Say Anything Blog

$4,477.44 per gallon. 

 Yeah, but think how much more expensive it would be if the government required them to put ethanol in it!

I do pity the poor saps that have to use this shit by the gallon.

And the "Award for Best Use of Non-Applicable Analogy" goes too.....Bullwinkle!!!!!!

At least compare it to bottled water or milk. Jeez.  Some people and the length the will go to in defending un-American practices.

Well, in all fairness, probably a good deal of that is packaging costs.

I really wanted that award!…

Zsa^2: you get the day late and dollar short award for not thinking of it first!

Non-applicable? Is a extremely high profit margin ok for some things and low profit margin not ok for others? You claim price gouging at less than 10% but don’t say a word when it’s measured in the 1000’s.

The point you liberal pinheads don’t get is that every business out there makes all the profit the market allows on every product they sell or they go broke. I know that’ll be lost on those who think that everyone owes them something but remember that the next time your boss offers you a raise, if he ever does , then tell him to take his raise and shove it because you don’t want to gouge him. I bet you dont.  

Anyone who thinks a profit margin of less than 10% is un-American is a liberal pinhead, whether they admit the liberal part or not.

Iranian Oil Bourse opens next week, Gold went for $685.00 per ounce the highest its been in 25 years, Next week when oil will sell for Euro (I am no way near an expert on this but) it looks preety damaging to the Dollar to me.

You claim price gouging at less than 10% but don’t say a word when it’s measured in the 1000’s.

Try comparing it to things that actually are measured in gallons. 

Anyone who thinks a profit margin of less than 10% is un-American is a liberal pinhead, whether they admit the liberal part or not.

The profit is not what is un-American.

What is un-American is the way these companies thumb their nose at the consumer and do whatever the hell they want.  

Are we losing men every day so oil execs can swim in money?

I don’t mean to sound like a raving liberal, although I do, but at some point this house of cards that these corpations have build by bilking the consumer is going to fall down, and NOBODY is going to feel sorry for them.   

Bullwinkle, I agree. Supply is low and demand is up. Refineries are at there peek in the USA. Oil an gas prices have been artificially low for along time. Your comparison is great! AND, look at the price of a movie. People are so quick to gripe about a CEO’s retirement. Take a look at actors who recieve millions per movie… The price of shampoo or cosmetics! ... 3.00 per gallon of gas is not as bad as it couldbe. AND as bad as it will be if Iran plays NUKE the evil americans or Israelies… I like the way you put it. Americans need to conserve. Politicians need to stay out of it!

Peak! ...

The perfect example of why NeoCON thinking is absolutely bonkers.  Bullwinkle.

Why even try to explain it to him?

Absolutely the most stupid post, bar none, on any board, any time, anywhere, by anybody.

What is un-American is the way these companies thumb their nose at the consumer and do whatever the hell they want.  

Actually they can. If you don’t like the way Exxon does business don’t buy from them. They kep their prices competitive or people would already be buying frpom someone else. The reason you sound like a raging liberal is because deep down inside you are one. At least you are finally coming to terms with it.  It’s your house of cards that’s crashing down, you don’t even begin to have the capacity to see past the envy to understand that Exxon doesn’t set the crude price, Iran does. If you want to gripe about price gouging put the blame where it is, Iran, Venezuela, Canada, Great Britain, Norway, Russia, all oil exporting nations are selling their products for the market price, not a one of them is giving you that discount you seem to think you deserve.

Yeah, Exxon is a victim. 

Zsa, you really do need some help; you and Bullwinkle split the price of a fill-up and get yourselves to a clinic....pronto!

P.S.  Bullwinkle...I almost feel sorry for you.  If you’d like to remove this whole thread (if that’s possible on this site), we’ll all play like we never saw it and you can maintain some dignity.

I’ll go one better on that, Iran and Venezuela and others like them manipulate the price of oil but ultimately the consumer sets the price. Stop buying gasoline if you think it’s too high, if someone doesn’t step and buy the part you were buying the price will come down. Demand and supply set the price regardless of what liberal pinheads think. If you want to argue that you have to have gasoline it’s still not Exxon’s fault you chose the job you have, the car you drive or your driving habits. it’s also not their fault you don’t budget for emergencies and can’t ride out a price increase without crying like a baby.

A ‘creepy’ LOL to that. This is getting funnier by the minute; come on, bullwinkle....give us more reasons we don’t need gas, it’s simply an optional ‘want’.  And be sure and tell the old people who freeze to death (God forbid) this winter they should have saved for a rainy day.

LOL

diane ...If you don’t like the price of gasoline.You can always walk...AND, if you get tired of walking? You can run.

