The truth behind high gas prices!

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/CNBC/Dispatch/060727markets.aspx?GT1=8380

$10 Billion on $99 Billion in sales is only 10% margin. How many business owners only make 10% on their product/service?

how many business owners have a 10% margin that equates to 10 billion?

How many businesses directly effect the economy of the entire United States??

How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop!

Couldn't help it!

how much wood would a woodchuck chuck if woodchuck could chuck wood?????

That crap just sucks a fat one. It seems that they can blame just about ANYTHING on an increase to the prices.

my beef is the fact I mentioned on the Fuel Economy post, when barrel of oil goes up gas goes up, when oil goes down the price at pump does not reduce by same %. thats bullcrap and gauging in my book. i know 10% is not a great margin but when u practically have a monoply because of too much consolidation and gov't involvement then this is what we get. screwed.

here we go again. How about rationing and price caps, that worke so well in the 70's. Jesus people, look at the historical price of gas, the price has finally adjusted. The days of the cheap crack is over, they have you hooked and the price is rising.

To hell with it all, just MAKE MORE MONEY, that will really piss them off!!

If there is only a 10% margin, then why do we see an increase in profits from 35-65% from in the last quarter of this year from the major oil companies? According to the oil companies in recent interviews, they need these profits to fund their future research in new sources of oil and alternate sources of energy. What a joke!! We could all just charging everyone extra for our services because I would like to spend more time on my boat in the future. Make more money will piss them off, hardly! That is what they are counting on. Simple economics has always stated that gas, cigarettes and alcohol can charge what they will because the consumer is dumb enough to pay anything that is asked for these items. Any excuse will be used to raise the prices on gas. Funny how there never seems to be a true shortage though!

Exxon makes $1381 per second!
http://money.cnn.com/2006/07/27/news/companies/exxon/index.htm?cnn=yes

Global demand for oil and fuels are higher than ever, caused by the economic growth of countries such as China. Simply put, a growing economy will demand more oil consumption. Supply is limited currently by the production rate, which is being adjusted to meet demand. Given those parameters, Prices will go up. Remember, in that business, like many others, as more oil is used and produced, the costs to do everything to get it to the consumer will go up as well. Effectively, the margins will remain somewhat near their current rate. So when everyone says that "big oil is making more than ever in profits," they are also paying more than ever in taxes(at least in the US) and costs of goods sold.

And to second what David Baker wrote, we have been extremely lucky to be paying what we have for so long. We are finally beginning to catch up with what we should have been paying for fuel on the global level. Currently, we still pay less than half what other countries do for gasoline. Thank God we dont live in the Netherlands ($7.26 for premium) as of July 24
That could make for a long summer. Believe me, I hate paying this much for fuel as well. I spend at least half of my week on the road. But before we spout off and blame big oil every time there is a spike, we need to understand why and also realize that we are getting close to the prices we should have been paying for a long while. Just my $.02 Couldnt give you more than .02 cause I need it this weekend for the boat....ever little bit helps. Have a good one.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/international/gas1.html

Re: the $1381/second figure, the government wastes more than that each second. At least Exxon's $1381/second pays taxes and goes to people who pay taxes instead of being sucked from taxpayers.

It's kind of funny when people who use boats that burn 8-12 GPH complaining about gas prices. If lower prices are important to you, all you need to do help reduce demand. But you can't have your cake and eat it too.

Here's the deal. Companies are in business to make money for their owners. Company A says, "Based on market conditions, we can raise our prices and generate more profit. This will pay higher dividends to our owners, the shareholders."

Company B says, "Based on market conditions, we can raise our prices and generate more profit. However, this is not good for the economy. So, we're going to forego additional profit, which means less R&D, less product development, and lower dividends to shareholders."

Whose stock do you want your retirement plan to buy?

Here is an incomplete list of countries that have controls over the price of gasoline:

Venuzela
North Korea
Saudi Arabia
Cuba
Iran

Do we really need to go there?

Exxon and the others operating in America have my vote. Vote with your feet...

Looks like this thread needs some input from someone from the South...

First, oil consumption in June was the highest of any month ever. The increased gas prices have not had any effect on how much people are actually buying. That being the case, sounds like the prices are still too low.

Second, everyone needs to go research the profitability of the oil & gas companies 10 - 20 years ago when oil was $8/barrel and natural gas was $.14/mcf. It costs more than that to get the stuff out of the ground, and that doesn't even count refining and distribution. Most oil & gas companies were bankrupt, and only a few were able to survive. I'm glad Exxon made $10b last quarter...they deserve it. They (and every other oil & gas company) were barely scraping by not too long ago.

I'm with Bocephus. MAKE MORE MONEY.

You can wait for this situation to change, or you can change yourself.

Also, go to the CIAs World Fact Book. The FACTS are there. You can see how much oil the world consumes daily. You can see that China's industrial growth last year was 27%! where our's was 3%. You can see similar stats for India. Talk to people who have lived in those two countries and they'll tell you that the economy is on fire and there's all these younger generation people running around with boat loads of money, they're buying houses, fancy clothing, etc, and CARS!

We can blame microsoft for building poor software, we can blame the oil companies for greed. Does it matter in the end?

Two things hold true, amount of oil is limited, Population is not decreasing.

More people equals more demand for gas.

Supply and Demand.

Fish in a barrel.

