Fireball Express wrote:Mad, my point about Starbucks is that their profits are so high right now too. People start talking about the oil companies making record profits like there's something wrong with that. They're only in business to make money. It's capitalism. It's America.
True, Starbucks charges a whole lot more for coffee than they have to, but the difference here is that people choose to pay the high prices for Starbucks coffee. I choose to drink Monster Energy drinks that run around $2 each. If Monster makes billions because I (and others) choose to pay their price, rather than drinking a cheaper alternative, then more power to them. When the product is something we have no choice but to purchase (gas, electric, heating oil, etc.), and they jack the rates through the roof for no reason other than they can, knowing we have no choice but to purchase their product, that's not right.
People do not have a choice when it comes to gas. It's a must buy, so when gas companies are making record profits (the biggest one year profit of any business in the history of mankind) by robbing from us, on a product that we have no choice but to purchase, people are going to speak out.
Yes doctor, I am sick. Sick of those who are spineless. Sick of those who feel self-entitled. Sick of those who are hypocrites. Yes doctor, an army is forming. Yes doctor, there will be a war. Yes doctor, there will be blood.....
When the product is something we have no choice but to purchase (gas, electric, heating oil, etc.), and they jack the rates through the roof for no reason other than they can, knowing we have no choice but to purchase their product, that's not right.
When the product is something we have no choice but to purchase (gas, electric, heating oil, etc.), and they jack the rates through the roof for no reason other than they can, knowing we have no choice but to purchase their product, that's not right.
I totally agree, Mad.
Who jacks the prices? Certainly not the oil companies. They don't set the prices, the traders do. The oil companies may create the market by not having ample refining capabiilities. Why don't they? Because it's not cost effective. It cost billions to build a refinery. If there were incentive to do so then they would. Maybe with these record profits they will build some more.
When the product is something we have no choice but to purchase (gas, electric, heating oil, etc.), and they jack the rates through the roof for no reason other than they can, knowing we have no choice but to purchase their product, that's not right.
I totally agree, Mad.
Who jacks the prices? Certainly not the oil companies. They don't set the prices, the traders do. The oil companies may create the market by not having ample refining capabiilities. Why don't they? Because it's not cost effective. It cost billions to build a refinery. If there were incentive to do so then they would. Maybe with these record profits they will build some more.
I would say OPEC is who jacks up the prices.
Yes, oil companies only care about their bottom line. They certainly don't have a problem with the jacked up prices which is a shame and I don't think that's right either.
When the product is something we have no choice but to purchase (gas, electric, heating oil, etc.), and they jack the rates through the roof for no reason other than they can, knowing we have no choice but to purchase their product, that's not right.
I totally agree, Mad.
Who jacks the prices? Certainly not the oil companies. They don't set the prices, the traders do. The oil companies may create the market by not having ample refining capabiilities. Why don't they? Because it's not cost effective. It cost billions to build a refinery. If there were incentive to do so then they would. Maybe with these record profits they will build some more.
I would say OPEC is who jacks up the prices.
Yes, oil companies only care about their bottom line. They certainly don't have a problem with the jacked up prices which is a shame and I don't think that's right either.
OPEC?
The US gets most of it's oil from Mexico, Canada and Venzuela.
I think Saudi Arabia is 4th.
When the product is something we have no choice but to purchase (gas, electric, heating oil, etc.), and they jack the rates through the roof for no reason other than they can, knowing we have no choice but to purchase their product, that's not right.
I totally agree, Mad.
Who jacks the prices? Certainly not the oil companies. They don't set the prices, the traders do. The oil companies may create the market by not having ample refining capabiilities. Why don't they? Because it's not cost effective. It cost billions to build a refinery. If there were incentive to do so then they would. Maybe with these record profits they will build some more.
I would say OPEC is who jacks up the prices.
Yes, oil companies only care about their bottom line. They certainly don't have a problem with the jacked up prices which is a shame and I don't think that's right either.
OPEC? The US gets most of it's oil from Mexico, Canada and Venzuela. I think Saudi Arabia is 4th.
It's a global market. If OPEC decides to limit production it definately affects us.
Correct that Saudi Arabia sets the market. I would place more blame on them than I would the oil companies.
However, I still blame the traders on the NYMEX. If they get a report that says that Asia's economy is booming hence they will use more oil, or a report that says Iran wants to blow up Israel, or a report that says there is instability in Nigeria the traders say to themselves, "How cripes! There's gonna be a shortage of oil." Truth is that there's a s#!tload of oil under the ground that will probably NEVER be depleated. If the traders got a report saying that there is enough oil for generations (the truth) then the price would drop.
The key is refining the oil. With all the government (EPA) regulations regarding what the finished product contains (or doesn't contain) there is little profit involved in refining crude oil. Most of the profit comes when the unfined product is sold to a company that refines it. Bottom line, make refining profitable again and the oil prices will drop.
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by Madison » Wed May 10, 2006 9:50 am 
