User Panel
User Panel
User Panel
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 5:43:41 AM EDT
[#1]
 In before the "I wish I had bought Exxon/Moble stock when I had the chance but because I didn't I will bash them for gouging me with high gas prices" |
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 5:44:38 AM EDT
[#2]
yet fuel costs are through the roof.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 5:45:35 AM EDT
[#3]
doesn't Exxon know that they're supposed to take one in the nuts so we can have cheap gas?
|
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 5:50:36 AM EDT
[#4]
Damn them for charging what the market will pay! Fucking bastards!
|
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 6:01:13 AM EDT
[#5]
it's not exactly what the market will pay when there is no choice. |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 6:02:59 AM EDT
[#6]
Well.. we dont really have a choice do we? The "market" price is based completely on speculation. For instance: "Oil rose above $90,000,000 a barrel today becauase three market analysts in the souther northeastern london bent sweet oil market have a hunch that there might possibly be a terrorist attack on a small burrito stand in the southern most reaches of Niger. Analysts say they are just "planning for the future survival of all man kind and that the 'high' price of oil is necessary to keep time from standing still." 365 days ago they had an $8 billion profit. Today, $36 billion? All while the natural resource they require to do business is double the cost. So.. you can double the cost of doing business AND
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 6:04:55 AM EDT
[#7]
I knew rationing by price would work!
|
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 6:05:10 AM EDT
[#8]
own several hundred shares of XOM!
|
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 6:05:17 AM EDT
[#9]
DAmn, has it been 3 months already.
Are we going to do this again?  |
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 6:07:02 AM EDT
[#10]
The market cost of crude is based upon speculation but their cost of raw materials/goods should have no impact on the supply/demand curve at the pump. Did prices ever get high enough last year to put a meaningful dent in demand? |
||
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 6:07:55 AM EDT
[#11]
good for them, too bad we cant introduce any competing companies to exon. thanks EPA, your really looking out for us, gas can be 5.00 dollars a gallon, thats ok as long as that chipmunks habitat is left alone, its ok we are dependent on the middle east for oil, they are our friends and only want to help us
if its not unions, its the EPA, getting into production and cost of operations are so high in this country that i understand why we are losing so many jobs to the gloabal market, it sucks, we just arnt competitive anymore too bad really |
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 6:10:50 AM EDT
[#12]
Meh. It's still only a 10.7% profit margin. MANY companies deliver much higher margins.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 6:11:51 AM EDT
[#13]
As consumers we have a right to complain. I choose to do it at the $2.70 level. If you choose to do it at the $4-6 level.. fine.. if you dont choose to do it at all.. thats fine to. But, honestly, what is fuel "demand" in this country? Getting to your job... doing your job... getting home? Am I really going to say "Well.. no more gas for me i guess I'll just have to walk everywhere." No, I'm going to give up other things, so, no.. demand wasnt effected. |
|||
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 6:13:36 AM EDT
[#14]
$10.71 billion profits on $99.66 billion revenue.
Damn another quarter of a 10.7% profit margin for Exxon… 10% which is considered low in most businesses. |
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 6:15:42 AM EDT
[#15]
You're focusing on the wrong numbers here. Sure, Exxon made $36 billion, but is that really a lot of money? You need to put this in perspective to their revenue. Exxon made that $36 billion by taking in $360 billion. So to make $1 they need to take in $10. Many small business owners do substantially better than that. Is the plumbing supply store "gouging" you when it makes a 15% margin? After all, it's not like you really have a choice when it comes time to fix your toilet... If we broke Exxon up into 1000 companies that were making $36 million on average, would this even still be a story? |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 6:16:35 AM EDT
[#16]
Where is the popcorn icon?
|
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 6:17:21 AM EDT
[#17]
It's a 10% profit. Don't even freaking tell me a company doesn't deserve to make a 10% profit from the product they put out.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 6:17:56 AM EDT
[#18]
Here is the problem I have....I don't care what their profits are, we are supposed to be a capitalist, free market society, so thats fine.
