It's a RIP OFF!

#26
#26
GAVol said:
Not sure if they did or not, but it really wouldn't be all that big a deal since opening up reserves would have a negligible impact on gas prices anyway.
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Yeah, we really show OPEC who is boss when we do that.
 
#27
#27
kptvol said:
Didn't Al Gore/Bill Clinton open up our reserves so that prices would drop shortly before the Bush-Gore voting? I remember hearing something about that. I'm not sure if it's true, though.
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You are correct sir.
 
#28
#28
GAVol said:
What would you have any of those people/institutions do to reduce the price of gasoline in the face of a price established by a free market?
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it isn't exactly a free market with an oil cartel like OPEC setting oil prices
 
#32
#32
It isn't the price of oil or the taxes that we are paying for...the oil companies use the price of oil as an excuse to jack up the prices and make GIGANTIC profits. ExxonMobile has posted record smashing profits for like 6 consecutive quarters. Yeah, oil prices keep going up at a fast pace, but the gas prices get jacked up even more while using the oil prices as the main excuse. Notice how as soon as oil prices rise, gas prices jump 10 cents or more almost instantly; but when oil drops $4-$5 dollars a barrel, gas prices don't lower. It is gouging at its finest, and politicians on both sides won't do anything about it. (I'm willing to bet it is because most of them have oil companies high on their campaign contribution list.)
 
#33
#33
I've been watching this crap take place for about 4 years now. The week before Easter they start zooming the prices up because a big travel weekend is coming up. Heavy travel X inflated gas prices = monster profits. And always a bunch of lame excuses at the same time as to why the prices are going up. The culprit is not OPEC, it's the greed of the American oil companies, plain and simple. Somebody earlier posted we should look for alternative government sources. Right on, bro'.
 
#35
#35
daw77 said:
It isn't the price of oil or the taxes that we are paying for...the oil companies use the price of oil as an excuse to jack up the prices and make GIGANTIC profits. ExxonMobile has posted record smashing profits for like 6 consecutive quarters. Yeah, oil prices keep going up at a fast pace, but the gas prices get jacked up even more while using the oil prices as the main excuse. Notice how as soon as oil prices rise, gas prices jump 10 cents or more almost instantly; but when oil drops $4-$5 dollars a barrel, gas prices don't lower. It is gouging at its finest, and politicians on both sides won't do anything about it. (I'm willing to bet it is because most of them have oil companies high on their campaign contribution list.)
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I'm with you. It's a conspiracy. Their profit has nothing to do with contracts they put in place ages ago paying off today. They are simply jacking up the prices to screw us and all must be in collusion, because they all raise prices simultaneously. The rampant worldwide demand for crude should drive pricing down as I recall. High demand with limited production should equal lower prices. Why don't the oil companies understand that and why don't they lower their prices (and profits) to reflect the shrewd decisions they made in the past regarding oil purchases?
 
#36
#36
BigPapaVol said:
They are simply jacking up the prices to screw us and all must be in collusion, because they all raise prices simultaneously.
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:salute:That's the part that is the funniest to me in this whole debate. To believe that price fixing is going on, you have to believe that gas suppliers everywhere who have competing interests are all meeting in a room somewhere to decide who and where to gouge.
 
#38
#38
BigPapaVol said:
I'm with you. It's a conspiracy. Their profit has nothing to do with contracts they put in place ages ago paying off today. They are simply jacking up the prices to screw us and all must be in collusion, because they all raise prices simultaneously. The rampant worldwide demand for crude should drive pricing down as I recall. High demand with limited production should equal lower prices. Why don't the oil companies understand that and why don't they lower their prices (and profits) to reflect the shrewd decisions they made in the past regarding oil purchases?
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Actually, it has the opposite effect. Too many dollars chasing too few goods equals higher prices.
:ermm:
 
#40
#40
daw77 said:
It isn't the price of oil or the taxes that we are paying for...the oil companies use the price of oil as an excuse to jack up the prices and make GIGANTIC profits. ExxonMobile has posted record smashing profits for like 6 consecutive quarters. Yeah, oil prices keep going up at a fast pace, but the gas prices get jacked up even more while using the oil prices as the main excuse. Notice how as soon as oil prices rise, gas prices jump 10 cents or more almost instantly; but when oil drops $4-$5 dollars a barrel, gas prices don't lower. It is gouging at its finest, and politicians on both sides won't do anything about it. (I'm willing to bet it is because most of them have oil companies high on their campaign contribution list.)
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Please look at Exxon's profit margin and tell me it's too high. The very companies you are supporting while using your computer (Intel and Microsoft) have outrageous profit margins, Intel is about 4x Exxon IIRC. Quit letting the big numbers scare you and boil it down.

