system has become unsustainable. pretty soon you have junkies robbing and killing each other for the crack, and you've destroyed real demand for your product. not even the crack dealers want to see that happen.
10/30/2008 11:50:18 AM
^^ From EIA:http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/hist/mg_tt_usw.htmhttp://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/hist/wtotusaw.htmIt's a start, at least, for what you're asking for.[Edited on October 30, 2008 at 11:52 AM. Reason : .]
10/30/2008 11:50:26 AM
They've been investigated countless times, by this congress and others. No evidence of gouging has ever turned up.OPEC is the group that is doing the price-fixing. They are the only group large enough to really manipulate global oil prices. The "Big 5" US oil companies produce less than 10% of global oil, so they don't have enough clout.[Edited on October 30, 2008 at 11:53 AM. Reason : 2]
10/30/2008 11:53:05 AM
I bet that $14.83 billion will create so many new jobs!
10/30/2008 11:56:58 AM
Yeah, they're really not gouging prices. If you compare the price of oil to the price of gasoline, it's pretty much the same for similar prices of oil at different times. The only difference is whether the general trend of oil is going up or going down affecting +/- less than a $.10 difference in the price of a gallon of gas.That still doesn't change the fact that they made more profit per unit of oil they produced, but that's to be expected with a rise in the price of oil. They're going to be in some dire straits these next couple quarters as all these expensive wells they've been tapping become unprofitable.
10/30/2008 12:01:30 PM
10/30/2008 12:06:10 PM
10/30/2008 12:21:02 PM
I'd have no problems paying higher prices if I had evidence that the oil companies were hurting just as much as everyone else.
10/30/2008 12:23:04 PM
^Why would the oil companies be expected to hurt in times like these? The smart ones invested in oil exploration and development back when there was little profit in it, and now they are reaping the benefits. Why so jealous?^^Yeah, they also have better and more advanced mass-transit systems, more fuel-efficient cars, and they pollute less. Coincidence? I think not.[Edited on October 30, 2008 at 12:25 PM. Reason : 2]
10/30/2008 12:23:44 PM
they all drive mopeds and smart cars, and thus less pollutionthey have learned how to get by, and we are just starting to realize this
10/30/2008 12:25:30 PM
Yeah, in the grand scheme of things, it's incredibly wasteful and inefficient to drive everywhere in a 5000 lb SUV with 350 horsepower and 15 mpg when a 60 lb moped with 20 horsepower and over 100 mpg can get you where you need to go just as easily, and without the parking headaches.
10/30/2008 12:28:50 PM
for the love of God don't compare the US to Europe. Its not even close to the same story transportation-wise, apples to oranges. Just stop it!God, just admit you're a fucking commie and move along.
10/30/2008 12:49:33 PM
10/30/2008 6:35:22 PM
Bring on the short term memory retards to buy their SUVs again and then scream how they need to drill more. . .
10/30/2008 6:57:41 PM
its really not fair till you look at what they spend to make that money and look at profit margins
10/30/2008 7:00:13 PM
10/30/2008 8:57:36 PM
10/30/2008 9:06:18 PM
10/30/2008 10:42:58 PM
i really hate little conservative douches who love it when companies many a profit by fucking Americans in the ass. Have fun making 90k a year and buying foreign cars treetwista
10/30/2008 10:44:22 PM
i really love little liberal douches who hate it when businesses are successfulhave fun always blaming somebody else for any problems you might have
10/30/2008 11:42:08 PM
God, I own an apple orchard and grow apples, which I then sell in the city. Upon arriving in the city the grocer tells me he will pay me $4 instead of last year's $2 because he knows I can get the same down the street. Did I do this to him? No, it was OAEC, the organization of apple exporting countries which restricted the supply of apples. But should I demand the grocer pay me only $2 to avoid setting record profits?
10/31/2008 12:18:55 AM
^^ I'm happy the coffee shop on my corner makes really good muffins and hasn't gone out of businesses and hasn't been turned into a Chase branch.ha and I just got fired on wednesday. lifes a bitch and I have no one to blame except maybe the fact the company I worked for made a silly product which wasnt selling.Its just disappointing when people like you TreeTwista automatically assuming anyone who is upset with stories such as this is a flag burning liberal. I like it when businesses are successful and Im a fan of capitalism. but whatever. You enjoy living in Charlotte so you must have a hole for a soul.
10/31/2008 8:46:43 AM