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IVNORD 
Forum Senior Member
Joined: December 13 2006
Location: USA
Status: Offline
Points: 1191
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 Posted: January 03 2008 at 19:03 |
 rushfan4 wrote:
IVNORD wrote:
rushfan4 wrote:
Probably a common known fact, but I was watching Jeopardy the other day and the question had to do with "Which two countries the US buys the most oil from?" The answer was Canada and Mexico.
The most annoying thing for me is that the US oil companies continue to rake in record profits every year even though the cost of their supplies keep increasing. Of course, the current administration sees nothing wrong with this given that their trust funds (which they have no control over) are raking in record funds too. |
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Not commonly known, but true. Canada and Mexico are the closest (thus the cheapest) suppliers transportation-wise.
Why are you annoyed by the oil companies profits? Nobody cared when they were hit by the $10 priice in the late '90s. What annoys me most is my high heating and gas bills (immediate impact), my growing living expenses (perpetual impact) and my children's upcoming college bills (future impact). Believe it or not, it's all connected to the price of oil one way or the other |
I'm annoyed because the price that we pay both directly and indirectly is related to the profit that the oil company's make. I don't know the exact numbers but when they were paying $50 a barrel, we were probably paying the equivalent of $75 a barrel (i.e. a $25 profit). Now that they are paying $100 a barrel we are paying the equivalent of $150 a barrel (i.e. a $50 profit). Both are 50% mark-ups on their cost, and yet the oil company is doubling their profit, instead of saying, hey we were happy with a $25 a barrel profit and therefore we will only charge our consumers $125 per barrel instead of our 50% mark-up of $150 a barrel. I just find it annoying that we are paying billions of dollars to supplement a war in the Middle East so that these same oil companies will be able to continue to make these profits for years to come. Not only are we paying through the nose directly and indirectly for oil, but we are also paying through the nose in current and future taxes or inflation caused by these oil executives greed. |
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It's a common misperception to blame the oil compaies for the high price. Not trying to defend them as they are certainly opportunistic and may occasionally engage in price fixing, but the market dictates the price more than oil executives would like it. THey may derive their profits from currency exchange, hedging, labor costs, you name it. Of course, they use the situation to their advantage with a markup, maybe not as dramatic as you describe, but even adding a few pennies to a $1 price move would fetch millions of dollars in extra revenues. Still the culprit is the government with their lack of fiscal discipline and responsibility. The plumetting value of the dollar added some $35-$40 to the price
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Ghandi 2
Forum Senior Member
Joined: February 17 2006
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 1494
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Posted: January 03 2008 at 18:53 |
rushfan4 wrote:
IVNORD wrote:
rushfan4 wrote:
Probably a common known fact, but I was watching Jeopardy the other day and the question had to do with "Which two countries the US buys the most oil from?" The answer was Canada and Mexico.
The most annoying thing for me is that the US oil companies continue to rake in record profits every year even though the cost of their supplies keep increasing. Of course, the current administration sees nothing wrong with this given that their trust funds (which they have no control over) are raking in record funds too. |
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Not commonly known, but true. Canada and Mexico are the closest (thus the cheapest) suppliers transportation-wise.
Why are you annoyed by the oil companies profits? Nobody cared when they were hit by the $10 priice in the late '90s. What annoys me most is my high heating and gas bills (immediate impact), my growing living expenses (perpetual impact) and my children's upcoming college bills (future impact). Believe it or not, it's all connected to the price of oil one way or the other |
I'm annoyed because the price that we pay both directly and indirectly is related to the profit that the oil company's make. I don't know the exact numbers but when they were paying $50 a barrel, we were probably paying the equivalent of $75 a barrel (i.e. a $25 profit). Now that they are paying $100 a barrel we are paying the equivalent of $150 a barrel (i.e. a $50 profit). Both are 50% mark-ups on their cost, and yet the oil company is doubling their profit, instead of saying, hey we were happy with a $25 a barrel profit and therefore we will only charge our consumers $125 per barrel instead of our 50% mark-up of $150 a barrel. I just find it annoying that we are paying billions of dollars to supplement a war in the Middle East so that these same oil companies will be able to continue to make these profits for years to come. Not only are we paying through the nose directly and indirectly for oil, but we are also paying through the nose in current and future taxes or inflation caused by these oil executives greed. |
If it were possible to survive without those mark-ups, (assuming that that's even true, which I doubt--not a shot at you personally, but the internet is extremely unreliable), why wouldn't a company reduce their prices and double their business? If you give me conspiracy crap I'm going to scream. Drilling new oil wells and all of the other things related to it (some oil companies invest heavily in alternative fuels as well, altough that could be a PR move) is expensive. Criticism of the free market aside (damn commies!), it's very, very efficient at making prices lower. If that is actually true/possible to be lower, they wouldn't survive.
This sucks, but everyone saw it coming eventually. Peak oil might f**k is in a few years anyway, so this isn't that big of a deal...yet.
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magnus
Forum Senior Member
Joined: November 19 2006
Location: Norway
Status: Offline
Points: 865
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Posted: January 03 2008 at 18:10 |
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I suppose my country will earn even more money now! Not that it matters since they don't spend it on anything useful anyway...
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The scattered jigsaw of my redemption laid out before my eyes
Each piece as amorphous as the other - Each piece in its lack of shape a lie
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stonebeard
Forum Senior Member
Joined: May 27 2005
Location: NE Indiana
Status: Offline
Points: 28057
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Posted: January 03 2008 at 15:46 |
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I was just watching Chain Reaction last night. It certainly makes you think about cleaner energy.