And this guy has his own blog?   LOL.   Only goes to prove that the Internet has let loose alot of nutcases on the world.

Now, if Zsa gets one, I’ve GOT to visit that one!!!!  LOLOLOLOL

If you don’t like the way Exxon does business don’t buy from them.

No Exxon for 400+ miles.

The oligopoly is an inefficient economic model, it will self destruct in time.

It’s your house of cards that’s crashing down, you don’t even begin to have the capacity to see past the envy to understand that Exxon doesn’t set the crude price, Iran does.

Do you really think the Oligopoly pays $75/barrel.  Try $15 or $20 MAX to get it out of the ground.  Then they sell it to themselves at $75/barrel.  Half the cost of gas is based on the pass thru cost of the various subsidiaries that buy and sell from eachother.  It’s a numbers game.

If you want to gripe about price gouging put the blame where it is, Iran, Venezuela, Canada, Great Britain, Norway, Russia, all oil exporting nations are selling their products for the market price, not a one of them is giving you that discount you seem to think you deserve.

Again, you act like the companies are paying $75 to these countries when they aren’t.  The price of oil is based on whats already out of the ground.  Once it’s out, the comapnies move that around so many times just like daytraders to make profit.

If you want to argue that you have to have gasoline it’s still not Exxon’s fault you chose the job you have, the car you drive or your driving habits.

Can’t get more efficent than a Geo.

 it’s also not their fault you don’t budget for emergencies and can’t ride out a price increase without crying like a baby.

They determine the price, not us.  Maybe Priceline will start doing their gas thing again like they did years ago.  Till then, we have to live with whats on the sign. 

Live in your dream world where everything is hunky-dorry.   

 Can’t get more efficent than a Geo.

Oh, sure you can...just ask Zsa: 

diane ...If you don’t like the price of gasoline.You can always walk...AND, if you get tired of walking? You can run.

L

O

L

Actually, daytraders like me do research and look for stocks we think will go up and buy them, sometimes they go up when the demand for them increases and we make money, sometimes nobody wants them and the price goes down then we lose. I guess there’s a conspiracy behind that too, there always when leftards start talking about what they don’t understand and can’t possibly succeed at. They aren’t stupid compared to people who succeed, the people who come out ahead must be thieves. Right. Supply and demand has nothing to do with prices.

Bullwinkle’s original point was that US consumers pay huge markups for a variety of products, many of which they would say were essential. It already has been noted on this site (and any official data source you care to consult) that integrated oil companies and refiners do not reap large markups on the products they sell. The city I live in has grown along numerous highway corridors and most of its citizens doubtless would say driving a car is essential. Yet several of my neighbors take off on their bikes before first light to make the 10-15 mile trip to work. Others walk to the entrance to the neighborhood and catch a Local Metro bus. Most drive a car. Each day schoolkids are picked up by buses on the corner in front of my house; others walk to school; some are driven by a parent. The retail gas and electric providers in my area (yes, we have a choice, at least one of which is "green" provide programs each year so the elderly are not denied fuel during extreme temperatures. Consumers can support this program by paying a little extra on their bill each month. I am very glad to live somewhere where all of these options are available. That was my choice, too. High product prices will encourage conservation and new supply, prices will come down, and the energy companies’ thin margins again will become razor thin. I understand that people will continue to hate mega oil, it satisfies some internal need and its the American Way!!!! But Bullwinkle’s point is still valid and has not been refuted by the snide ignorance exhibited by the responses so far.

daytraders like me

So, how’d you do on your oil speculation? 

Bullwinkle’s original point was that US consumers pay huge markups for a variety of products, many of which they would say were essential.

Well, his first post didn’t make that point.  And eyedrops aren’t essential for most of the population, whereas gasoline is.  Food staples are essential.  And the margins on food staples is ‘razor thin’, if I remember correctly somewhere in the range of 1% or so.  Imagine if the grocery stores upped their margin on necessary staples and gouged like the oil companies.  They make it on nonessentials such as general merchandise and ‘fun food’.  Not on milk, bread...well, you know.

 But Bullwinkle’s point is still valid and has not been refuted by the snide ignorance exhibited by the responses so far.

Snide ignorance to you is actually incredibly basic logic. 

If the oil companies packaged gasoline in 1/2 fluid ounce tamper resistant packaging and we squeezed it into our tanks from little eyedroppers, perhaps the point would have been more valid.

The new definition of "gouging" = any price that people don’t like. Usually used by those who don’t understand basic economics. Anybody who disagrees with this new term is demonized by those who don’t understand basic economics. Look up through this thread for easy examples.

Your definition.  I think we saw in the first post what a misunderstanding of basics brings about.

