Exxon Mobil - go figure.

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/...x.html?cnn=yes

 

Yes, but they just got bumped from the top of the Fortune 500 companies by Wal-Mart.

 

This is a great example of media manipulation of the numbers.

Please allow me to play the devil's advocate...

Joe the Storekeeper buys widgets for $1, shines them up, then sells them for a 10% profit at $1.10. Last year, he sold 100 widgets for a profit of $10

When one of the three widget factories in the world is blown up by terrorists, the cost of widgets for Joe Storekeeper goes to $5. Since Joe has always been able to make a 10% return on investment, he now sells them for $5.50. This year, even though he sold the same number of widgets, his profits skyrocket to $50.

Joe reports record profits, and even though he worked the same amount, he invested 5 times as much and quintupled his investment risk. He was fortunate to be able to afford the $5 widgets...many competitors only had the investment capital to buy 20 widgets because they only had $100 to spend on raw widgets. Joe is rewarded for his risk and exposure...what happens if the world demand for widgets goes away and he has a warehouse full of $5 widgets?

I'm not saying they all wear white hats, but look at the numbers, not the headlines...

 

Either way, it definately lends major credibility to the theory that the oil companies are unnecessarily jacking up prices, and blaming it on world events. We knew this already though...

 

I was putting 16k a year on my truck.
About a year and half ago I bought a small car.
Since then I've put 17k on the car and 7k on the truck.

I need a truck but, now I drive it when I need it.

I should have been in the 100k club a long time ago.
The oil companies have kept me from posting in that thread, the dirty rats.

 

I do have to ask, why aren't you complaining about the banks? Exxon had a 10% profit. BofA had a 20% profit.

 

Give me a break... supply and demand... ever heard of the Global economy? China, India? There are legit reasons gas prices have risen steadily. Emerging nations in their own industrial revolutions are a huge factor. Toss in some instability in the Mideast and the fact we are a huge consumer of petrol AND have had it good with prices for many, many years... something has to give. Why don't you just move to Canada or overseas and start to cough up $5/gal+ like that have for many years already...

God I had gas threads!!! DIE THREAD DIE!!!

 

I want to know how much profit the government made on the gas and services Exxon provided.

Let's say Exxon makes 10 cents a gallon profit (it's probably less). On the volume sold, that's a lot of money. But they had to find the oil, obtain the rights to the oil, get it out of the ground, transport it to a refinery, pay for the refinery, refine it, and ship it to their retail network. Probably paid taxes on their real estate and every other transaction in the process, raising their costs. Hey, if it was easy to do, we would have more competition.

How much profit do you think the government makes per gallon? State governments, too. It's alot more than 10 cents. And they don't just get it from Exxon. All the gas companies pay.

If you want to have cheaper gas prices, pressure the government to lower the taxes. Their cut of the action is way too big.

 

the high gov't taxes from gas are needed to pay for the roads etc

That stuff isn't cheap....

 

They are all involved in a form of price fixing. They play follow the leader, whatever one company sets their prices at the others do the same. Illegal, but its almost impossible to prove unless they came right out and admitted to it.

 

Your right there, here in KC gas is roughly 10-15 cents cheaper on the Missouri side. It shows by the number of potholes and crappy roads in MO as compared to Kansas. Take a drive on I-70 between KC and St. Louis, then a drive KC to Topeka, you'll see what I mean.

 

Actually, despite a recent spike in prices to $1 (can)/ Litre, the price of gas has averaged about $0.75 to $0.85/ litre over the last few years here in Canada.

In US terms that equals about $3.40/gallon currently and about $2.75/gal on average the last few years.

Hopefully this current price will settle back down to the lower average soon.

 

Ahhh, excellent! Thanks for the input. So I guess its just those poor bastards across the pond that pay the really outragous prices... anyone from the UK (taxed to hell) or Europe care to chime in on what you pay?

 

The amount of driving I have to do is pretty much fixed.
I figure I've cut my consumption over the last 17 months by 35% by moving my butt to a different seat.

It's a spit in the ocean on the large scale however, it's about $1400 that I spent elsewhere rather than giving it to big oil.

If gas was $12 a gallon I'd already be black on my ROI.

As it is, I don't break even until 2011 if prices hold.

Al Gore is proud of me and that's all that matters.

 

We are getting lots of free goodies of course.
Exchange rates are extremely high, I see.
1 Euro equals $1.35745 US.
1 Euro equals $1.53347 Canadian.

Here are our gasprices.(Shell)

Diesel

1.075 euro/liter
$5.48 US/Gallon
$1.648 Cdn/liter

90 octane (Here Euro 95)

1.475 euro/liter
$7.58 US/Gallon
$2.262 Cdn/litre

93 octane (Super Plus 98)

1.549 euro/liter
$7.86 US/Gallon
$2.345 Cnd/ liter