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

[Kestas]

Quote:
Free market, why not move then?

Not that easy. The 6% commission is just a start. Then you pay tax on the sale. Then you secure a new mortgage. Then you pay movers. Then you need to tweak the new house to the way you like it.

For a $100K home I calculated it would cost me $11K out of pocket just to move laterally into something equivalent.

People change jobs rather often. They aren't that willing to move close to work each time. Sometimes it's chaper to put up with the time and gas for commuting.

I lucked out. My last job move was much closer to home.

 

[JHZR2]

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.



I said that kind of jokingly though it didnt come across.

 

[Shannow]

Originally Posted By: Nick R
http://money.cnn.com/2010/10/28/news/companies/exxon_mobil/index.htm

This REALLY ticks me off. Gas prices are higher than they've been in over a year, and still going up. They are up 30 cents here from a month and a half ago (2.93 vs 2.67 where they stayed for several months). I hate it. Nobody says anything, nobody notices that while gas prices rise (oil companies citing "low supply" or what have you, profits are rising dramatically. Lower supply my fanny. It's pure, unadulerarated, blatant, price gouging. Why has noone called them out on this?


In cased you haven't noticed, your currency is diving, which would naturally increase prices at the pump...EM's profit is up 55% in US dollars.

How does this correlate to dollars in actual purchasing power/ounces of gold/bushels of wheat/boats of ore etc. ?

That being said, Oz dollar is nearing parity, and fuel prices haven't dropped a cent.

 

[whip]

3 things,

1st, companies are allowed to make profits. As a former small business owner, it was my goal to make money.

2nd, instead of getting "ticked off", enjoy some of those insane profits, and invest in Exxon.

3rd, If you don't like it, stop buying.

 

[ZZman]

Blame the speculators and investors. There is more than enough supply.

 

[ZZman]

Originally Posted By: tenderloin
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.


Because I don't have to buy Apple because I think they are high priced. But what is a true alternative to fuel and oil for most of us. Nothing.

 

[Tempest]

Originally Posted By: ZZman

Because I don't have to buy Apple because I think they are high priced. But what is a true alternative to fuel and oil for most of us. Nothing.

So this company is out there getting you this very valuable resource and you demonize it?

Go did your own oil and see how hard it is.

 

[ZZman]

Not demonizing them at all Tempest.

My point is there are easy alternatives I could chose other than to buy Apple products or I could chose to not buy anything.

Not such simple choices with energy.

 

[mechanicx]

Originally Posted By: Tempest
Originally Posted By: ZZman

Because I don't have to buy Apple because I think they are high priced. But what is a true alternative to fuel and oil for most of us. Nothing.

So this company is out there getting you this very valuable resource and you demonize it?

Go did your own oil and see how hard it is.


Because it's not hard work earning the money to pay one's gas expenses? Besides it's the roughnecks doing the hard work on the rigs. You probably would say they are overpayed and it cuts into corporate profits.

 

[M1Accord]

Originally Posted By: Tempest
Originally Posted By: ZZman

Because I don't have to buy Apple because I think they are high priced. But what is a true alternative to fuel and oil for most of us. Nothing.

So this company is out there getting you this very valuable resource and you demonize it?

Go did your own oil and see how hard it is.


Actually, it may be a felony offense to dig your own oil or create your own fuel. You have to pay taxes for that fuel consumption, business taxes, production taxes, manufacturing taxes, etc. You may recall a story about an oil fellow receiving a fine for running used cooking oil in his vehicle.

All major businesses are in bed with each other. They love to build nice neighborhoods away from where good jobs area so people with money will put up with commute and these same cooperation have special slum areas where people are fed enough so they can vote.

 

[M1Accord]

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

Not that easy. The 6% commission is just a start. Then you pay tax on the sale. Then you secure a new mortgage. Then you pay movers. Then you need to tweak the new house to the way you like it.

For a $100K home I calculated it would cost me $11K out of pocket just to move laterally into something equivalent.

It doesn't just cost money to move, it cost money to refi to go from 5% to 4.25% because there are all of the associated fees and taxes involved. If I own my house and refi with the same lender, why do I need to buy title insurance, do title search, and pay sale taxes all over again? What extra protection is gained or loss and why I and the lender suddenly need the title process redo for the same house I live in. If I screw around and sale parts of the houses, do you think I want to refi or have it on record for them to title search? The mortgage industry is a scam. I know this because I am looking at a 4k bill if I want to refi my 1 year old mortgage to go from 30 years fixed (trying to do the responsible thing) to another 30 years fixed. Why do I need to start the process over? The title companies have lobbyists and they are nothing more than highway robbers. It is also worth noting that real estate scam went up after title cooperation became a boom.

 

[Shannow]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
I find it hard to believe that people NEED energy. Yes, that is kind of a joke, but let's face it... 100 years ago, people used a LOT less energy then they do today...

Go ahead and walk/bicycle to the grocery store, work, etc. Wanted to live out in the boonies? Well, I dont know what to tell you.


On top of the GFC, electricity retailers lobbied for a price increase (to 17.5c/kWhr plus connection costs etc. in my case).