Your definition.  I think we saw in the first post what a misunderstanding of basics brings about.

/diane LOLOLOLOL!!!! Only goes to prove that the Internet has let loose alot of nutcases on the world. Absolutely the most stupid comment, bar none, on any board, any time, anywhere, by anybody. Completely bonkers! LOLOLOLOLOL!!! /diane

The new definition of "gouging" = any price that people don’t like.

Oh please. The price has tripled in 7 years.  Food has doubled in that time.  If electronics weren’t constantly falling in price, inflation would be rated much hired.  Now, have wages doubled or tripled?  I think not.

You can rationalize via simplification all you want, fact is that things aren’t going that great and they are only getting worse.  Maybe your life is peachy-keen, but maybe you just live in a bubble. 

You have permission to rejoin reality at anytime.   

Oh please. The price has tripled in 7 years.

Tell me: did you complain from when the price didn’t rise with inflation for 20 years?

You have permission to rejoin reality at anytime.

I’m already in reality Dustin. Would you like to admit that you’re a liberal who doesn’t understand economics?

Your definition. I think we saw in the first post what a misunderstanding of basics brings about.

/diane LOLOLOLOL!!!! Only goes to prove that the Internet has let loose alot of nutcases on the world. Absolutely the most stupid comment, bar none, on any board, any time, anywhere, by anybody. Completely bonkers! LOLOLOLOLOL!!! /diane

Sometimes unforeseen gifts fall into our laps...compare retail and wholesale profit margins (either net per sales or revenues)for basic groceries and petroleum products over the past 10 years and lawzee, if the admittedly razor thin margins for basic food stuffs aren’t just a little bit higher than those for petroleum products, course I ain’t got no right to be upsettin’ anybody’s imeccably ignorant basic logic. O, and check the specialty food profits...look at that, as fat as certain peoples’ heads!!!!

Tell me: did you complain from when the price didn’t rise with inflation for 20 years?

I can only base my opinion on the time that I’ve been driving.  Nothing in economics says that inflation has to occur across the board.

Would you like to admit that you’re a liberal who doesn’t understand economics?

No.  But I am willing to admit that I’m no longer naive enough to give the Oligopoly carte blanc as to whether everything they do is above-board.

Back when I more fully subscribed to an anarcho-capitalist philosophy I would have agreed with you guys.  But thats Philosophy, not Reality.   

 if the admittedly razor thin margins for basic food stuffs aren’t just a little bit higher than those for petroleum products, course I ain’t got no right to be upsettin’ anybody’s imeccably ignorant basic logic. O, and check the specialty food profits...look at that, as fat as certain peoples’ heads!!!!

Maybe you need to read my post again so you don’t embarass yourself further, Zsa:

Bullwinkle’s original point was that US consumers pay huge markups for a variety of products, many of which they would say were essential.

Well, his first post didn’t make that point.  And eyedrops aren’t essential for most of the population, whereas gasoline is.  Food staples are essential.  And the margins on food staples is ‘razor thin’, if I remember correctly somewhere in the range of 1% or so.  Imagine if the grocery stores upped their margin on necessary staples and gouged like the oil companies.  They make it on nonessentials such as general merchandise and ‘fun food’.  Not on milk, bread...well, you know

Again, your point is?

FreeRepublicans.com No.  But I am willing to admit that I’m no longer naive enough to give the Oligopoly carte blanc as to whether everything they do is above-board.

Back when I more fully subscribed to an anarcho-capitalist philosophy I would have agreed with you guys.  But thats Philosophy, not Reality.

Yeah. Much easier to simplify things and demonize an entire industry. Ignore the economics. Ignore the political climate and countries that the oil companies have to deal with. Just demonize.

diane spews, Maybe you need to read my post again so you don’t embarass yourself further, Zsa:

More evidence of narcissitic personality disorder.

Imagine if the grocery stores upped their margin on necessary staples and gouged like the oil companies

http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/earnings/2006-04-25-oil-earns-usat_x.htm

 Exxon’s first-quarter profit margin was 9.4%,

More evidence of narcissitic personality disorder.

Yours?  Again?

Yours?  Again?

Ahhh...she’s not too bright though.

The oil companies aren’t gouging.  Their profit margin has stayed constant.

Bright enough to know why eyedrops require a higher profit margin than gasoline, though.

LOL (laughing hysterically with drool running down one side of my mouth)

Hi, BobbyTroll, what’s shakin’?   Why don’t you calm lik down?...he’s rather aggitated today.

diane said, Bright enough to know why eyedrops require a higher profit margin than gasoline, though.

Why would eyedrops require a higher profit margin?

