----- Original Message -----
From <b-evans at earthlink.net>
Larry Daniels wrote:
>Buster, "profit" would be how much more we paid to put gas in our tanks
>than what it cost them to put it there.
>The cost, adjusted for inflation, pales in significance to what it "could"
>cost if we weren't getting ripped off by the oil companies. Since we don't
>have a damn bit of choice, we are victims of whatever they feel like
>charging us. Ergo, $36 Billion (with a B) in profits. Go ahead, justify
>that.
>
How many people here scream and holler about Google's profit's? Hmmmm.
I don't hear a voice in objection. OK, last year Google made 45.5 cents
on the dollar in profit. Does anybody scream and holler when they go
through the drive-through at McDonlds where they pay 11.6 cents on the
dollar every time they order a Big Mac? How about complaints over the
20.1 cents on the dollar when men pay for Viagra and its producer,
Pfizer. The reality is that a lot of other industries from software
to semiconductors and banking to biotechnology make more money on
every dollar sold than do the oil companies.
========================
OK, since other companies rip us off even worse, it's OK. Hmmm.
Do we not see a difference between a gallon of gas, that we absoutely have
to have, and, in fact, is a necessity in our lives and our economy, and a
Big Mac? We don't have to buy a Big Mac (truth be known, we'd be better off
if we didn't), but our choice of buying a gallon of gas or driving on past
the station is a bit less optional. Therefore, your comparison is specious,
at best.
========================
People tend to piss and moan over Exxon's profits simply because it is
by far the largest oil company in the world. If it were split into 10
smaller companies, the amount of their profit would not raise too many
eyebrows. Of course the cost of gasoline would rise simply because of
the benefits of economy of scale that come with a company's size.
=======================
If I get this right, It's OK that they make huge profits off of us because
they are a huge company. If they were half as big and only ripped us off
half as much, it would, somehow, be better. Of course, we'd get ripped off
twice then. I'll have to think about that one.
=======================
Importantly, the price analyst for Automobile Association, the
consumer's defender, this week observed, "We are not being ripped off at
the pumps. "Oil companies cannot set the world oil price, which is set
on the world markets."
=====================
Pure BS. The world oil market may be what it is, but what they charge at
the pump is what they want to charge above their costs. Their increase in
profits is entirely dependent on what they want to charge over and above
what they pay. Evidently, they decided they wanted to dig a bit deeper in
our pockets. $36 Billion dollars -- don't ever forget that number.
====================
No offense, Buster, but I don't see their benevolence. I definitely do see
their huge profits at our expense.
Larry
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