Gas Price Gouging???

[RoadToad]

Oil companies are going to charge what the market will bear. They'd be foolish to do otherwise. That kind of thing is the price of living in a capitalist society, and I don't have a problem with that. Oil is a profitable industry, and that's life. And it's important to note that many of the tax breaks oil companies get are not specific to their industry, but rather are given across the manufacturing board, to encourage domestic production. That seems perfectly reasonable, even to a tree-hugging liberal like myself. But there are other tax breaks, passed just within the past couple years, that are specific to just oil companies. Oil execs claimed they were needed if they were going to expand domestic oil production. Given the fact that oil profits (not just revenues) were at historic highs even before they got those tax cuts, I find that claim a little hard to believe. All of us are being told we have to "tighten our belts," why shouldn't Big Awl?

[Grumpy]

Yeah, I agree RoadToad, the Oil Companies need to tighten their belts. The Congressmen wanted to know why they are not spending more money (than the hundreds of millions they are spending) on developing alternative fuels, carberation ehnhancement, and fuel refinement and their general answer seemed to be that they were already spending more than the incentives (tax breaks) were designed for and they couldn't justify spending more without increasing their profit margin higher then .08 cents per gallon. Maybe they should tighten their belts and not import so much oil at over $100 a barrel and thus cut the supply further WHICH WOULD RAISE THE PRICE AT THE PUMP HIGHER.

The Oil Company Execs all said that there was plenty of oil in known American oil fields, which if they were allowed to drill for it would bring the price of gasoline down significantly but because of the "tree huggers" (my words) they can't drill for it, much less refine it and bring it to market.

Grumpy

[mhall]

Now Grumpy you are starting to make some sense. There is no reason what so ever we should depend on towell heads for oil. OOPS, sorry, I guess that wasn't too politically correct was it, lol.

[Tyme2fish]

Now Grumpy you are starting to make some sense. There is no reason what so ever we should depend on towell heads for oil. OOPS, sorry, I guess that wasn't too politically correct was it, lol.

Those are not towels. They are little sheets. We should call them sheet heads!!

[mhall]

Those are not towels. They are little sheets. We should call them sheet heads!!

Ya know Tyme they are sheets aren't they?

[RoadToad]

I agree that gas prices are so high mainly because we'll pay it, simple as that. And "punishing" oil companies by increasing their taxes is not the answer, but I don't think that rewarding them by decreasing their taxes is justified, either. But really, why do we expect the oil companies, who by definition are in the business of selling oil, to be the ones to develop alternative fuel sources? Seems to me there's a heluva lot of money to be made there, so why doesn't somebody else do it? Just a thought...

Now, I haven't been able to find the Courier-Journal article online that mentions pharmaceutical profits being .20 cents "per sale," and comparing that to the oil companies' .08 cents per gallon, but, with all due respect, I'd like come clarification on that. To me, that sounds like comparing mathematical apples to oranges. because "per sale" sounds like every time I fill a prescription, be it 5 pills or 100, the drug companies average total profit on that sale is .20 cents. If that's what they're saying, then compare that to the last time I went to a gas station, when I put 18 gallons in my Jeep. The oil company made about $1.44 on that sale. I rarely put in less than 10 or 15 gallons at a time, so they're making about a buck per sale from me, on average. But even that isn't really a valid comparison, because I don't buy prescriptions nearly as often as I buy gas (thank God for that!). If we're going to compare the two, let's look at profit percentage. How much of what they take in per year goes to cover costs, and how much is profit? Me, I have no clue on that.

[Grumpy]

RoadToad, what you are calling "profit percentage" is what the Oil Companies, and the Courier Journal, are calling PROFIT MARGIN. It is the amount of profit they make after all the expenzses have been paid. What the C-J article said was that the Oil Companies profit margin (percentage) was .08 cents and the drug companies profit margin was .20 cents. It didn't really explain how either was arrived at.

I agree it is kind of stupid to ask the oil companies to do things (research) that could ultimately put them out of business, or at least drastically cut into their business, but that is what congress is asking for and apparently the oil companies are trying to comply with. However, they are also giving incentives to the automobile indurstry to do the same thing AND THEY ARE NOT DOING ANY BETTER AT IT.

BTW, using your example, I doubt seriously if you (or anyone else) would be satisfied if the Oil Ciompanies gave up their whole profit of $1.44 per 18 gallons of gas, which is another way of making my point that THE OIL COMPANIES PROFFIT is not the problem.

Grumpy

[Grumpy]

One more thing, I went to the Off-track Betting place at Churchill Downs last Saturday. They had a bunch of Horse Races from Dubai. Judging from those pictures and others I have seen from Dubai, the people in that country have the most oppulant and extravagant lifestyle of any place in the world and guess where the money comes from--OIL THAT THEY SELL TO AMERICANS!! I don't remember the exact figures but I do remember that American geologists have figured that there is a lot more oil in America then there is in Dubai. The trouble is that the "tree huggers" won't let the oil companies, et al, explore, develope, pump, refine and sell it to Americans. Just think, we could be living like the "towel heads" and not have to pay any taxes either.

[DJD]

Maybe our sick and twisted tactic is to use up all the worlds oil and then sell ours at a premium? Naw, that's too much thinking and gambling involved I'll go with the tree hugging fool reason.
I wonder what Al Gore say's???

[mhall]

The price of a gallon of gas in Saudi Arabia last week was .98 cents per gallon. The camel jockeys are laughing their heads off at us.