LOL (laughing hysterically with drool running down one side of my mouth)

Sounds like a personal problem.

Why don’t you calm lik down?...he’s rather aggitated today.

I’m quite fine diane. I’ve said that before. Apparently you don’t listen very well and like to project your behavior onto others. It does fit your pattern. Now wipe that drool off of your face.

let’s see, US consumers are willing to pay large markups on consumer products, but it would be wrong of gas stations and jobbers to make more than razor thin profits on petroleum products, because then they would be making more profit than grocers, who would be unconscionable if they made more than razor thin margins, bit it turns out selling gasoline is less profitable than bread and milk. Yep, I can see why that makes the purveyors of gasoline evil oligarchs.

And quite low as compared to other industries, as shown in numerous other posts (and possibly this but I only read the last four comments).

Exxon Quarterly Profit 5th Highest Ever
Apr 27 10:47 AM US/Eastern

By STEVE QUINN
AP Business Writer

DALLAS

Exxon Mobil Corp., the world’s largest oil company, reported Thursday the fifth highest quarterly profit for any public company in history, posting gains from higher oil prices that were likely to stoke the furor over outsized oil company earnings.

Why would eyedrops require a higher profit margin?

Did you miss this, lik? 

If the oil companies packaged gasoline in 1/2 fluid ounce tamper resistant packaging and we squeezed it into our tanks from little eyedroppers, perhaps the point would have been more valid.

Does that give you a clue as to what a reason might be?

lik, a word of advice:  You’re wasting alot of time on childish behavior with all the name-calling and linking to other threads.  I don’t mind, but since it doesn’t really mean anything to me, wouldn’t your time be better spent thinking?

So even though oil companies have to pay incredible amounts of money for research and development, payoffs to corrupt governments, spend billions just to drill in one place, spend even more billions to build refineries, ship the oil and gas halfway around the world, and do this while paying incredible amounts of specialized taxes and following an incredible amount of arcane regulations, the product should be cheaper than eye drop solution because eye drop solution isn’t "essential for most of the population".

Uhh..okay. Nothing in the "because people need it" suggests an economic argument, but whatever. If people like diane and Dustin say so, it must be so. And anybody who disagrees with the almighty, but incomprehensable, "logic" that diane and Dustin use will be laughed at monomaniacally and said to be living in "a bubble".

These are really great positions that diane and Dustin have staked out. Ignoring logic and using emotionalizism to sell the thin positions they have proves to be effective with those who are quick to demonize things that they know little about.

bit it turns out selling gasoline is less profitable than bread and milk.

 the world’s largest oil company, reported Thursday the fifth highest quarterly profit for any public company in history

Poor Exxon.  Maybe it should go into the grocery business. 

LOL (still drooling)

P.S.  We are talking about current oil/current gasoline prices, current events.  Which is why folks are so darn angry. 

Not historical profit margins as compared to other industries.

Sabe?

diane says, Did you miss this, lik?

So they make a profit. And your point is?

Does that give you a clue as to what a reason might be?

No, because it doesn’t explain why a high profit margin on something like eye drops doesn’t matter, but somehow matters when it comes to oil. (Never mind that the profit margin on eye drops is likely 1000’s of percent higher than it is with oil.)

lik, a word of advice:  You’re wasting alot of time on childish behavior with all the name-calling and linking to other threads.  I don’t mind, but since it doesn’t really mean anything to me, wouldn’t your time be better spent thinking?

Awww...diane doesn’t like it when the barrel of the cannon is turned back to her and when her hypocritical behavior is laid out for all to see.

Too bad. Keep on drooling lady.

So even though oil companies have to pay incredible amounts of money for research and development, payoffs to corrupt governments, spend billions just to drill in one place, spend even more billions to build refineries, ship the oil and gas halfway around the world, and do this while paying incredible amounts of specialized taxes and following an incredible amount of arcane regulations, the product should be cheaper than eye drop solution because eye drop solution isn’t "essential for most of the population".

He didn’t get it.  Should I be surprised?

Uhh..okay. Nothing in the "because people need it" suggests an economic argument, but whatever. If people like diane and Dustin say so, it must be so. And anybody who disagrees with the almighty, but incomprehensable, "logic" that diane and Dustin use will be laughed at monomaniacally and said to be living in "a bubble".

These are really great positions that diane and Dustin have staked out. Ignoring logic and using emotionalizism to sell the thin positions they have proves to be effective with those who are quick to demonize things that they know little about.

Uh huh.

He didn’t get it.  Should I be surprised?

Nice rebuttal.

Uh huh.

Oh! Even better. Now we understand.

You have no argument and can’t answer the question of why it would be different, do you?

