Exxon Profit surges 55%.... And gas prices are up.

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
If you don't like it-don't buy it!! Walk, ride a bike, ride public transportation, or-wait for it...-BUY AN ELECTRIC CAR! As long as there is no alternative-the gasoline price gouging is going to continue!

Very true. I try to contribute as little as possible to XOM, but even in doing so I'm indirectly using their products I'm sure. They have us by the short hairs and know it. But as you said, QUOTE: "Walk, ride a bike, ride public transportation, or-wait for it...-BUY AN ELECTRIC CAR!" I can't get my tools from point A to point B by walking, riding a bike, public transportation, and I won't own an electric car. So I [censored] and moan, and pony up the cash like millions of other people in this Great Nation!

 

[javacontour]

Good on XOM. We need someone to make a profit to get the ecomony moving.

Did the article mention how much federal, state, and local governments made by doing nothing more than taxing energy?

If you are outraged about the profits made by the companies taking all the risk, where is the outrage about the even higher dollar figures taken in by all those governemnts for doing nothing more than counting the gallons of fuels sold, and taxing them?

I have a bigger problem with the taxes on the fuels for little effort by the various layers of government than the actual investors making money for putting their funds at risk.

Turn the outrage on those who would attach themselves and leach off the success of others instead of punishing those who succeed in their business endevors, regardless their political persuasion.

 

[M1Accord]

Originally Posted By: tenderloin
"Oil prices were up about 12% from the same period last year, while gasoline prices have risen about 6%.

While gasoline and oil prices were on the rise, Exxon increased production in the third quarter. Oil and natural gas production were up 11% compared to the first nine months of 2009.

Why is no one complaining about the money Apple is making? It seems a lot harder to me to get oil out of the ground, ship it to the US, refine it and get it to my gas station.. then design and have China make some phones etc. ...but that is just me.

Apple


You don't have to buy phones but you got to buy gas and/or pay for it with the rising cost of things you buy at stores and super markets. If you can't understand that, then something is very wrong with you. I feel the pain at the pump and I make very good money and carpool. How do you think someone making minimum wage feels?

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: javacontour
Good on XOM. We need someone to make a profit to get the ecomony moving.

Did the article mention how much federal, state, and local governments made by doing nothing more than taxing energy?

If you are outraged about the profits made by the companies taking all the risk, where is the outrage about the even higher dollar figures taken in by all those governemnts for doing nothing more than counting the gallons of fuels sold, and taxing them?

I have a bigger problem with the taxes on the fuels for little effort by the various layers of government than the actual investors making money for putting their funds at risk.

Turn the outrage on those who would attach themselves and leach off the success of others instead of punishing those who succeed in their business endevors, regardless their political persuasion.

It would be an interesting experiment, for governments to cut fuel taxes and then quit maintaining roads.

Would XOM come in and use their profits to maintain roads to keep the demand for their fuel high? Probably only the "profitable" ones. Most people would actually have a reason to have their SUV then... Fording depth and ground clearance would suddenly become more important on your daily commute...

 

[Trav]

Quote:
It would be an interesting experiment, for governments to cut fuel taxes and then quit maintaining roads.



What road maintenance? Here in MA they do not maintain much of anything as it is.A 4x4 doesn't cut it you need a dam half track some places around here.
Don't we pay road use taxes for road maintenance?

We are being gouged alright,they couldn't rob us any worse if they hit us over the head in a dark alley and took our wallets and i am not talking about the oil companies making a legitimate profit for providing goods and services.

 

[M1Accord]

Originally Posted By: Trav
Quote:
It would be an interesting experiment, for governments to cut fuel taxes and then quit maintaining roads.



What road maintenance? Here in MA they do not maintain much of anything as it is.A 4x4 doesn't cut it you need a dam half track some places around here.
Don't we pay road use taxes for road maintenance?

We are being gouged alright,they couldn't rob us any worse if they hit us over the head in a dark alley and took our wallets and i am not talking about the oil companies making a legitimate profit for providing goods and services.


Income taxes (state and federal), sale tax and property taxes pay for state and roads. Gas tax is pure bonus money for special projects and pork barrel road spending. Calling gas tax as a sole source of road funding is like calling cigarette tax is used purely to fight cig-relate cancer. That is another funny money tax.