But quit with the bullshit of "Oh its supply and demand, its Hurricane Katrina, its this, its that..." when it comes to why prices keep rising. Cut the bullshit, they are raising the prices because they can and increasing their profits....just be honest.... |
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 6:18:14 AM EDT
[#19]
Our Exxon station here in town generally has the lowest prices in town. Saturday was 2.229. Rest were 2.279 to 2.299. Not including the off brand gas. Actually there was one offbrand at 2.229 as well.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 6:19:54 AM EDT
[#20]
And how exactly are "they" doing this... |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 6:19:54 AM EDT
[#21]
If the increase in price at the pumps is proportional to the cost of barrels of oil how can they be having record profits? I'm no economist but to me this spells price gouging. |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 6:20:47 AM EDT
[#22]
Forget I even said the word POFIT for the love of god. I could care less what company makes what kind of money. The point I was trying to make is that the "reasons" behind the cost per barrel of oil is rediculous. I guess if you agree with raising prices because some guy somewhere thinks that something might happen somewhere... well.. thats ..just stupid.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 6:23:05 AM EDT
[#23]
Well, they must be doing it somehow in order to post record profits.... Like I said, I don't care, but be honest, and don't BS the public and blame all sorts of natural disasters and other things for the dramatic increase in price at the pumps. IF they were just increasing to keep pace with rising crude costs, and disasters...their profits would not be increasing so much so fast. Amazing, how their record profits correspond to when the prices got jacked way up.... |
||
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 6:23:55 AM EDT
[#24]
Really? When gas was $2.95 a gallon here I managed to consolidate trips, plan trips with my wife so we weren't driving two cars to the same places over the day and forego some leisure activities (like driving 40 miles to the range I like better than the close one). By some miracle I was able to reduce my consuption and therefore my cost to almost pre-Katrina levels. Think I was the only one who did so? Think that doesn't figure in to where the optimum sales vs profit point is on the curve? |
||
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 6:24:30 AM EDT
[#25]
Sure, but what you are describing IS supply and demand. It's not a simple question of raising prices because they can and making more money. If it was, then Exxon could just raise the price of gas everywhere to $4 a gallon, and then they could increase their margins to 30%, right? Supply and demand puts the price exactly where it should be - at a balance between what you are willing to pay and what they are able to sell for. |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 6:26:51 AM EDT
[#26]
Oh..well.. in that case, by all means, I hope gas gets to $6 a gallon. Then you can continue to have fun planning your trips :) |
|||
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 6:27:35 AM EDT
[#27]
Man, I'd love to see what some of these guys would have to say about hedge funds that can deliver 100% return in a year (they don't keep it up, duh) by doing nothing other than investing other ppl's money. |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 6:28:04 AM EDT
[#28]
Please define "gouging." In the first quarter of 2004, Exxon had an 8.2% profit margin. Last quarter, their margin was 10.7%. So while gas prices at the pump rose more than 50% during that time period, their profits increased only 30%. BTW, what is the profit margin of the business for which you work? If it is around 10% they are, by your definition, gouging their customers. Class warfare rhetorics is just sad. 
|
||
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 6:31:03 AM EDT
[#29]
It is a "free market", and they can charge whatever they like for fuel...............guess I'll stay in a smaller car for now. Oh well.
vmax84 |
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 6:31:48 AM EDT
[#30]
You forgot to mention that the the price of oil doubled (or more). Like I said earlier I dont give a flying F what kind of money they make but it seems fishy... cost of doing business doubles and you are still maintaining record cash flow? |
|||
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 6:34:37 AM EDT
[#31]
Pick up an economics book sometime. They can't raise it to $6 a gallon because the market will not pay it. I can't make money appear in my check to cover it so I wouldn't be buying it now would I. Now they just reduced sales by more than the increase in price will cover and they make less money than they could at a lower price point. If they raise it further to increase revenue, sales fall at an ever increasing pace. If they just raise for shits and giggles as high as they can.... why aren't we still at $3.00 a gallon? However if all you give a shit about is that they should sell gas for whatever price you deem acceptable then by all means keep bitching. The real world will go on operating how it does. I want PS-90's for $300.00 too. Want in one hand shit in the other right? |
||||
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 6:34:45 AM EDT
[#32]
If we all parked our cars and walked everywhere, it wouldn't put a dent in their profits.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 6:39:21 AM EDT
[#33]
There is no such thing as price gouging it is a term to deceive children. Exxons profits went up because the cost of the oil they OWN did not go up to them and other oil they have contracted for at a lower price. Can some of you Marxist give us a rational reason why Exxon should give you what amounts to welfare by not charging market prices? Can some of you Marxist give us a rational reason why Exxon should cut its slim profit margin now… where you for giving Exxon a bonus when oil prices and profits were down. You people are just welfare queens dressed up in another suit. If you don’t want to pay the price ride a bike if enough of you do that prices will drop. |
|||
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 6:39:55 AM EDT
[#34]
That's pretty simple really. Not every industry has the luxury of changing prices on product produced at a lower cost because future cost are going up. Right now they are in kind pyramid scheme where crude oil has to continue upwards for profits to remain high. A good portion of that 10% was made on crude bought at price A but priced on future pricing at crude cost B. Other industries price increases have to be justified by cost before the increase is passed on. The manufacturing leadtime on petroleum product isn't the same day crude goes up. The crude isn't even on a boat at that time. BTW, This isn't price gouging. It is technically price fixing. Tj |
