Record Oil Company profits...

[SCUDSBROTHER]

If I tell ya some other commodity is too high,then the answer is gunna be either,don't buy it,or sell it yourself(if you think it's such a good business to get into.)In this case,the fact is you can't do the latter in this country.That's why there are so few companies involved here.When they say oil company profits are up,it ain't like when they say hi-tech company profits are up.Hi-Tech companies would mean that a lot of companies are doing well.In this case,what? 4 ,or maybe 5 (at the most) are involved.So,you have a lack of competition involved in the problem right there,and then you have the countries that actually have the oil to pump (out of their ground) openly getting together to control supply(OPEC.)THIS IS NOT A FREE MARKET SYTEM.IT IS NOT CAPITALISM.It's more like when the mob gets together and pays off politicians.As long as countries (getting oil out of the ground) continue to get together and talk about the amount of oil they put up for sale,then it's not a free market.Same with having limited number of oil companies in this country.They don't have to compete.There is no competition involved in any of this.I have no problem with people who want supply and demand to rule.Of course,we should use less,but you're not noticing that it's the supply that is contantly being kept low by those involved (you will never get the supply high if you allow these people to contantly talk, and agree to keep supplies low.)Obviously there is a lot of profit being made in this industry.So there should be a lot of companies competing for that profit(and giving you a fair price.)That would be a free market.What we have now is not a free market system.

[gales0678]

scuds - what about demand from china and india - isn't this causing some of the increase?

[SCUDSBROTHER]

Originally Posted by gales0678

scuds - what about demand from china and india - isn't this causing some of the increase?

Have you ever really heard anyone say there is plenty of oil? Not much,right?Unless you have competition,you are gunna be reliant on 4 or 5 oil companies refining only as much oil as they want.You're also gunna be reliant on OPEC to pump as much oil as they conpire to pump.Do you really think they are ever gunna say that there is plenty of gas."We are gunna lower the price,because we have so much that we need to get rid of some." That situation won't happen unless you have more companies refining oil.It's pretty much like what the A.M.A is trying to do with medicine..."Keep medical care rare and expensive." The price of gas dipped before the 2006 Fall election..right? They wanted you to keep electing the people in charge(at that time the Congress ,Senate,and Presidency were all Republican majorities that favored 4 or 5 oil companies going without honest competition.)Weren't China and India using oil then..LOL..?

[gales0678]

scuds - worldwide demand has outstipped supply , either demand has to fall or supply has to increase for px to fall - also oil is px in usd - as our currency get weaker the px in usd goes up which hits us in the pocket - bernake is cooked he can't keep cutting rates to help the consumer in this country who is already overexteneded to help prop up the housing mkt

ths will weaken our currency even more and make oil more expensive , we are in a tough spot here

o'rielly had clinton on last night and she says eveyone is to blame - funny eneough she did not answer some of his questions about why she voted against certain new drilling projects and he didn't press her on it, but, dennis miller came on and told o'rielly he did press her hard eneough on the issue

[zippyneedsawin]

Originally Posted by gales0678

scuds - worldwide demand has outstipped supply , either demand has to fall or supply has to increase for px to fall - also oil is px in usd - as our currency get weaker the px in usd goes up which hits us in the pocket - bernake is cooked he can't keep cutting rates to help the consumer in this country who is already overexteneded to help prop up the housing mkt

ths will weaken our currency even more and make oil more expensive , we are in a tough spot here

o'rielly had clinton on last night and she says eveyone is to blame - funny eneough she did not answer some of his questions about why she voted against certain new drilling projects and he didn't press her on it, but, dennis miller came on and told o'rielly he did press her hard eneough on the issue

So, you believe world demand has jumped at least 4X what it was just 10 years ago? I find that hard to believe. A gallon of regular gas was under $1 in most places in the U.S... as low as 70 cents ... now it's pushing $4... there's more to it than 'demand'... IMO.

[gales0678]

demand has increased i don't have the exact figures, but, take a look at a chart between the usd and the px of a barrell of oil, seems to me that as the dollar drops as it has been for the last number of years the per barrell price of oil has increased - there is a direct corelation to a weak dollar leading to higher oil prices - when the foreigners sell us there oil they get paid in usd. if the usd is falling the only way to cover their losses on the usd is to raise the prices per barrell that with demanded outpacing supply pushes the price higher -

[SCUDSBROTHER]

Originally Posted by gales0678

demand has increased i don't have the exact figures, but, take a look at a chart between the usd and the px of a barrell of oil, seems to me that as the dollar drops as it has been for the last number of years the per barrell price of oil has increased - there is a direct corelation to a weak dollar leading to higher oil prices - when the foreigners sell us there oil they get paid in usd. if the usd is falling the only way to cover their losses on the usd is to raise the prices per barrell that with demanded outpacing supply pushes the price higher -

