WE ARE ALL GETTING SCREWED

[quote]Obama 2008 wrote:

And when the Oil reserves run low and/or out? What then?

quote]

Oil reserves will never run out.

Sell your truck, and take the train/subway/tube/public transportation... if your area doesnt have it go b*tch to your state rep. about it.... H2O (g) is considered a greenhouse gas silly 'merican.... you gave a real big damn about gas prices/tax law when you bought that Hummer as a "business expense"... you've made your bed now sleep in it instead of moaning about outrageous profits, how is it that one is to believe that you wouldnt do the same given the chance...

You go spend that 80,000 on a hydrogen car, see if it gets you anything... every think of where the energy to make the hydrogen gas is gonna come from... because I bet their profits are going to be too high for you too...

The point is you screwed yourself everyday for 25 years+.... I would think your use to it by now...

Why can\'t people just drive more conscientiously? No extra investment necessary to save on gas:

http://www.howtoadvice.com/savinggas

BostonSweetLou wrote:

Thats straight out not true. There are tons of companies that have "pass-through" provisions. Companies pass the cost of many commodities on 100% onto their customers.

Companies only nominally pass on these costs 100%. The actual cost burden is shared between the company and the consumer based on the price elasticity. Oil companies can pass on their costs (as well as the taxes they collect for the government) almost entirely to the consumer - a hot dog vendor cannot.

Figures wrote:

BostonSweetLou wrote:

Figures...

Corporations pay taxes not based on revenue you do know that right? For 2007 Exxon had Pretax income of approx. $63B and they paid taxes of approx. $30B. thus their tax rate was approx. 48%.

If this is true we really need to hike the percentage. As I pointed out they paid roughly only 7.4% tax on EVERY DOLLAR THEY MADE.

I paid, what, 3 times that on EVERY DOLLAR I MADE? If they're going to pay 41% tax on what they define as "income" and it comes to 7.4% compared to the much higher rate WE pay then we should make them pay even more to level to playing field.(Percentage, not dollars)

It's a bit difficult to compare your tax rate to a corporation. Their employees are in the same boat you are just as your employer is in the same boat as exxon.

In terms of profit... GP doesn't mean much. I've seen companies with a GP of 60% crash and burn. It's not what you make... it's what you spend.

four eyes wrote:

Mtn Dew wrote:

Much below that and companies will go out of business as a prolonged profit margin of 2-3% is crap and not worth the trouble for most businesses.

It's worth it for every grocery store in America.

Yup... it all depends on the industry, volume, and operations. Food service 2-5% is the norm. Hearing Aids it's minimum 60%, usually much more.

I build houses.

And you're worried about the oil company? Don't get me started on the realtors and the MLS monopoly!

somedude wrote:

[quote]Flagpole wrote:

2) If you were THAT adamant about how evil the oil companies are, then you would find other ways of transportation to at least minimize how much you use if not eliminate it. Move closer to work so that you can walk or bike to work, find a way to work from home part or full time, carpool, buy an electric car. There are things you can do, but you choose not to because it is easier to bend over and grab your ankles and complain when they grease you up and work you over than to actually do anything to change your situation. Bottom line is that you enjoy the freedom and convenience of driving in your car to and from work and points in between.

I build houses. It's going to be pretty hard to haul the materials with a bike.

So, you engage in a vocation that offends your sense of right and wrong?

Sounds like it's time for a new career. Make all the excuses you want, but either you do something about the situation you don't like or you don't. If you don't then I suggest you quit complaining. A complainer who is in control of the thing they are complaining about is someone who needs to not be listened to.

Flagpole wrote:

So, you engage in a vocation that offends your sense of right and wrong?

Sounds like it's time for a new career. Make all the excuses you want, but either you do something about the situation you don't like or you don't. If you don't then I suggest you quit complaining. A complainer who is in control of the thing they are complaining about is someone who needs to not be listened to.

No, how can building houses be wrong? Do you live in a cave?

So your answer would be that if you do not want to be screwed by the oil companies then you should live under a rock someplace. You have no right to complain if you don't.

Well, this is the pinnacle of stupidity. I'm glad you guys are happy getting screwed and you have been educated to know that you are being screwed by an acceptable margin. Thanks to the public's approval and yours they can easily raise the price up another dollar or more a gallon without any problem at all. I will not be back here to waste any more of my time. Good luck suckers.

Figures wrote:

BostonSweetLou wrote:

Figures...