You have no argument and can’t answer the question of why it would be different, do you?

Absolutely.  And thought I did.  You just didn’t, what is it you said to me, ‘accept delivery’.

Let me make it even plainer:

Apples and oranges.

It’s really simple arithmetic.  You multiply the amount of product sold times the profit margin and you get the total profits.  Since the profit margin has stayed constant, the amount of product sold has increased, thus yielding a record amount of total profits in dollars.  The confusion here is between the total amount of profit and the profit margin.  Increasing the profit margin for no economic reason would be gouging(for those who chose to purchase it), but that hasn’t happened.  BTW, the amount of product sold in the US has barely increased over last year, but the amount sold in the rest of the world has increased, thus yielding the record profit amount.  Since the costs, taxes and prices in the rest of the world are higher than those in the US, almost the entire increase has nothing to do with gas prices here.

The panderers and scareologists in the MSM are lying to us, as usual.  When they aren’t playing "Get the President", they are playing "Get the oil companies".  Nothing new here. 

Made a killing Diane, some people (using the term loosely here, I mean subhuman liberal trash) whine like little snot-nosed crybabies and demand that someone does something for them, some of us take responsibility for ourselves and end up supporting useless parasitic scum (liberals, again) through the excess taxes we pay.

But i don’t day trade oil stocks, those are all long term holds for me. Had some of them over 25 years. Rolling the dividends back into stock, doing without a lot of things for a long time so I’m not walking around begging for table scraps. Instant gratification loses to long term planning every damn time.

Americans buy automobiles that cost anywhere from a $1000 to $300.000. We are in love with and rely on our cars to take us everywhere. Yet, when it comes to paying more at the pump we are suddenly unable to afford to fill them. Hmmmm? Using alternative methods such as carpooling, buses, walking, biking, running, horsback etc. Whatever it takes to bring the supply up and the demand down. I suppose it is easier to bitch about it.

Hasn’t Wal-Mart been #1 in profits for sales until 2005 ?

Back in 1970, when I was going to college, a gallon of gas cost about 30 cents. One tenth what it costs today.

I think Life magazine was a quarter. Comic books were 10-12 cents and you could buy a good paperback book for 35 to 50 cents. The house I bought in 1975 in California was around $20,000.

I think, if you adjust for inflation, $3.00 a gallon for gas isn’t that outrageous…

Proof...Thank you! A new car in 1970 was hardly anything. Today buying a new car is more than your first house. American’s buy their children $30 tee shirts and $100 plus shoes and jeans and don’t look twice. They drive to malls and open up their wallets for a designer cup of coffee or a soft drink and don’t even think about it. Conservation is a bad word. Oil and gas don’t mix with that concept.

...unless I was getting gouged at 30 cents!!! Maybe I should focus some repressed outrage...    : )

Oh this thread is rich!  Diane, where, oh where, did you study economics? 

<$3.00/gallon = ~9.5% profit for the retail market.  Would Bullwinkel invest  his capital into the oil market if there wasn’t a decent return?  I doubt that he has a lot of capital sunk into bread or milk manufacturing.

Do you know what it costs to find new oil sources?  Do you know what it costs to refine and specialize refine the oil into gasoline?  Do you know the impact the growth of other industrialized nations has on the demand for crude?  Do you know what compliance and taxes cost?  Did you know that OIL is a dangerous substance to mine?  Were you aware that regulations drive a portion of the cost?

If you want to be mad, be mad at your precious Islamic Dictaroship Regiegms.  OPEC sets the price for crude.  They charge it, WE PAY IT!  HELLO!  When we stop paying the price they ask, then they will stop raising the price...  DUH!!!!!  You seem to love these people...  want to say who really is gouging?

If you want to place blame on someone, place a lot of it on yourself.  You support the groups who really drive the costs up: OPEC, and GREENIES.  No drilling of the coast of Florida.  No drilling in the section of ANWAR specifically designated for oil exploration.

But, whatever.  I look forward to a rise in costs, only because it will spur a rebirth of American Innovation. 

Hmmm…   Perhaps you want us to continue paying billions to rogue Islamic Dictatorships?

Perhaps you like having the Government drive your life.  By treating Gasoline as a necessity and demanding that the Government "do something about it".  The only thing the Government can "do" about it is enact price controls.  This will limit supply by reducing the drive to get us the product. 

Suppose you sell widgets:  If you were going to be paid 3% to ship a widget overseas, or 15% to ship the widget locally, where would your focus be?  Suppose you were told by France that you can only sell your widgets for $1 but it costs you more than that to make and ship it.  Would you even sell it there? 

