What is a Gaia worshipper?

The other thing I'm concerned about is the government trying to some how sneak in and regulate the amount of money tha CEO's and other leaders of industries make. They have been trying to back door these types of regulations that limit profits and I think they'd be opening things up for starting to tell small business owner's how much they can and can not keep as profit.

I live no more than 25 miles from four major refineries. Since this is California, and we were goosestepped into protecting the air quality, we pay the highest rates in the nation! The irony is our air needs cleaning because so many damned liberals and socialists migrated here. I am so friggin tired of paying for the luxury of breating the same air as these asshats.

I've never given much thought to the annual surge in prices. I had always thought it had more to do with the up coming Holiday and official start of summer. Since many people travel then and on Labor day week end, it would make sence for the companies to raise prices in anticipation. Supply and demand at work. By raising prices they can increase the supply in preperation for those events and forestall any shortages that might occur due to limited production.
Yup, I get pissed off every year when they do it, but I understand the reasons behind it. It would suck to have little or no fuel available on Memorial day as people are trying to get home for work on Tuesday.
Ray,
Some years back I saw an article on how Japanese companies had limits on corporate CEO's tied to the wages of the lowest paid worker. I would support such measures in this country provided they are implemented by the stock holders, not by congress. I also favor a limit on what blood suckers earn. Their salary should be voted on by the public. They should also endure a cap similar to Social Security. If they make $50K on other business, the ammount they receive should drop relationally.

Jeremy, I agree that salaries can and should be determined by the owners (shareholders) to prevent abusive amounts of money going to individuals. I just don't want my government involved in it.

Ray - Gaia = Greek Earth goddess = Earth. Gaia worshiper = one who worships the Earth = envronmentalist wacko.

"worst president of the twentieth Century"
Nah, I think he has a handle on the worst president ever. The rest is right on.

Ray, I was agreeing with you that the Gov needs to butt out. I think it is up to the share holders to implement change. What happens though is that we get a proxy ballot. We either vote the ballot, show up in person at the share holders meeting, or don't get a say. When people care enough to want change, then things change.
Crooked CEO's, COO's, CFO's etc are getting prosecuted for their misdeeds under current laws when they get caught. I don't think we need more laws.
Mean while, the hard working get richer, the lazy get poorer, and congress impedes progress. Need we say more?

Profits were up 18% in the first quarter this year for oil companies.

lol - Do you know the difference between profits and profit margins? Did you know that Microsoft makes a better return on investment than the oil companies do?

Oil company profits on a gallon of gas at $3/gallon is about $ 0.10. Ten cents.

Taxes on a gallon of gas:
Federal: $ 0.184 (1.84x profit)
State (Average): $ 0.218 (2.18x profit)
(and then local sales taxes, average 6%)

So the US government in total takes (notice, not "makes") ~3.5x the profit per gallon of gas, currently - and would take the near-same cut (or more) even if the profit were to disappear.

Denny, I just bought a 2007 Honda Civic for this exact reason: gasoline prices.

When people quit wasting so much fucking gas the price will shrink. Problem is: dipshits don't want to give up their gas guzzlers. Fine with me. You got the money to burn (literally), then go ahead and fill'er up! Meanwhile, I'll be just fine with this little scooter for the next 10 years, no matter how high we get on gasoline.

Marksman2000 - And that is just what happened in the '80's. People bought Hondas and Toyotas. Then we had 20 years of cheap gas which brought about the SUV. If you hate the high price of gas, buy a fuel efficient car. I'm a Snotty Rich Fuck and it doesn't bother me to pay $3.00 a gallon to fill up my BMW's.

When people quit wasting so much fucking gas the price will shrink.

Not really. There's a chance for that in a minor way, but in the gross picture - we're using the gas we're producing, and producing the gas we're using.

It's been a while since I looked at the figures, but if I recall correctly, about (depending on grade, refinery, etc) - gasoline is about 20% of a barrel of crude. I think you can play with that +10 -5 % or something like that. But basically, the oil that's being pumped and shipped - 20, 30% is gas, the rest has to go somewhere. (Think of the usual picture of all the other hydrocarbons being burned off as waste)...

If we suddenly dropped our gas demand 50%.. the rest of the gasoline would... get burned as waste. :)

The "boutique" fuels are another reason prices are pushed up so much - gas mixed for Atlanta, for instance, can't get trucked up to Chicago, as they're different mixes. So if you've got a refinery/storage tank filled with ATL fuel, and Chicago's got a need, you can't move it there now, raising prices back and forth.

