What do you think about the oil companies turning 9.5 billion dollars in profits last quarter and the prices are still going up, plus nothing is threatening our oil supply!
129235
I think that they do not deserve the millions of dollars in tax breaks they are recieving this year and we should organize a mass call in to the irs consumer advocate office and demand fair and equitable treatment why should middle to upper middle class work long hours only to turn over most of our paychecks to daycare providers and medical expenses we make to much money to qualify for assistance and then a significant part of what is left over to the irs and if you work overtime you get kicked up into a higher tax bracket and take home even less income , which decreases our standard of living and savings for financial security and the wealthy individuals who own oil companies are profiting at the expense of our living sstandard by charging unreasonable amounts and our government that supposedly represnts the people taxes every gallon and then turns around to give the one group who needs no financial assisstance huge tax breaks and our children suffer because public education and health care funding have been cut and the only group who seems to paying through the nose for it is the working class what if the government gave back what it took from education and healthcare and didnt give the oil companies any undeserved tax breaks oh yeah that's right our government serves the powerful people and their lobbyists while the middle class pays exhorbitantly for a government that does not represent their interests
212001
I'm tired as well.\n\nI'm even more tired of hearing its Bush's fault for the high prices, and then hearing how he is only in Iraq for the Oil.\n\n------------------\n\nalford, (below) give me a break, you can't really be that naive, can you?  The average profit on each gallon of gas is 9 cents.  The average tax on each gallon of gas is 50 cents.\n\nSupply vs. demand is what controls the gas prices.  Can you supply any evidence to your conspiracy theory that Bush is at the head of a table in a board room with all the oil executives plotting a master plan to raise gas prices?  Is he behind the high price of bottled water also?\n\nYou claim people dint know what they are talking about, while you make accusations without anything to back them up.\n\nBush wants to increase our oil supply (which lowers prices) by drilling in our own country, but your liberal hero's wont let him.\n\nBush wants to increase our means of refining oil (which would increase our oil supply) but your liberal hero's wont let him.\n\nYour a typical liberal, who has been brainwashed by the likes of Michael Moore, and Bill Mahr.  You obviously can't think for yourself.  If you could, you would be smart enough to look into the baseless allegations you make and realize they are ludicrous.
435138
gas and oil prices are determined by supply and demand on the world market.  Neither oil companies nor republicans control prices. Only thing they could do is build more refineries, which would result in greater supplies of gasoline, which would reduce prices further.  Liberals don't like refineries, because they think they cause pollution  and are beholden to the environmental lobbyists.  Oil companies don't build refineries, because they can't with govt approval and they're making big profits as things are, so there's no incentive to build them.
212623
the problem is that people don't understand the difference between profit and profit margins.  When the cost of Oil (a tradeable commodity) doubles, oil companies will pay twice as much for oil and their cut becomes bigger (twice as big in fact)
73001
in response to neparis2001: How about a car that runs on bull$hit? The conservative republicans are spreading plenty of that around. \n\nOr, you can do what I do. I refuse to support MidEast oil. All of my gas purchases are from Citgo, which comes from Venezuela. The only way that OPEC and the big oil companies are going to lower their prices is if we start hitting them where it hurts - in the wallet.
118837
As some rapper once said (sorry, not a rap fan), and it applies to everything the government has done forever...\n\n"If it don't make dollars then it don't make sense."\n\nThe article should clear up exactly how oil is involved in our situation...to say we are going to war to get the oil is putting it too simply, that's not the end reason.  The reason we need the oil is to cover for our weak dollar and our manufacturing going over-seas.