They have to maintain the movement of the flamable liquid through long expanses of volital country to massive, and expensive to maintain tankers, move it across vast streches of ocean in the most environmentally friendly way humanly possible, on a break next schedule, to meet the demands of BILLIONS daily, world-wide...  WTF!!!

$3.00/ Gallon seems remarkably cheap…   I don’t recall Milk plants needing to protect themselves (to the degree that a refinery does) after 9-11...  Tanker trucks full of Milk are not likely candidates for detonation on a city street.  All of these costs wrapped up into a product that we use MASSIVE quantities of and there has not been a shortage for decades… since the time congress enacted price controls. 

After hurricanes, some people call selling gas at a higher price - Gouging.  But, isn’t it more risky to take a tanker of gas into a disaster zone?  Wouldn’t the driver want some additional compensation to risk his ass in a really big potential explosion if he knows he’s going to see some down power lines, etc.. etc...  ?

You delibritly misunderstand the concept of this post...  I guess to obscuate the idea.

That seems petty to me.  Much like comparing Limbaugh to Kennedy.

Dan

I do pity the poor saps that have to use this shit by the gallon.

That’s funny stuff, right there! 

Stop thanking everyone Zsa Zsa.  Neither you nor they deserve anything but my penis inserted into your Or---Ifice..oh i just burbed!

BTW, inflation is not simply a rise in prices.  It is a rise in prices without an increase in value.  It is caused by taxes and regulation.  Since we are still buying the gas, it must be worth what they are charging for it.  Not rocket science.

The beauty of Vertical Integration is that you control the supply chain and so you can manipulate the numbers along that chain however you want.

Of course their profits are constant, they control the costs once the oil is out of the ground.

BTW, if I had a business or investments and could get 10% growth year-over-year, consistently, I’d be tickled pink.   

Rob, I love your blog but it pains me to be reminded of just how ignorant (as in, ignores things, look it up) humans can be. 

It’s 10% profit, not 10% growth.  There is a difference.  No oil company has total vertical integration.  Just a little detail.

10% profit or growth, either way, as an investor or business owner - I’ll take it.

After you put up the capital, deal with govts all over the world, depend on an undependable shipping industry, pipelines, franchises and distributors, not to mention refineries that are stretched to the limit, hurricanes, floods, and all the rest, you will have earned your 10%, and not before.

Robert108,

That’s why I’m saying, if I could make 10% consistantly I’d do it because that would be nice business to be in.  Of course, I wouldn’t be impacting geo-strategic economics but those who can should be allowed to make the world tougher since they don’t owe society anything right? 

Wait a sec...I’m a leftist for pointing out that probably a fair amount of the cost of that is packaging costs?

FreeRepublicans.com said, Of course, I wouldn’t be impacting geo-strategic economics but those who can should be allowed to make the world tougher since they don’t owe society anything right?

What have you given back to society? Want to go toe to toe with the oil companies? Good luck.

And feel free to admit that you’re a liberal anytime you want. You have to be since you demonize wealth and wealth creation so much.

So, the bottom line here by NeoCONS is that Visine and gas should be compared, price by the gallon, that gasoline at over $3.00 is fine and helps the economy/free market, and that bullwinkle says he gets rich on daytrading.

Oh yes, and that gas was 30 cents years ago.

Thanks for the economics lesson, folks.  LOL

So, why is the President trying to figure out what to do about the high cost of gas????  What a bozo.  Or is he weak and giving in to the outrage of citizens?  It has to be one or the other.

You know, I honestly didn’t know there was a group of people dumb enough to defend high gas prices, but...here they are!!! 

I never ceased to be amazed by this group.

The American dream has always been to have a home and become rich. The commie socialist dream is to distribute the wealth equally. America is about creating opportunities for individuals to succeed on their own and NOT Depend on the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT to take care of us. Each day we have more and more of our indivdual freedoms infringed upon by government. More government or less government is up to us. More government involvment is the object that liberals desire. Buying into that is not what I want for me or our future generations. We all need to pay attention to what we are doing each time we allow big government into another aspect of our life??? Robing Peter to pay Paul. Hand outs make us dependent. Able bodied people for generations have relied on welfare and charity. Generations! My parents used to tellme expectith nothing and you won’t be disappointed. The oil business traditionally is the evil oil business. Think about the profits and think about the times when it is not so successful.

Rejoice!!!  CBS just showed a gas station with prices of $3.70+- regular a gallon!!!  Yippee!! 

LOL

diane spews, So, the bottom line here by NeoCONS...

No. No "NeoCONS" here.

You know, I honestly didn’t know there was a group of people dumb enough to defend high gas prices, but...here they are!!!