In terms of total fuel usage, look at India and China. They've got the big growths in transport/cars, as their societies get used to people having their own cars, and everybody wanting their own. While that's occuring, there's going to be a huge demand for the oil, regardless of what we do.

Checked out the price of concrete recently? China's building a huge dam - I've heard 25% of *worldwide* concrete production is going into it.

UJ,
The concrete demand in China has caused the price of cement to double in the last five years.

DRILL ANWR!!!

It's a bog bigger than most US states and you can't see anything but more bog in most of it... The Greenies keep showing these gorgeous landscapes when they show pics ANWR. But Hippy I'm here to tell you it just ain't so...you'll never camp there (too many mosquitoes and too difficult to trek)...in fact it's probably the only place in the US you don't have to worry about NIMBY...Alaskans want another oil boom.

You really want lower oil prices? Drill ANWR!!!

What people may not realize is that we are not paying $3.00 a gal at the pump. In reality, we're paying $7.00 a gal. Honest. When you realize that our whole nation depends on transit/shipping of all of our daily needs: groceries, fast food, cigs, Star Bucks Coffee, clothing, medications, postal services, UPS, computers, cell phones, catalog orders, glasses, newspapers,food at the movie theaters, building materials for new homes,cars, etc. From the raw materials to manufacturing, to distrubtion centers, to retail outlet and finally to our homes, it cost diesel/gas from point A to B to C, etc. Which means these products will increase in price to make up for the added transportation prices. And our cost of living goes up. Thus, $7.00 a gal! The oil companies have had steady revenue increases for over 3 years. Breaking revenue records ever! CEOs have received whoppers of bonuses. And shareholders have been enjoying great returns on their investments. That's our money that we pay at the gas pump. And just who are the shareholders? Not the majority of the people. The majority of the people, you and me, are shouldering the increase cost of living. Our raises don't reflect the increased cost of living. And here's some very interesting questions: What is the family business of the President of the USA? Oil. Yep, the Bush family has been in the oil business for centuries. And what is the business interest of our Vice President of USA? Haliburton. Remember, he was the former CEO of Haliburton. And what do you think is the possibility that our other elected officials are also shareholders in oil? So what if they have to pay out of one pocket for higher gas prices and cost of living. The other pocket is receiving revenues from oil. So, when will gas price hikes stop? When, we the people say "Enough is enough". When we hold our elected officials accountable to us, we the people. We elected them. The history of this country is built on when we the people stood up and said "No More". When we demanded our government to listen to us, the US of A, the government for the people, by the people, you and me. So get on the internet, e-mail your Governor, Senator, President of the USA, every elected official you can find and say "No More", "Enough is Enough". Have classrooms of students write letters to our elected officials saying "No More", "Enough is Enough". Afterall, if we don't stop the oil companies from holding us hostage with gas prices, which increases our cost of living not just for today, but for years to come. How are young adults of today and their children of tomorrow ever be able to afford education, their 1st car, their 1st home, family life, and to live the American dream? So let our government hear from US, the people of the US of A. "No More", "Enough is Enough".

Chris - I hate to say it but you're even dumber than the person I wrote the post about. Yep! Haliburton. It runs the country. The Haliburton Hurricane Generator created Katrina and Haliburton blew up the levees. Hell! Haliburton probably blew up the Twin Towers. Now get your head out of your ass and pick up a book on basic economics. Yep! Oil company profits are going up. You act like that's a bad thing. Other than distributing those profits to American stockholders they also plow those profits into developing new sources of oil. Y'see Chris. This is sumpin' called capitalism. In your world, you would take all of the profits from the oil companies because they are eeeeeeeeevil. When that happens, they'll go out of business. Where are you gonna get you gas then? Geez! Booger eatin' moh-rons like you realize how far the educational system in this country has fallen.

Now loosen up your tinfoil hat and go buy a copy of Atlas Shrugged. Ayn Rand rubs your face in it. Maybe then you'll understand how capitalism works and how socialism and punishing successful businesses only leads to worse economic conditions.

Hey Denny, yep everyday you hear how oil companies are searching for new oil resources.

That's the problem, new oil resources. Everyday you hear about the prediction of no gas/fuel available by such and such year, due to "we've used it all up".

So prices will go even higher due to supply and demand.

And why are they searching for new oil resources? So that they can stay the number one fuel/energy resource with great revenues to the companies and shareholders. Not to the majority of the people.

But we have the knowledge for alternative energy resources which gives "competitive" options, like our telephone services, electric services, etc.

But not in oil as there are no competitors, just Shell vs. ARCO.