The thread is about record oil company profits? O.K....The reason there are record oil company profits is because they don't have to compete for your business.They all agree to keep the price as high as possible.It's not like airfares where you have airlines competing for your business.Whatever the price of gas should be (based on competition in the market place) will not be known until this problem is tackled.There are a lot of things brought up here to explain why the price of gas is high.The price of gas is one thing,and the profits of oil companies is another.The latter will always be very high if they don't have to compete.I can live with high gas prices,but I am tired of the lack of competition that exists between a limited # of oil companies in this country.We refuse to make them compete with each other.With that fact,how can there ever be anything but huge oil company profits? It will remain huge until there is competition involved in the pricing of gasoline.This is not hard to understand.You will never ever know the price you actually should be paying for gas until you have free-market competition involved in the pricing of gas.Maybe it should be $4 $3 $2.75 ,or whatever,but you won't know until competition is involved.All you have to do is compare it to the airline industry.If you have free market competition,then you will be able to "shop" for the price you pay to fly somewhere.Try flying to Cincy sometime.Guess what? It's outrageously high to fly into there(or it was last year.)Why? No competition.Delta has a monopoly.Is it still this way,Cannon?

Look at oil prices in other developed countries.
We got it lucky here.

Do people actually believe Oil companies are somehow
holding back oil like De Beers with Diamonds?

Again I ask.
Please explain in English how a product
that has such a high demand with China now eating
it at a higher rate than we do, and India gearing up,
not make big profits?

How?

And why the heck should oil companies even worry
about spending money on drilling off the Pacific and in
Alaska. We wont let em.

So how many people are you guys gonna carpool with
to work? Got your bike to get to the grocery store or
go to the park? Does your car get 60 miles per gallon?

Pillow got what he wanted. It is going to force
people to change habits. Subways and buses.

[zippyneedsawin]

Originally Posted by pgardn

Look at oil prices in other developed countries.
We got it lucky here.

Do people actually believe Oil companies are somehow
holding back oil like De Beers with Diamonds?

Again I ask.
Please explain in English how a product
that has such a high demand with China now eating
it at a higher rate than we do, and India gearing up,
not make big profits?

How?

And why the heck should oil companies even worry
about spending money on drilling off the Pacific and in
Alaska. We wont let em.

So how many people are you guys gonna carpool with
to work? Got your bike to get to the grocery store or
go to the park? Does your car get 60 miles per gallon?

Pillow got what he wanted. It is going to force
people to change habits. Subways and buses.

It's pretty clear why they are making big profits, because they are charging so much! No one can deny that. But when these oil companies claim they're raising prices because of 'supply concerns'... that's bullshit. Remember shortly after Katrina hit the Gulf Coast? Prices skyrocketed with claims of supply issues. Sure... the prices don't go down as fast as they climb.. funny how that works.

[johnny pinwheel]

Originally Posted by zippyneedsawin

It's pretty clear why they are making big profits, because they are charging so much! No one can deny that. But when these oil companies claim they're raising prices because of 'supply concerns'... that's bullshit. Remember shortly after Katrina hit the Gulf Coast? Prices skyrocketed with claims of supply issues. Sure... the prices don't go down as fast as they climb.. funny how that works.

you noticed that too. so did i , it goes up .70 cents then drops .30.......funny how that works !

[SCUDSBROTHER]

PGRDN,I don't read your ****,o.k.? Say what you want,but this is not a free market competition.As long as it remains this way,they will just keep limiting supply(no matter what the real situation is.)I understand that it is a good thing for the people in your state(overall) to be able to rape the people of this country by not having a fair competition in the market place.Facts are facts,and there aren't enough oil companies in America to insure good competition for the consumer.We seem ignorant of this most basic fact.Until you look at the fact that oil producing countries talk to each other about how much they are going to produce,and U.S. Oil companies talk to each other about how much they are going to charge,then there is no reason to expect there to be anything but a constant shortage of gasoline.How can there not be that? There is no competition,sir.You can't see this? You want to blame it on us not using less,or China using more? Guess what? No matter what,they are gunna have some excuse to explain why there is short supply,but the main reason is because it favors them to have short supply.The obvious problem #1 is there isn't enough competition in this market.I don't know how you would ever expect a fair situation if you don't have competition.It goes against any common sense.Yea,they are making more and more profits because they don't have to cut prices to compete for your business...o.k.? This is eluding you.You have a brain block.