I never ceased to be amazed by this group.

Ignore the economic arguments made. Just call us "dumb". I’m never surpised by your comments because they are little more than insults and AOL speak.

Rejoice!!!  CBS just showed a gas station with prices of $3.70+- regular a gallon!!!  Yippee!!

LOL

..sigh...the September that never ended is displayed in part by diane.

Rejoice! we have a booming economy! Things aren’t as bad as denocrats would like us to believe! Rejoice! Energy prices have been artificially low for years! Search the facts for yourselves…

I can’t help myself for feeding the troll.  I guess it makes me feel better about the world to see how the other side thinks....

Here goes:

You know, I honestly didn’t know there was a group of people dumb enough to defend high gas prices, but...here they are!!!

Yep, we are defending the current price of gas, which is slightly different than the high price of gas.  

You see, Diane, we have shown that the price (high, low, or otherwise) is based on the marekt value, and very little else.  WE havce also showed that, with links, that the price of gas is quite the same as it was decades ago, when adjsuted for inflation.

Further, we "NeoCONs" (I love the capitalization, really) have shown that the only way you liberal enviromentalist-types will get what you want (less oil consumption, et al) is to allow the price to go up until the return-on-investrment for some yet-to-be-invented (and practical!!) alternative energy source is high enough.  Artificiailly driving prices down with Gov’t intervention will only increase our consumtion, not to mention that it will only be temporary and will feed the political animal that McCain, et al are trying to vanquich.

I guess I can’t help myself for feeding the trolls either, it’s so much fun.

Would one of you economics majors care to discuss the effect of high gasoline prices on the rest of the economy?

I can’t wait.  I could help you but I’m so excited to see what you have to say.

Really I am.

Here are the gasoline prices is US $ per in two countries who ‘do something’ about them and also export oil.

UK - $5.64

 Norway - $5.07

Hah. Our ‘greedy’ oil companies are really ripping us off at $3. I hope all you leftards are packing, there are your greener pastures.

Would one of you economics majors care to discuss the effect of high gasoline prices on the rest of the economy?

People will be buying fewer iPods, big screens and drinking less beer.  

More too, but this will get you started..... 

People will be buying fewer iPods, big screens and drinking less beer.  

More too, but this will get you started.....

Brilliant, Tom. 

`It doesn’t matter whether you haul dirt or diapers. The cost of fuel is going to have an effect on the final price, which means it’s going up,‘’ said Steve Johnson of Santa Clara Transfer, a trucking company that delivers raw materials to the fiberglass industry, along with asphalt and cement. He has seen his fuel bill jump from $30,000 to more than $50,000 a month.

``We pass these costs onto the customer in the form of fuel surcharges,’’ he said, ``but it seems you cannot put them on fast enough to keep up.’’

It’s starting to show across the economy. Consumer prices jumped by 0.4 percent last month, three times the meager 0.1 percent gain in February.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/special_packages/gas_prices/14385628.htm

Have a nice Sunday.   Take a nice, long drive.  LOL

Hey, daytrader.  European gas prices have been higher for years.  Another apples and oranges, like your Visine and gasol-ine.

LOL

How the hell is gas (America) and petrol (Europe, et al) apples and oranges?

"We pass these costs onto the customer in the form of fuel surcharges" and the customer (ie, the economy at large) buys fewer things they don’t need in the first damn place.  Like I said…

Regarding the European gas prices being high for years,

In England the gas tax is 66% of the pump price. 

HIGH GAS PRICES ARE CAUSED BY GOVERNMENTS.

I don’t blame the companies for the vertical integration they’ve acheived, it’s simple business logic to build your supply chain like this.  

But, that doesn’t change the fact that the industry might as well be 1 corporation because the way that prices moves make the industry an Oligopoly.

You can justify it all you want, but the companies are going to get away with all they can for as long as they can.  That doesn’t make it right.

For a group of people who would argue about how we should regulate people’s personal lives, I don’t understand how you give corporations such a free pass on these things.

Nothing is illegal until your caught and someone enforces the laws. 

How the hell is gas (America) and petrol (Europe, et al) apples and oranges?

Groan.  The taxes on gas are higher in Europe. 

 the customer (ie, the economy at large) buys fewer things they don’t need in the first damn place.

Like bread, milk, vegetables......

You beat me, Free’ Actually gas taxes in England have been up to almost 80%.

In England the gas tax is 66% of the pump price.