But if alternative energy sources such as solor power, electric cars, wind turbines, etc., were an everyday "option" to us, then we would see a whole different picture of gas/fuel prices.

Again, our government and elected officials are not racing to find or support the alternative energy sources which will benefit our daily living and our country as a whole because they have too much at stake personally in oil. Period.

Capitalism is good when it enriches the lives of the country. But not good when the "country" is paying through the nose to ensure the profit/revenue to a select group.

Chris - Are you for opening up ANWR? Are you for more offshore drilling? Are you for building more refineries? Are you for building more nuke plants? If not, then you are part of the problem.

Ethanol made from corn is not the solution It uses as much energy to create the ethanol and is gonna push corn prices upwards. It is a boondoggle for agribusiness.

Bashing the oil companies and punishing them for what you obviously think are "obscene" profits is not the solution.

Do you even know how the law of supply and demand works? What is a "fair" profit? Do you know the difference between gross profits, net profits, and profit margins.

Congratulations for making it through an entire comment without mentioning Haliburton.

Hi Denny, OK, let’s talk about supply and demand.

Lets say that K-Mart decides that it wants to increase it profits for the company and revenues for the shareholders by opening 200 new stores nationwide. Now, just because this is a corporate decision, and however they go about financing this new venture, is of no concern of mine.

Because this decision will not affect my cost of living. My medications will not increase due to their decision to expand. My groceries of bread, milk, frozen food, cereal and meat will not increase to their decision for higher profits. I will not have to pay higher postage/shipping rates to the postal services. The college tuition of my children will not increase due to their corporate decision for larger royalities to the shareholders.

And when I shop at their stores, their prices will not be higher to help finance their venture, because they need to stay competitive with other stores to keep their existing customers. They will keep in mind the supply and demand in order to stay in business.

But the oil companies are well aware of supply and demand. And they are well aware that they are the “only game in town”. They have a monopoly on the energy and fuel market.

They don’t have to stay competitive in pricing because there are no competitors. They have the supply and demand. They supply and demand from us to pay for whatever decisions they make for expansion, royalties and profits. So easy. Just make a corporate decision and jack the prices to us because we have no “competitors” to go to because we don’t like the higher prices.

They govern our daily lives, our cost of living, or should I say the cost of restrictive living.

Because the majority of the people of this nation don’t make the big bucks. They live from paycheck to paycheck and become poorer and poorer due to higher cost of living prices stemmed from increase gas/fuel prices. They have to find ways to make "cuts" within their daily living just to be able to make the ends meet.

Ask them how much their last pay raise was. Ask them how much they have to spend in gas just to do the normal daily traveling. Ya, they are told to cut down on driving, thus, cut their gas costs. Why????!!!!!

Cut down on our normal activities so that the CEO’s and shareholders can continue to have their raises and royalties. There’s something wrong with this picture.

Again, we must demand that our elected officials who “work for the American people”, who are responsible to us, stop the monopoly of the oil companies, stop the jacking up gas prices, and support alternative energy sources and fuels.

NOW, TODAY. Not 10 years from now.

The technology and knowledge and funds are there now. This can be done.

We just have to get their hands out of their pockets and start doing their jobs as elected officials for the people, by the people of US of A.

Happy Day Denny. And just how much did you spend on gas today? And how much was your last raise? How's your cost of living these days?

Chris

Chris - Actually there are more than two oil companies and they are not in collusion. What we have is supply and demand, but you have your conspiracy glasses on and cannot see it. We have not built a new refinery in over 30 years. The ones we have are operating at capacity. You want to see the price of gas go down? Build new refineries. Eliminate the specialty blends. Drill in ANWR. Drill off our coastline.

Is one of your solutions putting a gummint mandated ceiling on oil prices? Were you alive in the 70's when we did that? Massive gas shortages. Gas lines. Do I have to explain to you what solved the problem? We took the ceiling off the prices and let the marketplace work. People bought more fuel efficient cars. All of a sudden we had a surplus. We had cheap gas for the next 20 years. Do you realize how much of the worldwide oil market is taken up by India and China? We didn't have that 10 years ago. If you don't want to pay the prices, take the fucking bus.

I just drove to and from Texas over the weekend. I didn't keep track of how much I spent because it didn't really matter to me.

I'm a retired snotty rich fuck. I give myself a raise every year by taking a bigger chunk out of my investment portfolio and even so it is still growing. I'm one of those "rich get richer" guys. Y'know why? Because I know how capitalism works and I saved and invested my money wisely.

Congrats for once again making another entire comment without mentioning Haliburton.