abandjinNY wrote: By the way, Shell is a Dutch company, not an American company. I am curious how the US government would go about taxing the profits of a Dutch company - and how an American president (Bush) goes about getting rich from a company owned by a foreign country. While you are at it, maybe you can let us know where Bush is stashing all this extra cash - his tax returns are public record, and all his income is accounted for.
The price of a barrel of oil has increased primarily because of the fall of the value of the dollar, among other things. The dollar is falling because high taxes and ever increasing regulations are driving foreign investment out of the US.
$7.5B profit means nothing at all in comparison to other businesses unless you take into account gross sales and look at the percentage. Generally, it has been reported that this amounts to about an 8% profit.
As long as people continue to believe that high gas prices are the result of greedy oil companies and ignore the real facts, nothing will be done about the real problem which is our absurd energy policy and bloated government taxation and regulation system.
"BINGO" - It took 4 pages but we finally found someone with common sense.
CleanDiesel wrote: There are LOTS of differences between NORMAL public companies and those with a monopoly. Gas companies sell a product we cannot live without; they have a monopoly and SHOULD have profits regulated.
All those companies have a *monopoly* at the same time eh?
Fuel is a lot less essential than say food, and of course for most of the history of mankind people have lived without gasoline so it is by no means essential. It is very nice to have. By your arguement we should go communist to protect people from 'profit'. Look to any country that has tried that and see how ineffective the concept is.
BTW the one place locally I know of that has legislation on the price of gasoline, the Province of Quebec, had the effect of driving up the price of gasoline there. In Iran they force gas to be cheap, with the net result there is no gas in the gas pumps even in a country that is a major supplier of the world's oil.
Monopoly: - from dictionary.com
1. exclusive control of a commodity or service in a particular market, or a control that makes possible the manipulation of prices. Compare duopoly, oligopoly.
2. an exclusive privilege to carry on a business, traffic, or service, granted by a government.
3. the exclusive possession or control of something.
4. something that is the subject of such control, as a commodity or service.
5. a company or group that has such control.
6. the market condition that exists when there is only one seller.
7. (initial capital letter) a board game in which a player attempts to gain a monopoly of real estate by advancing around the board and purchasing property, acquiring capital by collecting rent from other players whose pieces land on that property.
horton333 wrote: Fuel is a lot less essential than say food, and of course for most of the history of mankind people have lived without gasoline so it is by no means essential.
If terrorists sabotage any of our major suppliers we'd find out very quickly how essential it really is. Forget about airplanes flying into buildings - just disrupt our oil supply.
abandjinNY wrote: By the way, Shell is a Dutch company, not an American company. I am curious how the US government would go about taxing the profits of a Dutch company - and how an American president (Bush) goes about getting rich from a company owned by a foreign country. While you are at it, maybe you can let us know where Bush is stashing all this extra cash - his tax returns are public record, and all his income is accounted for.
The price of a barrel of oil has increased primarily because of the fall of the value of the dollar, among other things. The dollar is falling because high taxes and ever increasing regulations are driving foreign investment out of the US.
$7.5B profit means nothing at all in comparison to other businesses unless you take into account gross sales and look at the percentage. Generally, it has been reported that this amounts to about an 8% profit.
As long as people continue to believe that high gas prices are the result of greedy oil companies and ignore the real facts, nothing will be done about the real problem which is our absurd energy policy and bloated government taxation and regulation system.
"BINGO" - It took 4 pages but we finally found someone with common sense.
The oil companies' revenue comes from the sale of fuel at gas stations. The stations have to pay more for their product, and have to pass the cost along to us. But, they're making little profit no matter what the cost to the consumer. But, the price of gas is much higher than it used to be, so there's a lot more cash coming into the station. Therefore, more money must be going to the gasoline supplier - the guy who brings it to the station. Somehow I don't think it's he who's making all the money.
Now, the price of a barrel of oil is higher, which means that Shell is paying more for their raw materials. It seems obvious there's way more money going to our oil suppliers like Canada and Saudi Arabia.
If the gas station isn't making much, and the oil well owner is making way more, how is Shell making more?
They're selling more oil, natural gas and hydrocarbon products.
A lot more.
At higher prices that are driven up by demand.
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