233616
Liberals don't think, they feel. As you point out, they think Bush is responsible for everything. That is because most attended a government sanctioned child abuse center, aka public school. Thus, you will get idiots replying that this was a "war for oil".  If so, then the price of gas would be around $1.00 a gallon.  Simple supply and demand.  \n\nLet's take a look at a few facts.  First, the cost of crude oil for each gallon of gas sold in this country has gone up from about 35 cents per gallon in 1999 to $1.59 per gallon in 2006.   So ... crude oil prices go up by 454% over a period of seven years.  How much did gas prices go up during the same period?  Try 162%.  Looks to me like things could be worse.\n\nSo ... did George Bush set those crude oil prices?  Did the oil companies go out there and set the prices that high?  Helllloooo!  Do you think the oil producing countries like Saudi Arabia might have had anything to do with it?  Is it possible that the ever-increasing worldwide demand for crude oil was a factor?  How about the fact that oil exploration slowed several years ago when crude was selling for under $20 a barrel?  Now that the price is so much higher many more companies are getting into the exploration business ... but it takes somewhere around 5 years from discovery of an oil deposit to actual production.  The price of oil didn't start its uphill swing until about 2004.  Do the math.  You also have the fact that oil is a commodity that is traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange.  Traders have much to do about setting prices.  Do you suppose that George Bush is calling these traders in to coach them on just what those prices should be?  That's what the Democrats want you to believe.\n\nBesides, can Big Oil set the price, even if it wanted to?  As The Motley Fool points out on their website, there are dozens of publicly traded oil companies.  Add to that mix the government-owned oil companies like Saudi Aramco, and the hundreds of small private companies (my brother used to be the president of one such company) that are drilling around the world ... and the Democrats want you to believe that they all got together to set these crude prices?  Not one of these companies wants to seek an advantage in the market place by lowering their prices?\n\nThis is all about playing on the ignorance of the American people for political advantage.  These Democrats and most in the media know the score.  They understand the difference between gross profits and profit margins ... and they know that most Americans do not.
204666
the oil company reported an all time high profit over 84 million, it is not supply and demand,the irs gave oil companies millions of dollars in tax breaks this year, how many millions of dollars in tax breaks did the working poor or the working middle class recieve, it is who has the highly payed lobbyist , who makes the biggest political contributions and who's interests are being looked after by the current administration which coincidentally includes some oil company investors there is nothing free about this type of democracy
85455
Ok, the guy who wrote about the US having a secret stash of oil... did you know that everybody KNOWS that the US has there own oil up in Alaska... so it's not much of a secret if CNN has reported on it and congress has asked the President to tap into our own oil reserves. I think what the originator of this question was saying is, instead of the entire world sitting on their hands and letting the Saudi's or OPEC or whoever get away with pretty much robbing the world blind with oil prices the world should fight back with what ever means neccessary.\n\nAnd whoever it was that said it was OPEC that sets the prices not the Saudi's, well you obviously are one of the many many people in the world that are blind to the situatation, OPEC is an organization that is run by man y countries, the list of countries that run OPEC are: Algeria, Indonesia, Iran, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and lastly Venezuala. The last time I looked most of those countries hate the U.S... so what his point was about OPEC is beyond me.\n\nRaise the price of everything, I say do it. What do we have to loose? If the entire world did it what options would OPEC have? I dont care how many countries are using oil, the good thing is that there are ALTERNATIVES to fossil fuel now and they will only become more and more advanced, let's see what OPEC and it's members do when we dont need their oil... THEN the price of everything they import should go through the roof. Fight fire with fire I say, they obviously dont care if the cost to heat out homes this winter is $400 per month, then we shouldn'y care if they starve. DAMN this administration for letting this go on. Kudos to the originator of this post, and I will gladly be your running mate in the next election!!!! God Bless the USA.
199746
"Reasonable" is completely subjective.  Exxon's profit margins have floated between 5-10% for the last 20 years.  The nominal amount of profit has gone up because their raw materials (crude oil) have gone up in price.  They should actually scale linearly with the price of crude oil assuming fixed net margins.\n\nTheir profit margin is actually pretty small compared to other companies.  It's just that they do massive sales.  370B in the ttm.  Even McDonald's (symbol MCD has higher margins).\n\nI posted a more complete argument over here: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Agt6_O2xvS55gC8q24AuWYfsy6IX?qid=1006042628391\n\nAnyway, the question seems so one-sided that any form of logical argument isn't going to convince you.