[gales0678]

Originally Posted by SCUDSBROTHER

PGRDN,I don't read your ****,o.k.? Say what you want,but this is not a free market competition.As long as it remains this way,they will just keep limiting supply(no matter what the real situation is.)I understand that it is a good thing for the people in your state(overall) to be able to rape the people of this country by not having a fair competition in the market place.Facts are facts,and there aren't enough oil companies in America to insure good competition for the consumer.We seem ignorant of this most basic fact.Until you look at the fact that oil producing countries talk to each other about how much they are going to produce,and U.S. Oil companies talk to each other about how much they are going to charge,then there is no reason to expect there to be anything but a constant shortage of gasoline.How can there not be that? There is no competition,sir.You can't see this? You want to blame it on us not using less,or China using more? Guess what? No matter what,they are gunna have a some excuse to explain why there is short supply,but the main reason is because it favors them to have short supply.The obvious problem #1 is there isn't enough competition in this market.I don't know how you would ever expect a fair situation if you don't have competition.It goes against any common sense.Yea,they are making more and more profits because they don't have to cut prices to compete for your business...o.k.? This is eluding you.You have a brain block.

both parties are to blame here Scuds - bill clinton didn't attempt anything in his 8 years on this issue so to pass the blame to the current administrsion is not fair

hillary voted against anwar and other offshore drilling projects as did many senators in both parties

i dont think we have had a new refinery built in the country since the 70's

Originally Posted by SCUDSBROTHER

PGRDN,I don't read your ****,o.k.?

Yes I know.
The questions are too difficult.

And you are trying to solve a problem
that is not the real problem (price fixing, competition).
Good luck.

Why is it we have the cheapest gas of almost any developed
country?

Got many more questions.

You can go and buy your own oil by the barrel.
Transport it, refine it, and pull out your own octane.
You will need some papers to send to the government.

Originally Posted by SCUDSBROTHER

If I tell ya some other commodity is too high,then the answer is gunna be either,don't buy it,or sell it yourself(if you think it's such a good business to get into.)In this case,the fact is you can't do the latter in this country.That's why there are so few companies involved here.When they say oil company profits are up,it ain't like when they say hi-tech company profits are up.Hi-Tech companies would mean that a lot of companies are doing well.In this case,what? 4 ,or maybe 5 (at the most) are involved.So,you have a lack of competition involved in the problem right there,and then you have the countries that actually have the oil to pump (out of their ground) openly getting together to control supply(OPEC.)THIS IS NOT A FREE MARKET SYTEM.IT IS NOT CAPITALISM.It's more like when the mob gets together and pays off politicians.As long as countries (getting oil out of the ground) continue to get together and talk about the amount of oil they put up for sale,then it's not a free market.Same with having limited number of oil companies in this country.They don't have to compete.There is no competition involved in any of this.I have no problem with people who want supply and demand to rule.Of course,we should use less,but you're not noticing that it's the supply that is contantly being kept low by those involved (you will never get the supply high if you allow these people to contantly talk, and agree to keep supplies low.)Obviously there is a lot of profit being made in this industry.So there should be a lot of companies competing for that profit(and giving you a fair price.)That would be a free market.What we have now is not a free market system.

You can make it yourself Scuds.
Save that trash. Use that Biofuel YOU can
produce. Good luck making it cost effective.
Even with 10 dollar gas.

Supply has and will be a constant problem with
so many restrictions on drilling. THis is not a new problem.
Consumption, consumption. Tell the Chinese to stop driving.
And then talk to India in 2 years. Or move to Europe. Only 7 or 8
dollars a gallon. AMERICANS love the freedom of driving where
they want when they want. Thats got to change.

BTW.

The CEO of Shell has spilled his guts.
He has already concluded we (US) are in trouble.
Surprisingly he does not need money.

He has talked with all the major candidates,
gone on record with plans on city mass transit possibilites,
cars that are fuel efficient, they have a number of pamphlet
on all these ways to drive less. He is horrified with the prices.

Wonder why Obama and Clinton are not bashing oil
companies day after day. Dont you think that would
work well for good democrats? Collusion and all that rot.
Oh yes, the candidates are all being paid off. These American
Oil Companies have been in front of Congressional subcommittees
so many times once gas hit the 3 dollar mark and then waivered
back and forth. They have had to spill records on meetings,
they have been bombarded.

Both candidates are looking for conservation and new
technology. Thats their thrust. They are not busting
on the oil companies near as much as they could.

Again it is a case of oversimplification. Price fixing.
Thats the basic problem. And its easy because it
affects everyone of us who drives, pulls horses in trailers.
The problem is you cant fix a problem by playing
a continuing game that is not yeilding results.

It is not a simple problem. Consumption is by far the
easiest way to allieviate pain. So every one write down
the new car you purchase that gets extremely efficient
gas mileage... when it actually hurts enough economically.
I am in the market. I would like to know the pitfalls, good
points behind the hybrid. Anyone who actually owns one
and drives it, help.