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The T
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: October 16 2006
Location: FL, USA
Status: Offline
Points: 17493
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Posted: January 03 2008 at 14:31 |
What's more disgusting is that that ridiculous price only favors those who don't want western democracy: muslims (via their holy land Saudi Arabia and all other jihad centers) and my dear old friend Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, who, by the way, already has a little puppet governing my country so I "love" him even more.....
...Oh! I forgot... a few pro-western-democracy people will benefit from this... all of those who defend democracy while working in Exxon, Chevron, BP, etc....
Which in the end also means we're helping the GOP.....
.... which means we're helping western democracy!!!
Oh the irony!   |
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rushfan4
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: May 22 2007
Location: Michigan, U.S.
Status: Offline
Points: 66584
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Posted: January 03 2008 at 14:30 |
IVNORD wrote:
rushfan4 wrote:
Probably a common known fact, but I was watching Jeopardy the other day and the question had to do with "Which two countries the US buys the most oil from?" The answer was Canada and Mexico.
The most annoying thing for me is that the US oil companies continue to rake in record profits every year even though the cost of their supplies keep increasing. Of course, the current administration sees nothing wrong with this given that their trust funds (which they have no control over) are raking in record funds too. |
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Not commonly known, but true. Canada and Mexico are the closest (thus the cheapest) suppliers transportation-wise.
Why are you annoyed by the oil companies profits? Nobody cared when they were hit by the $10 priice in the late '90s. What annoys me most is my high heating and gas bills (immediate impact), my growing living expenses (perpetual impact) and my children's upcoming college bills (future impact). Believe it or not, it's all connected to the price of oil one way or the other |
I'm annoyed because the price that we pay both directly and indirectly is related to the profit that the oil company's make. I don't know the exact numbers but when they were paying $50 a barrel, we were probably paying the equivalent of $75 a barrel (i.e. a $25 profit). Now that they are paying $100 a barrel we are paying the equivalent of $150 a barrel (i.e. a $50 profit). Both are 50% mark-ups on their cost, and yet the oil company is doubling their profit, instead of saying, hey we were happy with a $25 a barrel profit and therefore we will only charge our consumers $125 per barrel instead of our 50% mark-up of $150 a barrel. I just find it annoying that we are paying billions of dollars to supplement a war in the Middle East so that these same oil companies will be able to continue to make these profits for years to come. Not only are we paying through the nose directly and indirectly for oil, but we are also paying through the nose in current and future taxes or inflation caused by these oil executives greed.
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IVNORD
Forum Senior Member
Joined: December 13 2006
Location: USA
Status: Offline
Points: 1191
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Posted: January 03 2008 at 14:28 |
Blacksword wrote:
I'm no economist, but I imagine big increases in the price of oil will touch many areas of our lives we currently take for granted, or dont consider related to oil price.
Surely the price of oil will continue to increase as oil producing regions become ever more unstable, and the demand for oil increases the world over, but most notably in the US, India and China. |
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It surely will continue to increase, but the war in Iraq certainly accelerated the process. It should have taken much longer for it to reach $100 otherwise
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IVNORD
Forum Senior Member
Joined: December 13 2006
Location: USA
Status: Offline
Points: 1191
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Posted: January 03 2008 at 14:23 |
rushfan4 wrote:
Probably a common known fact, but I was watching Jeopardy the other day and the question had to do with "Which two countries the US buys the most oil from?" The answer was Canada and Mexico.
The most annoying thing for me is that the US oil companies continue to rake in record profits every year even though the cost of their supplies keep increasing. Of course, the current administration sees nothing wrong with this given that their trust funds (which they have no control over) are raking in record funds too. |
_popupControl();
Not commonly known, but true. Canada and Mexico are the closest (thus the cheapest) suppliers transportation-wise.
Why are you annoyed by the oil companies profits? Nobody cared when they were hit by the $10 priice in the late '90s. What annoys me most is my high heating and gas bills (immediate impact), my growing living expenses (perpetual impact) and my children's upcoming college bills (future impact). Believe it or not, it's all connected to the price of oil one way or the other
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rushfan4
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: May 22 2007
Location: Michigan, U.S.
Status: Offline
Points: 66584
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Posted: January 03 2008 at 14:05 |
Probably a common known fact, but I was watching Jeopardy the other day and the question had to do with "Which two countries the US buys the most oil from?" The answer was Canada and Mexico.
The most annoying thing for me is that the US oil companies continue to rake in record profits every year even though the cost of their supplies keep increasing. Of course, the current administration sees nothing wrong with this given that their trust funds (which they have no control over) are raking in record funds too.
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Blacksword
Prog Reviewer
Joined: June 22 2004
Location: England
Status: Offline
Points: 16130
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Posted: January 03 2008 at 13:59 |
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I'm no economist, but I imagine big increases in the price of oil will touch many areas of our lives we currently take for granted, or dont consider related to oil price.
Surely the price of oil will continue to increase as oil producing regions become ever more unstable, and the demand for oil increases the world over, but most notably in the US, India and China.
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IVNORD
Forum Senior Member
Joined: December 13 2006
Location: USA
Status: Offline
Points: 1191
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Posted: January 03 2008 at 13:45 |
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The price of oil touched the $100 mark yesterday and briefly crossed it again today.
Just 9 years ago, in December 1998, it hit its multi-year low of $10.35. In April 2003 after the war began, it was as low as $25.
Just curious how people feel about it.
(In case you don't care a tiny bit, it will affect the price of CDs you buy too)
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$100 oil anyone?