209984
Greed at it worst. I received an email last week asking that you do not buy Exxon/Mobil gas, saying that you can't ask people not to drive but if you boycott the biggest oil co out there that their prices will have to come down and the the other companies' will have to follow suit. if enough people were to do this it would work. The email also suggested you don't buy Exxon/Mobil until the price gets down to $1.30 gal
89005
We are dealing with very very greedy people here.  The oil companies have been making record profits, while blaming the costs on things that never really affected their business.  They blamed the prices going up after the hurricanes, but the truth is, they were hardly hit!!!  It is sickening to me.  How can they have been hurt when they are making record profits???  It doesn't add up.  They sicken me.  It is disgusting that these compainies are not held accountable.  It is hurting our already poor economy.  It is hitting those of us who are the normal public the hardest.  All the while these business men are stuffing more wads of cash down their pockets, feeding the consumer lies about why they raised the prices.  I'm glad to know that someone else out there feels this is an important issue!!!
521663
I think the energy market is tired right now, but long-term I can't think of any better place to put your money.  Look at the facts:  already we have to go to the harshest environments to get our oil (like the Gulf of Mexico, the North Sea, and Sakhalin Island).  I don't see any way that we can escape our dependence on oil (although I like all of the boifuels companies).  And finally, some of the world's most important oil fields are very old and their production is declining.\n\nHere is a link on the state of Ghawar, the world's biggest and most import oil field, in Saudi Arabia:\n\nhttp://www.top10traders.com/ViewPost.aspx?postID=78\n\nI would strongly recommend any of the oil service companies, like Nabors (NBR) or Grey Wolf (GW) as good long term investments.\n\nHere is a link to a portfolio from a user called "oil_investor":\n\nhttp://www.top10traders.com/ViewPortfolio.aspx?userID=8\n\nThis portfolio is from http://www.top10traders.com - this is a free site that lets you create a portfolio of stocks with $100,000 in "play" money.  Each day the site ranks the best performing portfolios, so you can see how your picks perform compared to other investors.  You can also read posts on investing from the best traders, as well as share your own investing ideas.\n\nHere are this month's best traders:\n\nhttp://www.top10traders.com/Top10Standings.aspx\n\nGood luck!
445277
I think you are on to something.  Who cares if OPEC cuts production.  We have oil in this country too.  There is no reason why they should have gone down then back up again.
253120
Oil is so politicized these days that I'm sure that you will never be told or be readily allowed access to the real story but please keep trying.\n\nBy the way if you think about it, I mean really think about it, oil is too cheap.
308704
The gas companies are actually only making around 10% profit on their gas.  This might be slightly above market equilibrium but not much.  Much of the cost goes into taxes and refining.  The bulk is from the increase in the price of crude oil.  The nominal profits are increasing because the oil companies are keeping a fixed profit margin.\n\n10% of 10 is smaller than 10% of 100.  Both have the same margins.\n\nThere's an article here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5365439\n\nPrice ceiling general info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_ceiling\n\nYes, it would create a shortage.  We did exactly this in the 70s.  I guess it's up to the individual as to whether it's preferable to have gas lines and slightly cheaper prices or the current situation.  There's no right answer.\n\nIf the ceiling is low, they'll just cut supply or start exporting it.
231208
Gas is gunna keep going up and no its not over priced its what we get for relying on it soo much we might see it go down a bit but its gunna keep going up as the months go on we are coming to a point were its becoming harder and harder to find oil and especially when we do find it its in contries that dont wanna give it up or charge tons per barrel soo i suggest you looking into a hybrid! or a smart car by Mercedez and Swatch.. the less we rely on oil the cleaner the earth the worlds biggest glaciers right now are wabling on giant rocks and scientist belive that at anytime the glaciers could fall into the ocean causing water levels to rise up atleast a 2-3 metres causing huge problems and they say due to this the whole world would have different climates then they do now such as ONT Canada would be a desert I hope this helped good luck!  \n\nBlake C.