Peak daytime demand is currently down by 25% as people vote with their heaters and light switches to not buy the stuff.

Generation now has so much excess capacity, the wholesale price is rubbish.

 

[Tempest]

Originally Posted By: mechanicx

Because it's not hard work earning the money to pay one's gas expenses? Besides it's the roughnecks doing the hard work on the rigs. You probably would say they are overpayed and it cuts into corporate profits.


It's funny that you think this because if the company wasn't making money and their product wasn't in demand, then those workers wouldn't be making their good wages providing the rest of us oil. Profit is the reward that society offers to companies/workers for providing a product/service. To artificially reduce that profit is to PUNISH people for doing what society wants.

Housing, food, clothing, cars...all have to be paid for with hard earned money as well. What is your point about that and oil?

 

[Tempest]

Quote:
Actually, it may be a felony offense to dig your own oil or create your own fuel. You have to pay taxes for that fuel consumption, business taxes, production taxes, manufacturing taxes, etc. You may recall a story about an oil fellow receiving a fine for running used cooking oil in his vehicle.

It's amazing how government stifles business, individual spirit, and economic activity isn't it?

 

[Tempest]

Originally Posted By: ZZman

Not such simple choices with energy.


So then I take it you are dumping your own money into alternative energy companies?

 

[Shannow]

So then, you are obviously dumping your vegetable peelings over your neighbour's fence ?

 

[grampi]

Originally Posted By: whip
If you don't like it, stop buying.


I see this phrase all the time, and it's gotta be one of the dumbest phrases ever. Do you think people buy gas because there's nothing else they'd rather be spending their money on? I'd love to have some form of transportation that costs nothing to operate, but there's is no such thing...at least nothing that's practical. In this society some form of powered vehicles are a must. This country is not going to function by people walking and riding bicycles. Until something better comes along, I'm afraid the oil companies have consumers over the proverbial barrel...

 

[javacontour]

Originally Posted By: grampi
Originally Posted By: whip
If you don't like it, stop buying.


I see this phrase all the time, and it's gotta be one of the dumbest phrases ever. Do you think people buy gas because there's nothing else they'd rather be spending their money on?


Yes. They would rather drive their two+ ton SUV with a V8 with one small shopping bag in the back, take that item home, drive to another store, take that item home, than drive something with less than a 2L engine displacement, plan their route and minimized how much fuel they use.
Originally Posted By: grampi


I'd love to have some form of transportation that costs nothing to operate, but there's is no such thing...at least nothing that's practical.


Practical is relative. We seemed to survive and thrive before we had the car, so I suspect if it becomes too pricey, folks will adapt again.

Folks complain, but they don't address their contribution to the issue. Many think they have some sort of Deity Provided right to inexpensive energy so they can drive whatever they want without consequences.

On so many levels, the North American level of consumption is not sustainable. I don't believe it's sustainable from a resource perspective, nor is it sustainable from an economic perspective.

So it's going to hurt as we get closer to the day when that goes from being theory to being obvious. I hope I'm wrong, but I really doubt it.

We saw how unsustainable the economy was, fueled by debt. If folks don't figure out how they can personally reduce how much energy they use, they'll see the same sort of crisis again and again until they finally get a passing grade at learning the lesson.
Originally Posted By: grampi


In this society some form of powered vehicles are a must. This country is not going to function by people walking and riding bicycles. Until something better comes along, I'm afraid the oil companies have consumers over the proverbial barrel...


Oh, we have a lot of places where we can save. We don't NEED McMansions, or large SUVs. I still believe in the free markets, so if folks want to buy those things, good on them.

But to expect that prices will remain low as levels of consumption rise, not to mention what is happening to the US dollar due to the sudden increase in the rate of the Treasury's printing presses, fuel prices and the prices of everything else will continue to rise.

 

[Samilcar]

Originally Posted By: grampi
Until something better comes along, I'm afraid the oil companies have consumers over the proverbial barrel...


Only because the consumer chooses to put themselves over that proverbial barrel. Like it or not, there is a point at which gas becomes expensive enough that it's no longer treated like water by the American consumer. What happened when gas hit $4.00 per gallon in 2008? Consumers used less gas, proving that demand for gasoline is not really that inelastic.

 

[grampi]

Originally Posted By: Samilcar
Originally Posted By: grampi
Until something better comes along, I'm afraid the oil companies have consumers over the proverbial barrel...


Only because the consumer chooses to put themselves over that proverbial barrel. Like it or not, there is a point at which gas becomes expensive enough that it's no longer treated like water by the American consumer. What happened when gas hit $4.00 per gallon in 2008? Consumers used less gas, proving that demand for gasoline is not really that inelastic.


There's a big difference between not buying gas at all, and doing as much as you can to use less of it. Granted, many Americans could drive smaller, more fuel efficent vehicles, and be smarter about combining trips when they do have to drive, but cutting out the need for vehicles of some sort just isn't going to happen in American society. Our entire economy is built around commerce, and without it our society doesn't exist. The techonology for non-fossil fuel based energy sources will have to improve drastically, and much more rapidly than it has been, or this country will soon turn into rubble.