Corporations pay taxes not based on revenue you do know that right? For 2007 Exxon had Pretax income of approx. $63B and they paid taxes of approx. $30B. thus their tax rate was approx. 48%.

If this is true we really need to hike the percentage. As I pointed out they paid roughly only 7.4% tax on EVERY DOLLAR THEY MADE.

I paid, what, 3 times that on EVERY DOLLAR I MADE? If they're going to pay 41% tax on what they define as "income" and it comes to 7.4% compared to the much higher rate WE pay then we should make them pay even more to level to playing field.(Percentage, not dollars)

How many more feet can you fit into your mouth? My company pays taxes on PROFITS. And thank goodness. I had record sales last year, but due to the incredible falling dollar, my margins blew and I hardly had any profits.

You are without understanding. I'M not that one that has a problem with the price of gas -- YOU are. SO, if you have such a problem with it then you need to make changes in your life so that you don't use so much oil. I never said building houses was wrong, but if the end result is that that vocation requires you to drive more than you would like (morally, financially, whatever), then you need to rethink your career choice.

I'm not just playing devil's advocate here either. I was once a newspaper reporter, but all the games and all the meetings I had to cover always started at 7:30 at night. I decided that this offended my sense of family time (this was before my wife and I had kids), and I knew that I wanted a happy marriage and time with the kids in the evening, so I stopped being a journalist.

You don't HAVE to build houses for a living. Complainers are people who aren't problem solvers. Be a problem solver and not a complainer.

You must not be building many houses nowadays...you know given the housing issues well and you seem to have access to the inernet on a regular basis. I can't tell you the last time I saw internet on the job site.

Speaking of which couldn't you just drive you the drive site like the first day and leave all your stuff there. In all the following days you could ride a bike or walk. Why do you have to bring your saw and belt and all that home every single day if you're just going back to the same site in the morning?

Ok as far bringing your stuff to the worksite and leaving it so that you can bike to the worksite. I have never read a more retarded statement on letsrun.com. If he leaves all of his tools and other things on the open ground it is very likely that it will all get stolen. I just moved into a new house in a new neighborhood that has an extremely low crime rate (close to none) and the builders still have to worry about theft a lot. Due to the prices going up because of oil people are stealing copper wire because they can get so much more money then they used to get for it. That is only one example. Trust me I would never leave my stuff at the worksite just to let it get stolen. Please don't make retarded comments anymore on a thread where you want to call people idiots.

Today is the first time that gas has gone down over the last month.

While I admit theft is a problem on some worksites, I'm not suggesting he just leave it sitting on the ground. This person seems to be very very upset about having to pay soooo much for gas. We're trying to give him alternatives. There are these amazing things call onsite storage boxes that lock and everything (http://www.deltastorage.com/configurator.cfm?id=12).

by the way Blown...I'm still waiting for you to show us the article that has global gas demand down 2% and not just US. whenever you get a chance, no rush.

Here's another tidbit I'd like to see the "we are getting screwed" crowd comment on:

"The top 10 oil firms in the world are all state owned, accounting for 77% of the total, with Russian firms controlling another 6%. Only about 10% of world oil reserves are in the hands of investor-owned firms such as Exxon Mobil."

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fpcomment/archive/2008/04/26/the-real-drivers-of-food-and-oil-prices-corcoran.aspx

How do these numbers fit into their theories about collusion amongst publicly owned companies such as XON?

I misread the global supply is up 2% still not enough to merit a 30% increase in prices. Also buying a storage container is obviously going to be a big expense as well so that isn't a great solution. Here is a good article I would like people to make arguments against.

http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/apr2008/bw2008041_945564_page_2.htm

Blown away wrote:

Here is a good article I would like people to make arguments against.

http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/apr2008/bw2008041_945564_page_2.htm

I believe the earlier poster specifically requested you cite where GLOBAL demand/supply was up or down. The article you reference EXPLICITLY talks about US demand and supply.

Are you suggesting that what the rest of the world does has no bearing on the US?

If you read what I posted I said that I had misread the article it said that the global demand was up 2%. Also that figure that I got was from that article. So saying that the article only speaks of what is happening in the US is stupid. I would like you to argue the article though. It seems to make many points as to why we shouldn't be paying that much more at the pump. Thank you for once again jumping on someone trying to tell them what they are saying and trying to make them sound dumb without actually taking the time to think it through though.