No problem - I just got back from the gym and my blood pressure is normal now.

I fixated on they realitor I quoted and that was it.

 

I stand corrected. I'm not sure where I got that or perhaps I was having a senior moment. Sorry about that.

According to Infoplease, Saudia Arabia is #1, followed by Canada, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, UAE, Venezuela, Russia, Libya, then Nigeria.

 

For those that posted in this thread about the increase price of gasoline being due to increased demand/competition from places such as India and China, please watch:

http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/ener...behaviorvideo/

It's about 22 minutes long, but come back and tell me what you think about all the BUllSHit excuses that the oil industry is feeding the public after watching that video. And for a classic example of the lies, check out this interview with new ExxonMobil CEO

http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?...&f=00&fg=email

Please don't watch the second link without watching the first link. You'll be in danger of being oh so woefully uninformed that way.

 

Just as everyone else, I do not enjoy paying $3.09+/gallon. But I do have 2 questions for everyone:
1) What do you do for a living?
2) What is the standard profit margin in your industry?

I build pools in AZ, our standard profit margin is 23%; my bf builds homes in AZ and their standard profit margin is 17%. The oil industry is a business and they are in business to make money. The profit margin for Exxon was 9.4% for the 1st Quarter. Is that too much? I don't think so. No one is screaming at the pool industry or the home industry or any other.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/indust...4-27-xom_x.htm

"And Exxon's profit margins are below-average compared with others that have triggered no outcry. Exxon's first-quarter profit margin was 9.4%, meaning it kept 9.4 cents of every $1 in revenue. Microsoft kept 27.3 cents of every $1 in revenue in its most recent quarter; General Electric, 11.4 cents and McDonald's, 12.3 cents. In fact, Exxon is below the 11-cent average of Standard & Poor's 500 companies, says analyst Howard Silverblatt."

Another article: http://www.theneweditor.com/index.ph...-Earnings.html

As I said, I surely do not like paying $3.09+/gallon but that is why I bought a hybrid 2 years ago, and we all do what we do for a living to support ourselves.

Maybe instead of being typical Americans and blaming someone else we should stand up and tell our government that we are not happy with their behavior and we DEMAND that they require that changes be made in the energy consumption of the US.

BTW, I am not directing this at anyone here...more like everyone in the US.

Cheers,
Jessica

 

Yeah, we have a bunch of people that think it's their constitutional right to have $1.50 a gallon gas indefinitely and waste it as they please. {sigh}

 

I'm a lawyer.

Your argument fails to account for the difference between gasoline and swimming pools.

Even in AZ, swimming pools aren't something people depend on; things people basically need; things that have a price inelasticity of demand.

Electronics, swimming pools, etc.,. people can take them or leave them. People can substitute swimming pools with less expensive above ground pools or jacuzzis. People can join a gym if they need to swim. But gasoline is far more like electricity or water that is still provided by municipal corporations in some places, and these are services regulated by a federal tariff system that because of the monopoly power/necessity of the product which prevents price gauging. Sort of, anyway (See Enron price gouging in CA and compare what's happening right now with Oil. Click the link in my previous post to see just how similar what's going on now with gas is to what happened with electricity a few years ago.)

People think there's competition in the oil industry, but there isn't really competition there the way you might think there is. I've already posted about this elsewhere, but the bottom line is that gasoline is not a swimming pool, and there's no reason to assume that just because a profit margin might be 30% in one industry it should be 30% in another.

It's just a silly argument if you sit down and think about it. Some things you can charge whatever you want for it and not be accused of price fixing. For instance, take a Ferrari. No one accuses someone of price fixing a ferrari because the cost is irrelevant for most people. But the price of gas is relevant for everyone. Even people who live in NYC and might always use the subway and never sit behind a steering wheel are affected... in the price it takes to get vegetables to the corner market, the cost of airline tickets, the cost of shipping their newly ordered Ipods via UPS.

This is not to say I think gas should be $1.50. I don't think petroleum based gasoline should be used period. But as long as it is being used, I don't want the oil companies to be making billions of dollars from selling a country a substance its so clearly addicted to. It puts too much power in the hands of too few people, and they're able to completely manipulate the public by getting them to think they're profit margins are so low, and their taxes are so high, and gee, they're just the real victims in all of this.

You know how much money they spend trying to get you to believe that ****? And the sad thing is so many people on this board haven't examined these explanations critically.

 

Is Exxon/Mobil the one setting the price of oil at above $70 a barrel? I won't say oil companies are not taking advantage of the situation, but I doubt we would be looking at gas under $2.50 a gallon even if the oil companies were totally honest.

Some of the posts seem to hint it's 1979 again - get all the OPEC nations to pump as much oil as possible and price will fall, just like they did in the 1980's. Only problem is production outpaced demand back then.

 

Unlike Rush Limbaugh, in his November 2005 rant, I don't think that God Himself has declared that Americans have a divine right to all of the world's finite resources. Does the prospect of $5/gallon gasoline suck? You bet. But I believe that only sustained, very high prices for fuel is the only thing that is going to make Americans (in general) and automakers (in particular) take efficiency and conservation seriously.

In the 5/2006 edition of "Car & Driver", they post what SUV land yachts *really* get for gas mileage. The Cadilac Escalade got a whopping 11 MPG, and also takes 400' to come to a stop from 70 MPH. SUVs are both wasteful and dangerous.

If people have to pay $4-$6/gallon, even the upper-middle class super-yuppies will probably start reconsidering their vehicle choices. That, in turn, will make the car makers re-prioritize what they build.

 

I am not saying that the margin should be 30% for all but what should it be?

Most companies could not/would not survive on a margin that small. I just think that maybe we need to look beyond the common belief that they are taking advantage of us. We all get into a business that is needed by someone else and charge what we can because they need our skill/service/product, etc. How is an oil company/electric company/water company, etc. any different? It is not their fault that we NEED them and they are a business also. They just choose one that is not an option unlike my swimming pools and unlike your legal services. Houses and living quarters are needed and no one is screaming gouging there and in the last year or so, houses have almost doubled and sometimes gone up more that that here.

Again, I am not directing this at anyone in particular, I just think that we need to be responsible Americans and look beyond the news, find out the truth and demand changes in government regulations if we don't like what is happpening.

 

Here, here. The almighty buck may be the only thing that will change the car makers because the government will never demand that they act responsibly.

That explains why the F250 rear ended my HCHI, I know it is not the same vehicle but sure is informative.

I hope you are right but I am not so sure...my boss' wife just bought a brand new Navigator and got a deal because the neighbor bought one at the same time and they gave the Explorer to their 16 year old daughter.

Only time will tell.