||||
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 6:40:06 AM EDT
[#35]
You got that part right. |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 6:48:17 AM EDT
[#36]
Winner of the "Cutting Through The Bullshit" Award!!!!! Don't forget that the Chinese Government is willing to buy fuel WHATEVER THE COST to win with Cold War on Shopping with the US. |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 6:50:53 AM EDT
[#37]
My definiton of gouging is when any business uses the excuse of some sort of disaster to jack their prices way up... I do believe that the price increase around Katrina WAS gouging...in that the day the hurricane hit, prices increased dramatically, and continued to do so on an almost hourly basis for a couple of days after. Price raising now is not gouging, just the oil companies taking advantage of being able to do it.... |
|||
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 6:58:13 AM EDT
[#38]
 This is the photo from todays Exxon article. When the hell? |
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 7:02:20 AM EDT
[#39]
In all but a few areas, yes. I recall only a handful of stations that ran out of gas. But all of the stations I visited had gasoline and I could buy all I could afford. Contrast with the '70s where there was a line miles long to buy 5-8 gallons of gasoline. But the prices were fixed back then. |
|||
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 7:04:21 AM EDT
[#40]
You would think they'd be smart enough to SPEND some of that on capital improvements to avoid the appearance of raping the public
|
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 7:07:03 AM EDT
[#41]
Probably in the winter of 2000 or 2001. Back in 1998, the price for regular was as low as $0.73/gallon because crude was under $11 a barrel. Back then, we were getting RAPED based on the cost of oil when compared to today's cost of crude. |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 7:10:36 AM EDT
[#42]
They ARE, numbnutz. Ever hear of deepwater Gulf of Mexico production? This is in water over 5000 feet deep. Its horribly expensive because of the depth BUT there is tremondous oil to be had there. The problem? ONly the biggest fields can be developed due to cost. But that cost will be falling, allowing the smaller fields to be developed. For example, BP's Thunderhorse (nee Crazyhorse, named not after Native Americans but Neil Young's band) will produce over 250,000 barrels per day later this year. And Amoco's Atlantis will do over 225,000 BPD when it goes online. |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 7:12:30 AM EDT
[#43]
I'm sure if you told someone ten years ago they'd be paying >$3.00/gallon they'd say they wouldn't pay it too. If people want to continue to work they'd pretty much have to pay it if they live too far from their jobs to walk and no public transit has stops near their employment. |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 7:13:34 AM EDT
[#44]
Hey Keith, you think you can make a point without resorting to personal attacks? They AREN'T spending it on capital improvements, or they WOULDN'T be posting record profits. Profits are AFTER investment. If they went out and painted all their equipment, bought all new vehicles, put a bunch of $$ into their pension funds, then they wouldn't be posting record profits. Appearance is reality to the average Joe. |
||
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 7:15:36 AM EDT
[#45]
I did buy it.  Still, their stock isn't all that great compared to what I made with AHC.
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 7:19:51 AM EDT
[#46]
On an inflation adjusted basis from the 1950's, our gas should be around $5.00 a gallon. Compared to the rest of the world based on our current consumption we are the CHEAPEST. The rest of the world are paying $6-9 a gallon equivalent. The US has done a more than fair enough job in keeping inflation out of the gas prices. |
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 7:21:16 AM EDT
[#47]
So you DO read at least some of the posts. 10.3% isn't "obscene" nor are they "Rapinig" us if you take into account they LOST capital development back in 1998-1999, instead going the route of conglomeration by the purchase of Mobil which reduced their ability to react to the market. Remember, crude was selling for $11 a barrel back then, causing a considerable loss of market strength in the independents. Chill out, Francis. |
|||
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 7:42:55 AM EDT
[#48]
No they won't. They move, they change jobs, they accept lower pay for closer work etc. They may pay it for a short time but they won't on the whole or in the long term. People are not nearly as "locked-in" as they make out when they are crying about it. The demand for fuel is elastic, not infinate. |
||
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 7:44:43 AM EDT
[#49]
WTF are you talking about? Oil prices are FIXED. Everyone pays the same for raw material + Everyone's refining and distribution costs are about the same = everyone charges about the same for gas. Look for your conspiracy elsewhere. |
||
|
|
|
Posted: 1/30/2006 7:45:11 AM EDT
[#50]
I never said they made obscene profits. I simply stated that for perception's sake, you would think they'd be smart enough to spend that money and get the stated profit down below record levels. Oh, and don't call me Francis, or I'll kill'ya. 
|
|
|
|
Win a FREE Membership!
Sign up for the ARFCOM weekly newsletter and be entered to win a free ARFCOM membership. One new winner* is announced every week!
You will receive an email every Friday morning featuring the latest chatter from the hottest topics, breaking news surrounding legislation, as well as exclusive deals only available to ARFCOM email subscribers.
AR15.COM is the world's largest firearm community and is a gathering place for firearm enthusiasts of all types.
From hunters and military members, to competition shooters and general firearm enthusiasts, we welcome anyone who values and respects the way of the firearm.
Subscribe to our monthly Newsletter to receive firearm news, product discounts from your favorite Industry Partners, and more.
Copyright © 1996-2024 AR15.COM LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Any use of this content without express written consent is prohibited.
AR15.Com reserves the right to overwrite or replace any affiliate, commercial, or monetizable links, posted by users, with our own.