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: M1Accord
Originally Posted By: Trav
Quote:
It would be an interesting experiment, for governments to cut fuel taxes and then quit maintaining roads.



What road maintenance? Here in MA they do not maintain much of anything as it is.A 4x4 doesn't cut it you need a dam half track some places around here.
Don't we pay road use taxes for road maintenance?

We are being gouged alright,they couldn't rob us any worse if they hit us over the head in a dark alley and took our wallets and i am not talking about the oil companies making a legitimate profit for providing goods and services.


Income taxes (state and federal), sale tax and property taxes pay for state and roads. Gas tax is pure bonus money for special projects and pork barrel road spending. Calling gas tax as a sole source of road funding is like calling cigarette tax is used purely to fight cig-relate cancer. That is another funny money tax.

Well, tax money is tax money. It gets spent in, hopefully, the most useful manner, usually with nothing to do with its source.
I don't know the numbers specifically, but I'd bet fuel taxes don't cover much of the cost of building and maintaining roads. People who use public transportation should be howling in rage that fuel taxes aren't higher, as their property tax is being used to subsidize people driving cars...

 

[Trav]

Quote:
People who use public transportation should be howling in rage that fuel taxes aren't higher, as their property tax is being used to subsidize people driving cars...


I paid 13k in property tax last year on one house alone.I never had kids in any school here in the U.S. so where the heck is my tax money going? Maybe its going to pulbic transportation and illegal immigrant education!Because it sure isnt going for the roads,rubbish removal,street lighting or anything else, i pay for my own rubbish removal out of pocket and the swines turned many of the street lights off to save money.

BTW a nearby sancuary city has openly addmited 40% of the students in the high school are illegals and we pay for the new 250 million high school to accomodate the increased student population.

Between income tax,sales tax,tobacco tax,property tax,capital gains tax etc i pay a small fortune and dont even get a plastic bag of trash removed.
The City,State and Federal government is litterally sucking the life out of us and giving us very little and in some cases almost nothing in return.

A fact that legetimate company post a profit and reinvest billions makes some folks come unglued makes me sick.
I wish every American company could post huge out of this world profits and pay the shareholders a massive dividend!

 

[IndyIan]

Wow, $13K is a chunk of change... Must be a nice house though, I'm not really a fan of taxation based on property values either as our place is appreciating far faster than the average property in our area...
Anyways, I don't really mind that XOM made 10% profits on their revenues. What does leave a bitter taste is the price fixing that occurs, that helped make those profits...

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: Trav
Between income tax,sales tax,tobacco tax,property tax,capital gains tax etc i pay a small fortune and dont even get a plastic bag of trash removed.
The City,State and Federal government is litterally sucking the life out of us and giving us very little and in some cases almost nothing in return.

A fact that legetimate company post a profit and reinvest billions makes some folks come unglued makes me sick.
I wish every American company could post huge out of this world profits and pay the shareholders a massive dividend!



Free market, why not move then? Show them what you think of their taxes and fees...

Im sure you get something for your tax dollars, nothing is a bit excessive, but I catch your drift. The whining over profits does annoy me. Do people not understand that these profits get taxed a few times, even if the company has some sort of loophole (which I do not agree with).

 

[Trav]

Quote:
Free market, why not move then?


Don't get me wrong i like my house it just makes me angry they are always crying poverty and wanting overrides at these kinds of tax rates.
Moving is out of the question at this point,although i own the house outright i would still loose quite a bit if i tried to sell it now.

 

[Stu_Rock]

Originally Posted By: Kestas
The oil industry is the only industry I know where, when the price of raw material goes up, so do the profits. All other industries absorb these costs until they can figure a way to pass them on to consumers.

This is an odd thing to say. It's common for suppliers of raw materials to become more profitable when the price of those raw materials increases.

Remember, the main business of oil companies is extracting oil from the earth. The refining and distribution is a low-margin side business.

To people who are upset by the situation mentioned in the thread title, what would you have XOM do? Take upstream profits and subsidize downstream operations? What incentive would they have to do that? Might that be viewed as anticompetitive toward downstream-only companies, like Valero?