Oh yeah, and driving a car is not a right, but a privilege. (said while running quickly away...)

Intel forecast that its gross margin would be 50% in 2007, below most of Wall Street's expectations. In better times, the company's gross margin has ranged from 55% to 62%
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ExxonMobil's $36 billion in profits came on top of $370.6 billion in revenue, with a profit margin of 9.7%. In other words, Exxon netted 9.7 cents on each dollar of revenue it brought in. By contrast, Microsoft earned 30.8 cents for each dollar of revenue, and Google earned 23.9 cents for each dollar of revenue. Starbucks' profit margin was slightly lower than ExxonMobil's, at 7.8 cents for each dollar of revenue.
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#44
#44
if you think it hurts filling up your car's 20-gallon tank, try owning your own truck with two 150-gallon tanks. Two of my friends are owner-operators, and while they get a fuel surcharge paid back, they are still spending well over a grand/week just for fuel.
 
#45
#45
MG1968 said:
if you think it hurts filling up your car's 20-gallon tank, try owning your own truck with two 150-gallon tanks. Two of my friends are owner-operators, and while they get a fuel surcharge paid back, they are still spending well over a grand/week just for fuel.
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Mind if I use some of your logic and suggest that everyone involved seek other lines of work?
 
#46
#46
MG1968 said:
if you think it hurts filling up your car's 20-gallon tank, try owning your own truck with two 150-gallon tanks. Two of my friends are owner-operators, and while they get a fuel surcharge paid back, they are still spending well over a grand/week just for fuel.
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They can up their rates.
 
#47
#47
OWB said:
Mind if I use some of your logic and suggest that everyone involved seek other lines of work?
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if that's what you want to read into my statement then that's your prerogative.

They can up their rates.
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my friends can't "up their rates", and some of their pain at the pump is alleviated by their employer paying them fuel surcharges.
 
#48
#48
Someone mentioned "price gouging" earlier? Good for the oil companies for raising the prices and still being able to sell at the same rate. You fools will constantly complain, yet will still continue to buy gas well into the $3.50/gallon range. Therefore, you should probably be groveling in thanksgiving at the feet of oil company reps for setting their prices in the $2.70 range. The oil company execs and shareholders could care less about your "plight" until you actually reduce your oil consumption.
 
#49
#49
therealUT said:
Someone mentioned "price gouging" earlier? Good for the oil companies for raising the prices and still being able to sell at the same rate. You fools will constantly complain, yet will still continue to buy gas well into the $3.50/gallon range. Therefore, you should probably be groveling in thanksgiving at the feet of oil company reps for setting their prices in the $2.70 range. The oil company execs and shareholders could care less about your "plight" until you actually reduce your oil consumption.
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Everyone's gonna be so disappointed that you forgot you're silly line about riding bikes.

Curious choice of words I've bolded since you decided to go there the other day. How much less could they actually care? Are you really trying to say that they care quite a bit today and that their level of caring could diminish? I didn't gather that from the context.
 
#50
#50
GAVol said:
...almost as if they are predicting heavy demand?
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Was that comment necessary? Everybody on the planet knows there will be a heavier demand since it is the first major family holiday when people get time off from work since Christmas. But why all the lame-a$$ excuses for sending the price up 50%. (Iran, pipeline troubles, broken down refineries,etc just to name a few.) Why don't they just come out and say, "OK consumer, we got you bent over with the laundry down. Get ready cause we got what you gotta have and if you want to go see your Mom you're gonna pay through the nose." As for price fixing...you know they do. Anybody with any sense could see this coming when Reagan de-regulated the industry during his reign. Gas was selling for about $.60 a gallon, Reagan said de-regulate and let the price float to find its fair market price. Within a week it floated to over a $1 a gallon, almost a 100% increase. Funny that the companies weren't losing dough before, just weren't making the killing they are now on a necessary commodity. As for the 9.7% margin, that's so much horse manure. Anybody can manipulate their books to show what ever they want them to show, if crooked government agencies are conducting the audits.

You say its just the capitalist way and that's your opinion, which you are entitled to. I say its rape of the consumer and the economy, my opinion which I'm entitled to.

These birds are sharp. About three years ago there was a serious consumer boycott to protest gasoline prices getting organized and these guys fabricated a shortage based on some lame excuse claiming there would be no gas at the pumps, gas lines, and spread it all over the media. Prices began skyrocketing, and people, (except me), panicked and rushed out to fill their tanks instead of boycotting. By the way, the shortage never materialized and the oil boys made a killing off a consumer protest. This ain't fiction, this was history.
 
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