Something else to consider: When the prices are increasing, it temporarily inflates your gross profit. You sell at replacement costs - while prices are increasing your inventory is below market value, thus increasing your margins. I am in the steel business - raw steel prices have essentially double over the past couple of years. It is great when prices are increasing. But, the reverse could happen just as easily if demand decreases.

On another note: I heard Exxon exports quite a bit of refined product. The bigger the profit the better, we need all the help we can get to close the trade defecit.

Buy their stock and you can get a piece of the action and offset cost...Exxon/Mobile is

"Gene Pisasale of Mercantile Bankshares in Baltimore told the International Herald Tribune. "Investors are underestimating the earnings power of this group." The Tribune cites Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizens Energy Program. He says that Big Oil is making a killing, and the paper says, "He is especially critical of oil companies that are buying back their own stock rather than putting the money into exploration and production. Exxon Mobil, for example, said Thursday that it will buy back $7 billion of its shares by the end of September."

i would love to see what everyone has to say when its $5 a gal.

Exxon earns 1.04 Million per day --

I say that our economy will fall on its face shortly if gas continues to rise. Oil companies (with the help of the futures market)will continue to fix prices until the economy begins to fail. Then, with government pressure, they will relax prices.

Exxon's profitability and crude oil prices are only part of the equation. There have been no new refineries built in the US in over 30 years. Add to that the ridiculous new formulation requirements that vary from state to state.

The biggest constraint is the supply and distribution of refined gasoline. Think about it -- how often have you seen a gas station run out of gas? This is the most sophisticated distribution system in the world. It would be great if gas was $1/gallon, but you would be lucky to find any. You would have to pay for it with your time, or beat somebody up to get to the pump. The market is trying to tell us to consume less per person. I know my next family vehicle will get great mileage.

And don't even talk about alternative technology that already exists..., like nuclear. that could reduce our need for oil. Then all oil could serve its highest and best use --- wakeboarding!

I don't hear anyone complaining about the price of a gallon of milk. It's ALOT more than a gallon of gas. Those selfish cow farmers!!! I KNOW it doesn't cost that much to milk a friggin cow. Big Milk is conspiring to raise the price of crude field grass so that when it's refined into 2% milk, they can make a fortune!!!! So what to do, what to do, what to do...........I know, I won't buy milk!!! I have that choice. Big Milk isn't forcing me to buy milk. Well, actually, i kinda like my lifestyle of being a Milk drinker. So instead of not buying milk and choosing NOT to enjoy the benefits of Milk, I'll continue to drink milk and just bitch and moan about how much money the cow farmers are making........even though I don't have to finance their milk empire if I don't want to.........Gas isn't a right......sell your boat and ride a bike if you don't like the price. And read up on Capitalism. It's what makes the USA great.(man, that was fun!)

There is something that alot of you are missing... as to the profits that oil companies make. Oil companies do not necessarily make gas out of oil that is being sold from today's market. Oil companies keep reserves... when oil prices sky rocket, they begin selling off these reserves of oil they had previously drilled and/or refine this oil to gas. Thus increasing their profits. In times like we're in right now we're seeing spikes and drops of $10-$15 a barrell in any given week. Alot of the oil that is refined into gas is actually purchased by oil companies as opposed to using the oil they drill for themselves. Instead they put the oil they drill for into reserves. On days that there are spikes, oil companies do not purchase oil... instead they tap into their reserves to refine gas as well as sell off these reserves to maximize their profits. When the prices stabilize, they then replenish these reserves with they oil they are drilling for, while waiting for the next spike that they can sell their oil and make more money.

futures market - fix prices

What economics education? As an American, I am embarassed.

The biggest profiteer on the market is the government. They make about $2 for every dollar in net profit that Exxon earns. Nobody has beat their head over that one. At $3.00 a gallon retail, the government's take is over $1.00 a gallon and approaching $1.60 a gallon, depending upon source and transportation.

When people start beating down the door of Congress and the state house to eliminate taxes on fuel, then I'll pay attention to gas prices as public policy. Right now, the ingnorant is screaming about Exxon while the IRS and states clean your wallet out without a peep.

Get a clue, folks.

^^^^^^ what Karl said

By Craig Stra... (yosquire)
I'm with Bocephus. MAKE MORE MONEY.

You can wait for this situation to change, or you can change yourself.

Holy Cow Batman! someone's with me??? The world is coming to end!

Yea you know the futures market where prices are raised everytime something is spouted off in the press. Examples: hurricane season approaching so oil goes up three dollars a barrel (even though we have had no storms this year), constant reminders of what Iran might do. As for the price fixing part, remember when we paid 4.00 to 5.50 a gallon last year after Katrina? Seems like there were and still are investigations into why this happened. All the while oil companies are getting rich. As for the government, when have they ever just jumped at the chance to give us money back? Not going to happen, and people know that. Therefore, people focus their anger on the oil companies, because something could possibly be done about them. I guess you could get a clue, since this was a nice discussion, before you started insulting people.

I'm building a house for a gentleman who owns a oil company right now....

Anyways me, him and his wife were standing outside the other day talking. And he was talking about wishing Ford still made the excursion b/c he wanted a new one. His wife was like, no way, gas prices are way to high right now. He looked at her, and said... "like I give a f*** about gas prices being high.... what do you think would pay for that excursion". I just had to laugh.

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