 

[M1Accord]

Originally Posted By: IndyIan
Originally Posted By: M1Accord
Income taxes (state and federal), sale tax and property taxes pay for state and roads. Gas tax is pure bonus money for special projects and pork barrel road spending. Calling gas tax as a sole source of road funding is like calling cigarette tax is used purely to fight cig-relate cancer. That is another funny money tax.

Well, tax money is tax money. It gets spent in, hopefully, the most useful manner, usually with nothing to do with its source.
I don't know the numbers specifically, but I'd bet fuel taxes don't cover much of the cost of building and maintaining roads. People who use public transportation should be howling in rage that fuel taxes aren't higher, as their property tax is being used to subsidize people driving cars...

People using public transportation tend to make a lot less money than people driving cars, in any given area. They also tend to be renters and/or on government cheese. They know better than playing with fire while living in a supported bubble.

 

[M1Accord]

Originally Posted By: Trav
I paid 13k in property tax last year on one house alone.I never had kids in any school here in the U.S. so where the heck is my tax money going? Maybe its going to pulbic transportation and illegal immigrant education!Because it sure isnt going for the roads,rubbish removal,street lighting or anything else, i pay for my own rubbish removal out of pocket and the swines turned many of the street lights off to save money.

BTW a nearby sancuary city has openly addmited 40% of the students in the high school are illegals and we pay for the new 250 million high school to accomodate the increased student population.

Between income tax,sales tax,tobacco tax,property tax,capital gains tax etc i pay a small fortune and dont even get a plastic bag of trash removed.
The City,State and Federal government is litterally sucking the life out of us and giving us very little and in some cases almost nothing in return.

A fact that legetimate company post a profit and reinvest billions makes some folks come unglued makes me sick.
I wish every American company could post huge out of this world profits and pay the shareholders a massive dividend!

+1 Trav. Property tax is paid for by people owning property and these people don't use public transportation much. They'll do car pool, van pool, or some type of commuter ride but not public transportation run by poorly managed cities.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: M1Accord
Originally Posted By: Trav
Quote:
People who use public transportation should be howling in rage that fuel taxes aren't higher, as their property tax is being used to subsidize people driving cars...


I paid 13k in property tax last year on one house alone.I never had kids in any school here in the U.S. so where the heck is my tax money going? Maybe its going to pulbic transportation and illegal immigrant education!Because it sure isnt going for the roads,rubbish removal,street lighting or anything else, i pay for my own rubbish removal out of pocket and the swines turned many of the street lights off to save money.

BTW a nearby sancuary city has openly addmited 40% of the students in the high school are illegals and we pay for the new 250 million high school to accomodate the increased student population.

Between income tax,sales tax,tobacco tax,property tax,capital gains tax etc i pay a small fortune and dont even get a plastic bag of trash removed.
The City,State and Federal government is litterally sucking the life out of us and giving us very little and in some cases almost nothing in return.

A fact that legetimate company post a profit and reinvest billions makes some folks come unglued makes me sick.
I wish every American company could post huge out of this world profits and pay the shareholders a massive dividend!



+1 Trav. Property tax is paid for by people owning property and these people don't use public transportation much. They'll do car pool, van pool, or some type of commuter ride but not public transportation run by poorly managed cities.


I disagree. Look at northern NJ. LOTS of VERY well-off people, making tons of money in NYC. They ride NJ Transit. Why? Too much of a hassle.

Ditto for many well-to-do suburb areas of the country.

Doesnt mean that they dont travel-pool (Ive noted fancier charter busses for people living in fancy areas of VA and MD going to DC), but there are lots who use public transit for logistics reasons.

 

[M1Accord]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: Trav
Between income tax,sales tax,tobacco tax,property tax,capital gains tax etc i pay a small fortune and dont even get a plastic bag of trash removed.
The City,State and Federal government is litterally sucking the life out of us and giving us very little and in some cases almost nothing in return.

A fact that legetimate company post a profit and reinvest billions makes some folks come unglued makes me sick.
I wish every American company could post huge out of this world profits and pay the shareholders a massive dividend!



Free market, why not move then? Show them what you think of their taxes and fees...

