Gas Station Owners See Profits in Food Grand Rapids Press Gas prices may be hitting near record high levels, but gas station owners, such as Roger Clouse, are experiencing record low profit margins. "People don't realize how tough it is. People aren't getting out of the business because they are making too much money."
Blame High Oil Prices on Congress The Free Lance-Star I found it kind of interesting that Congress brought in the executives of the big oil companies to explain how they justify their profits when the price of gas is so high and becoming more and more of a burden on citizens.
Iraq Sees Oil Surplus, Big Profits The Associated Press Iraq is looking at a potential boon in oil revenue this year, as the U.S. spends some $153 million a month in the country on fuel alone. But U.S. officials say it will take some time before Baghdad builds the capacity to manage the revenue.
A brief history of ergot, the hallucinogenic grain fungus responsible for all manner of mass hysteria. It makes the War on Drugs look even more complicated.
 by nachista |
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 by lowcountrypen |
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 by Cynthia |
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April 04, 2008
The CEOs of Exxon Mobil, BP and Shell were called to Capitol Hill this week for their quarterly whipping. A Wall Street Journal editorial summed it up nicely:
"The latest in the series of pointless gestures that constitute Congressional energy policy came yesterday, when executives from five major oil companies were paraded before Ed Markey's House hearing on global warming. They served as political props for Members to denounce rising gas prices, ventilate Dick Cheney conspiracy theories and otherwise advertise their ignorance of the markets they purportedly oversee."
Let's look at a few of the "facts" that Congress - aided and abetted by their friends in the media - used to cane the boys from Texas and Dubai.
Fact 1: The oil companies' profits are "obscene."
That would be true if the oil companies generated their multi-billion-dollar profits so that senior management could roll around in a big pile of cash in the corporate boardroom. But that's far from the truth.
"That profit doesn't go into the pockets of Dr. Evil," wrote New York Times Sunday Business columnist Ben Stein. "It doesn't go to Saddam Hussein (not anymore). It goes to tens of millions of stockholders who use the dividends and the increase in share price to pay for their RV's and retirements and their (ungrateful) kids' college education."
Fact 2: The oil companies are gouging consumers at the pump.
Oil companies actually only make about 10 cents a gallon at retail. State and federal taxes are a much bigger chunk of the inflationary pie.
The federal gasoline tax is 18.4 cents, nearly twice what the oil companies make. And depending on which state you live in, the local tax can be six times that much. For instance, the gasoline tax in New York is 68 cents a gallon.
Some states, like Minnesota, set a minimum price. In theory, it's supposed to keep the big chains from selling gas at a loss and driving the mom-and-pop stations out of business. But it doesn't quite work that way. That's because gas accounts for very little of the profits. Where gas stations make their money is on coffee, donuts and soda.
Fact 3. The oil companies get huge subsidies from the government.
What the oil companies get - the same as any other industry that successfully lobbies Congress - are tax breaks.
"Tax breaks simply allow companies to keep what is best left to them in the first place and should not be thought of as a subsidy," said the Cato Institute.
And while the newspapers are busy reporting every shekel the oil companies earn, what they don't tell you is that they're also paying record taxes.
Last year, Exxon Mobil generated profits of $39 billion, the largest annual profit ever by any U.S. company. What the news anchors didn't tell you was that Exxon Mobil also paid more than $100 billion in federal taxes - two and a half times what it made in profit.
In fact, according to a federal audit, from 1977 to 2004 the state and federal government collected $397 billion in taxes from oil companies. They collected another $1.1 trillion in gasoline taxes. In today's dollars, that's worth $2.2 trillion.
So if the oil companies aren't profiting nearly as much as some would have us believe, then who is?
Share the Eye:
Thanks for the Oil Capital and Commerce Blog If our banks are running short of ready money, maybe we should just call the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
$4 a Gallon Gas? Salon On March 7, the average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States reached $3.17. Four dollars a gallon by summertime is well within the realm of possibility -- even if that comes as a surprise to the current occupant of the White House.
Raising Taxes Won't Cut Gas Prices Heritage Foundation Many in Congress are looking to provide Americans with relief at the gas pump, but raising taxes on the oil industry is not the way to do it.
The oil industry is very complex. Petroleum is the basis of an almost endless array of products....
Apr. 04, 2008 12:52 AM
Who is to blame for the high oil prices?
18% 24% 29% 6% 24%
The oil industry is very complex. Petroleum is the basis of an almost endless array of products. These include, gasoline, plastic bags, PVC pipe, petroleum jelly, heating oil, engine and transmission oil, and countless other products.
That we have the least expensive gas in the world would indicate that the oil industry is not profiting too greatly at our expense. I think the oil industry is trying to develop alternative energy sources because they know that sooner or later their control of the energy supply will end. They want to stay in the game.
You asked "Who is?" The oil rich Gulf states that have accumulated billions (trillions) of dollars and now using the money to bail out our financial system and invest in the development of down town L.A. Perhaps a few hedge funds and options and commodities traders have profited. And the taxes paid were small compared to the oil companies taxes. And the Gulf states paid no tax.
I'm no apologist for the oil industry, either. I still complain when I fill up at the gas station. Here in L.A. were paying $3.60 for 87 octane. I have an 18 gallon tank. I fill up once a week. Do the math. My girl friend fills up a 20 gallon tank at least twice a week. Complain? Yes. But who to blame? Probably speculators playing the options, making a profit, and taking their vacations in Dubai.
more on the honor rollthecatalyst said...
Let me get this right, the oil company executives are greedy villians for providing an invaluable product to the consumers and making a profit for their shareholders. But the government, which confiscates the lions share of oil profits through taxes at the pump and taxes on (evil) corporate income are somehow the good guys??
I actually watched part of these hearings on C-span. I was amazed at the absolute ignorance, arrogance and rudeness of our "representatives" toward the CEO's. I came away from it thinking that we have GOT to do better when sending people to congress. We may not agree politically on much these days, but could we all just agree not to vote for stupid people?
Early on in my life I realized that all things in life revolve around one thing... money! Why do we get up in the morning and go to work? Money! Why can’t I go on that vacation that I so desperately need? Money! Our everyday life revolves around this evil; it owns us and tells us what to do! Its amazing to me that we created the automobile, we created the engine, we made it so it runs on gasoline. So why can't we create something, affordable for all Americans, that runs off of something else? Something cheaper? Why do we need to be dependent on other nations for our own addiction to oil? Why do we borrow money from the Chinese and use it for oil in Saudi Arabia? We as Americans need to come together and start to make this country more energy independent, create vehicles that run on cheaper more environmentally friendly products, find other ways for the government to get out of debt because of this unnecessary war in Iraq; so they will stop taxing so much on fuel! America is one of the greatest nations on earth, but our actions at the moment are not displaying that and our respect is falling throughout the world! Money is just a part of life, stop trying to make an extra buck to line your own pockets and step up to the plate and create a better more energy efficient America!
So then, high taxes and insane amounts of revenue for the U.S. government are what's keeping us from developing Hydrogen-Powered vehicles? I've always wondered why we didn't spend the money we spent on taking over Iraq on something like an alternative energy project. Now I know. The government makes too much money in taxes on oil to allow development on such things.