No kidding. Be thankful! Americans have been allowed to enjoy artificialy low prices for years! Supply and demand. Apples and oranges. Commie Socialist anti american artillery being fired off towards oil companies once again. Typical responses as usual. The eagerness to see our country as bad because we embrace free enterprise. Oil companies contribute great amounts of money to charity. Oil companies supply us all with fuel. Oil companies employee massive numbers of people! Perhaps if oil companies go away and fold up shop that would be conducive to the American people? Then perhaps they would be forced to find alternatives? The oil businesses have made our lives cushy for years. Take some time to think? It would serve all of us well...Supply and deamand. When supply is low prices go up. If we don’t conserve and demand is high prices go up. Like it or not. That is how everything works...It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that is how our system works...Take it or leave it.

So if our gas price was over $5 a gallon that would be ok as long as Exxon weasn’t making the money? Liberal panhandling, "we need more handouts because we are inept at everything we do!". Of course that wouldn’t effect our economy, we all know that. It’s not like we don’t have fuel taxes AND income taxes from the oil industry already, add them up and I bet it comes to 30% at least. LMAO If liberals had brains they’d be dangerous instead of just funny to look at and smelly.

I hear the musical theme from The Twilight Zone.

Free -

Your econ still stinks.

In England the gas tax is 66% of the pump price. 

HIGH GAS PRICES ARE CAUSED BY GOVERNMENTS.

But you got this one right on. 

I don’t blame the companies for the vertical integration they’ve acheived, it’s simple business logic to build your supply chain like this.  

But, that doesn’t change the fact that the industry might as well be [one] corporation because the way that prices moves make the industry an Oligopoly.

This is where I meant to ding your econ.  The fact that they are an oligoployy is not because of the prices but because of the limited number of players.  As Dicitonary.com states:  "A market condition in which sellers are so few that the actions of any one of them will materially affect price and have a measurable impact on competitors."

Further, as my education showed me (but I couldn’t find at my quick search) an oligoploy is one where the opportunity for new suppliers to enter the market is limited.  This might be due to the complexity of manufacture (cars) or the limited supply of natural resources (oil).  In any case, the limited number of players allows the oligoploy to function as it does (by driving prices up if the cartel chooses, to be simplistic).

You can justify it all you want, but the companies are going to get away with all they can for as long as they can.  That doesn’t make it right.

Don’t forget, all they are "getting away with" is 10%.  This is more than you get, by your own admission, but is far from the most offensive, as this original post shows. 

For a group of people who would argue about how we should regulate people’s personal lives, I don’t understand how you give corporations such a free pass on these things.

I guess you are trying to include the Conservative’s desire to have wreckless and irresponsible women stop kllling their babies with this comment.  I’d like to know, for once, why our society needs to let the least qualified (ie; pregnant women who couldn’t take the time to be careful) make the decision to kill or not. 

Diane...Those voices in your head can be remedied. They have medication for that. Perhaps you can go down to the free clinic and get some help.

Gas and Petrol, apples and apples.  The fact that one of the apples is taxed to a higher degree, with a higher customer price, is exactly our point.  Drop the 40% taxes (aassumed number without going back to previous posts) and the price of gas would be lower.  Done.

And instead of telling us what goes on in your head (Twilight Zone theme music), try responding to Bullwinkles comments about the panhandling nature of liberalism and the, thus far, failure of that technique ot show positive results. 

Don’t forget, all they are "getting away with" is 10%.

Actually, the 10% is the least of my qualms.  I have more of a problem with the way they operate in regards to the way they shape policy.

I question whether the companies actual want ANWR and such opened up.  If they really did, I think they would be opened up since both parties are in the industry’s pocket.

I guess you are trying to include the Conservative’s desire to have wreckless and irresponsible women stop kllling their babies with this comment.

No.  The other issue that SocialCons are always fixated on.

I just love the way diane calls me daytrader like it’s an insult. It’s really the admission that she’s neither smart enough or brave enough to risk her own money. I prefer to think of myself as a beach bum with a portfolio who also daytrades a little. But the funny thing about the whole liberal mindset is they are complaining about someone else’s profits cutting into their own. They demand someone else make less so the pittance they are willing or capable of earning will go farther. If they put half the effort into bettering their own finances as they do worrying that someone else might be doing better they’d probably be doing better themselves. The end result of envy is more envy.

It’s really the admission that she’s neither smart enough or brave enough to risk her own money.

...or dumb enough. LoL.  I’ve never heard daytrading described as "smart."

I’ve heard Jim Cramer call daytraders "idiots."  But anyways. 

They demand someone else make less so the pittance they are willing or capable of earning will go farther. 

Since your better than the rest of us, why are you here?  Shouldn’t you be spending your time on a beach somewhere?

 If they put half the effort into bettering their own finances as they do worrying that someone else might be doing better they’d probably be doing better themselves.

99% of the world can’t name their salary.