Funny, I don’t remember anyone worrying about oil companies not making enough money when oil prices were $10 a barrel.
The data was in response to the multiple statements in this thread which claim that individual owners don’t make much, if any, profit on gasoline. The data proved them wrong.
I know. But the overall feeling in general, and especially around here, is Big Oil is the demon. And that every penny in profit is somehow ending up in Bush’s wallet. It was nothing personal.
Cite?
I never thought of that. How much was Big Oil losing back then and how did Halliburton finance it?
(Just playing off the quoted part, nothing directed at Shalmanese.)
Anyone care to show a percentage of oil consumption in the US and a link to how the prices are in other countries?
Give a cite that Bush is profiting from current oil prices? I could cite NY Times editorials, DNC press releases and Senate and House member press releases. But since I rely on more credible sources than partisan shit, nothing to offer here. I could cite a few Pit threads that Bush is pocketing the money, but those are also as reliable as a '76 Fiat.
It’s not my job to prove they’re full of shit. Much like my liberal brethren here railing on Bush, the onus is on the accuser.
I’m waiting to read in the NYT editorial page how the gas is not Bush’s fault.
Strictly speaking, countries like China control domestic gas prices through state ownership of oil companies both up and downstream. Gas in China right now is far, far (think 50%+) below market price, and Sinopec, the state downstream company, is eating the cost. Obviously this situation cannot last forever and prices are going up eventually, but the goverment retains a tight control on the rate of increase to insulate the domestic economy.
Crude oil, on the other hand, is a fungible commodity and prices should be more or less the same around the world.
That’s not what you said.
He has been rewarded for policies that are generous to oil companies, in the form of campaign contributions, but again, that’s not what you claimed.
So again, cite?
Hey, I’m all ready to blame Bush for the oil prices. I just need a little smooch before taking off my pants.
And a little reasoning on why he or Cheney is to blame. I seem to recall Big Oil making a profit in each of the last umpteen years. Worldwide. Do you understand that part? Worldwide? Meaning people other than American’s?
Maybe I’m somehow defective in your mind in thinking that non-Americans are using the oil, it’s a conspiracy I can’t let go.
In my daily phone consultation with Bush and Cheney this afternoon I again complained about the price I was paying at the pump. I mean I was really pissed! I really laid into them.
You would have been proud of me. I pointed out what I was paying for this oil we purchased to make the gas, and why we should be paying less. They mumbled something about the price they were paying, but I punked them with a quote from the SDMB.
Surprisingly, they didn’t cave.
They mentioned some kind of nonsense about other countries and the demand they had, and I just gave up and had a beer.
I realized that the US isn’t the sole proprieter of oil.
Oh, wait, yes we are. We determine the price of a gallon of gas on our own. Or no, wait we don’t. Oil is used in other countries. But yeah, we do. The US is the only country buying oil. But we really aren’t, other countries are buying the oil. But wait, we’re the US and need votes, so oil is all ours if we can get a vote.
Know what makes me absolutely sick in this whole thing? It’s the fact that Cheney and Bush haven’t been prosecuted and sentenced to death for making me pay $2.75 a gallon.
If that is his real name…*
[sub]* props for who get the reference / cadence there…think Peter Sellers[/sub]
Jesus Fucking Christ. After all the times I have posted to kill this myth on this Board, people are still saying this?
Do a search. One little search on my name and electricity and oil or something. Ask someone else if you can’t figure it out. Oil in the US produces at most about 2-3% of our electrical output, and home heating oil is absolutely not a major source of heat in the winter overall, on a nationwide basis, especially in the case of new homes!
This is aside from the fact that a house twice the size does not necessarily take near twice the energy to heat and cool. Do the math, or look at the residential energy use stats from the EIA before dropping this turd into the Pit punchbowl again.
Arrrrrrrgh!
I think the fastest way to create market pressure that reduces gas prices is a non-profit/philantropist charity that sells gasoline at or below cost but in limited amounts per day/per person. This will have the twofold effect of driving competitors prices down as well as making people drive less if they want cheap gas. Quite an expensive undertaking however.
While I’m fascinated by the economic discussion of oil (and I certainly don’t want you to stop), I’m wondering if we can come to some sort of consensus about the original boycott idea:
- A small regional boycott of gas in one county isn’t going to accomplish anything.
- Boycotting one company (and one company only) is stupid, since the one company alone is not responsible for high gasoline prices.
- Boycotting a single company until they lower the price of gas to $1.30, which is well below the cost of the raw crude itself - even without the cost of refining and delivery - is especially stupid.
Can we all agree on that?
Zev Steinhardt
Yup.
The chart shows you nothing regarding the costs accumulated by the owner for the storage and dispersion of the gas:
… It doesn’t mention anything about the insurance costs needed to cover for having thousand gallon tanks of explosive fuel beneath your grocery store.
… It doesn’t account for the percentage of sales that gets rebated back to VISA/AMEX, etc.
… It doesn’t account for the costs of the labor needed to maintain the pumps, or the costs of the electricity needed to keep the pumps running 24/7, or anything.
The chart just represents COGS (i.e., the price it took to get the gasoline on the lot) and sales price. Without overhead, ITDA, etc, the chart is useless in proving profit margins.
If you’re interested in finding out the margins, you’re going to have to look at the balance sheet of an actual gas station, not some government statistics about value-added services.
Here’s a quote from a business plan from somebody who wanted to open a Canadian gas station in 1999:
FWIW, I heard a representative of some gas station owner association on the radio the other day, and he said the average profit the average owner makes on a gallon of gas was “less than ten cents.”
Link.
So even if we somehow force Big Oil to abandon all profit, gas drops about 10 cents a gallon. That would sure help out.
The problem (if you think it is one) of the huge profits is not that Big Oil gets a dime of every gallon you buy. The problem is how many dimes they’re collecting from us buying the gas. Don’t want them to make so much money? Don’t drive.
BTW, I saw something on the news today that there was a bad feeling among investors about Microsoft’s earning “only” being 18% or something like that.
Those figures don’t make a distinction between fuel bought by individual consumers and fuel bought by bulk consumers.
Shit. 27 cents. Not 10 cents a gallon. Still doesn’t sound like enough to ease whatever crisis we’re supposedly in right now.