[Mr 5 0]

Originally Posted by Unit 5302

I've never met or talked to a person working for an oil company that wasn't brutally patriotic about their company or their industry. They always have a dozen really lame-o reasons why they're not to blame. How it's the government's fault. How it's the consumer's fault. How it's OPEC's fault. It's never the oil company's fault, though.

Big companies make big profits. Microsoft makes many billions every year and, except for some money-grabbing federal lawsuits from the Clinton administration, no one cries 'foul'!

MEDIK418 has brought out some very good, factual points surrounding the price of gas...as well as the cost of gas that cannot be waved away as simply loyality to the business he's employed in. Not if you are going to be honest and not give in to knee-jerk, anti-capitalist reflexes or buy into the media demonization of 'big oil' as inherently 'evil'. I trust this will not be the case here.

Comparing the costs today vs 20 years ago looks good on paper until you start seeing things like Exxon Mobil recording a $10 billion profit last quarter.... That's more than any company in the history of the world.

So what? Why should there be a cap on what a company earns? If the price of the product being sold can be justified, which it can, as Exxon Mobil stations were charging retail gas customers prices in the mid-two-dollar range during that last fiscal quarter you mentioned, I see no reason to take their profits , whatever they are, as some smoking gun indicator that they are 'gouging'.

The fact that, adjusted for inflation, we now pay only a bit more for gas than dad did years ago is a significent factor in understanding the reality of the cost - and the price - of gas. That it undercuts your contentions is probably why you are eager to dismiss it but it remains a fact.

The oil companies ARE price gouging. There is no competition in the industry since the monopolistic merger of Exxon and Mobil. The companies in that industry are recording record profits for their industry, and in the case of the aforementioned Exxon-Mobil, in any industry in the history of the planet. The comment that oil companies jack up the price to control our driving habits is ludicrious, and simply insulting. They jack up the price because they know our driving habits, and how to take advantage of them.

You state that as if these oil companies operated without any federal or state regulations whatsoever! That's absurd. The government has plenty of oversight of oil companies and they also tax gas to death, something you neglected to mention. The oil companies do raise pump prices ('jack up') to make a profit, as MEDIK418 stated, and an ancillary benefit is that higher gas costs can lower overall use to some extent. That is axiomatic and will happen whether the oil companies intend it or not.

Refineries routinely go down in this country. Having one or two down isn't uncommon. Especially around or just before a typical driving holiday. That creates a theoretical shortage and voila, a reason to jack up prices. I've seen it used on several holiday's especially Memorial Day and Labor Day.

Profit-taking is a staple of business and raising the price is not a crime. Think about that the next time you buy a $9.00 movie ticket - or a $32,000 Mustang. Watch your insurance rates climb next year when the insurance companies start paying out millions to Gulf Coast residents who lost homes, property and cars...by the hundreds. It's simply the way most companies make a profit in the face of increased costs and by doing so, keep our economy churning quite nicely.

The argument that you can find a good job just around the corner is positively uninformed. Many states in this country have urban sprawl models in place that limit the expansion of business into the suburbs or away from the existing major metropolitan areas. With housing costs rising in the 10-20% range for the majority of the US metro areas, it creates great pressure to move further away from the major employers and commute further to work.

You take a job 30 miles away from your home with the full understanding that you will have to use a larger portion of your budget for gasoline to drive to and from work, as well as spend time on the road. It's a choice we all make. I've done this and so do millions of others. Buy an economical vehicle and you'll get around 30 MPG which will cost you - at today's $3.00-per-gallon prices, about $30. per week for gas to commute. If you can't even afford that, then the job must be part-time and pay minimum wage. Even then, at $6. per hour, you would be making over a hundred dollars a week on a 20-hour schedule. Paying $30. a week for gas would be a noticable bite from your paycheck, but you would still have over $60. per week, net, after gas and taxes. If that isn't enough, then either buy a motorcycle or find a job where you can get public treansportation. Many people do, Kell. I know some.

It's not the federal government keeping the oil industry down by not allowing more drilling in North America. It's the federal government pumping billions of dollars of tax breaks and grants into the industry as a political kick back in turn for the soft money under the table that our politicians get from big oil. The lame attempt at passing the buck along is just the average joe in this country speaking. Most people can't take responsibility for anything, and they simply pass the blame along. As if oil companies aren't a major part of the problem.

Whatever.

The big oil companies you seem to resent so much are owned by shareholders, many of them average Americans, and they want those companies to make a nice profit. The oil companies do make big money - but they are very regulated by government. A government that could cripple them if it really wanted to but won't, for obvious reasons: we need the gas and oil to survive as a nation. The oil companies, like every other big business in America, shovels big checks to both political parties to ensure they are not further regulated - and risk losing more money because of it. Granted, the deals the new federal energy bill gave to the oil companies seemed excessive, so I won't let them off the hook entirely. Money talks. However, I would check my congressman and senator's voting record to see if he or she approved this bill. If so, let them know you are displeased. Ask them to defend their vote. It's the American Way.

However, if government were less involved with the oil business, taxed the product a bit less (fat chance) and didn't place insane restrictions on building refinaries and drilling in frozen wastelands, it would benefit everyone. Unfortunately, that is not the case. So, the oil companies use their largess to influence politicians, as any government-regulated business has been doing for a hundred years. Take the politicians out of the game and the oil companies won't be sending millions to Washington, D.C. every year - because they wouldn't have to. Until then, the oil companies play the hand they are dealt. That we still have an abundent supply of affordable gasoline under the conditions MEDIK418 described is a testimony to the oil companies inventiveness and a temporary spike in gas prices is hardly a reason to demonize them once again, as the media and the anti-business crowd has done. However, this is an old game, promoted by the (mostly) anti-business media and so, will be going on a very long time.

I'm still pleased have gasoline readily available at an affordable price, even if some folks think they should be getting their gas at 1995 prices. Of course, these same folks don't see anything wrong in selling the home they bought in 1995 for three times the price they paid for it. Noooo. That's just 'taking advantage of the market'...when they do it. But let gas prices rise by 30 or 40%, even temporarily, it's 'gouging' and a 'rip-off'.

Whatever.