Im sure you get something for your tax dollars, nothing is a bit excessive, but I catch your drift. The whining over profits does annoy me. Do people not understand that these profits get taxed a few times, even if the company has some sort of loophole (which I do not agree with).


I am not sure if you own your house or not but your statement show you're clueless about property ownership. People don't just get up and move. They have job(s) and family. Renters can get up and move when they're pass their 1 year contract date or if you find someone to replace them or pay a fine. Homeowners pay the 6% commission fee to sell their house and another giant payment called closing cost to buy another house. Unless there is a major change in income or market or career, we don't freely locate to teach someone a lesson.

If Trav is paying 13k in property tax and has no children in school, I know he's not getting jack for his money. What he gets for his money are a bunch of councilmen, aldermen, statemen, and local political muscle that do nothing to contribute to his community. People living in Mahattan pays tons of money in property tax and get next to nothing for it. The streets are the worst and littered with toll, aka freeway robberies, and the school system is horrible. I won't go into the police force and their lack of service provide.

EDIT:

I see you're living in NJ so my statement can't really apply to you. NJ is an odd area where you have people taking public transit for hours to get to their job to do the work they can easily do at their house. You guys don't believe in telework and actually has 2 reasons to take public transit:
1) Horribly toll.
2) Best in the country public transit as far as convenient.

I don't think NJ and NYC are a reflection of the country. Look at LA, DC, FL, etc. People take their car or ride commuter vehicles because they don't want to or have to put up with public transit. I took DC metro system to work before, it is a filth.

 

[M1Accord]

Originally Posted By: Trav
Quote:
Free market, why not move then?


Don't get me wrong i like my house it just makes me angry they are always crying poverty and wanting overrides at these kinds of tax rates.
Moving is out of the question at this point,although i own the house outright i would still loose quite a bit if i tried to sell it now.


Tell me about it. The 6% commission hurts too.

 

[grampi]

Originally Posted By: rshaw125
Silly. Oil has gone up because the dollar has been sliding in value. Federal and State governments take in more on a gallon of gas than Exxon-Mobil can only dream about.
I suggest you buy XOM stock and write your representatives to lower the gas taxes.


Of course speculation run wild has nothing to do with it...

 

[grampi]

Also, the energy industry isn't part of a free market, it operates in a cartel....

 

[cchase]

Originally Posted By: M1Accord
I am not sure if you own your house or not but your statement show you're clueless about property ownership. People don't just get up and move. They have job(s) and family. Renters can get up and move when they're pass their 1 year contract date or if you find someone to replace them or pay a fine. Homeowners pay the 6% commission fee to sell their house and another giant payment called closing cost to buy another house. Unless there is a major change in income or market or career, we don't freely locate to teach someone a lesson.

If Trav is paying 13k in property tax and has no children in school, I know he's not getting jack for his money. What he gets for his money are a bunch of councilmen, aldermen, statemen, and local political muscle that do nothing to contribute to his community. People living in Mahattan pays tons of money in property tax and get next to nothing for it. The streets are the worst and littered with toll, aka freeway robberies, and the school system is horrible. I won't go into the police force and their lack of service provide.

EDIT:

I see you're living in NJ so my statement can't really apply to you. NJ is an odd area where you have people taking public transit for hours to get to their job to do the work they can easily do at their house. You guys don't believe in telework and actually has 2 reasons to take public transit:
1) Horribly toll.
2) Best in the country public transit as far as convenient.

I don't think NJ and NYC are a reflection of the country. Look at LA, DC, FL, etc. People take their car or ride commuter vehicles because they don't want to or have to put up with public transit. I took DC metro system to work before, it is a filth.

It only gets better if you own a second home. We have a second home in another state and pay 6-7k per year in property taxes. For that, we have no representation in local politics (including politics that affect tax rates on second homes), would not be allowed to send children to their public schools, and receive no police or fire assistance due to location.

So how do we get that money back?

EDI: And not that it makes much difference, but I find it absolutely ridiculous that as a wealthier town in MA we get (as a town) appriximately 30 cents back for every tax dollar we put into the state while all the poor urban areas get $3+ dollars back just for subsidized housing and supporting people who generally, just don't want to work. But I digress.