OT cheap gas

[chief]

Lazlo,
So corporate greed (profits) is bad but government greed (taxes) is good? Obama wants high gas prices so do the democrats in congress. Please enlighten us with just exactly how you would fix the problem.

[Doc Nickel]

Doc, I'm assuming you understand how oil speculation works, right? [...] So they did. [...] And we paid for it.

-And if you assume they did it deliberately and with malice aforethought, where, in that conspiracy, does the subsequent and inevitable price crash fit?

Again, this year's tanking and next years recession will virtually wipe out all the gains last years' "record" profits brought. Are we to assume they were brilliant and sneaky enough to price-fix an entire commodity, but not quite smart enough to remember that a crash always follows a bubble- especially an artifical one- sure as night follows day?

Doc.

[oldtiffie]

Its tough.

Have you ever wondered about the cost to you vs the cost of production per gallon/litre of milk, "pop"/cola, "spring" (distilled) water, fruit juices, coffee, ice-cream etc. (all of which are liquids) compared to the production and pump prices of oil as well as the profit margins?

Did I mention that Walmart is the worlds biggest employer with a net margin of about 10%?

Or is it that you just want to moan about how bad things are because of the oil companies - Exxon in particular.

Has it ever occurred to those of you in the US that Exxon controls most of the "gas" in Europe, UK, OZ, NZ etc. and that our "gas" prices are lots more expensive than in the US and do you also notice that all the moaning is coming from the US (Canada too), but that few if any outside the US are complaining?

[Edit]
If the above is true (which it is as regards non-USA gas prices) then perhaps we are subsidizing all of those with SO MUCH to complain about as regards oil companies and "gas" bowser prices. Surely not. Or is it? And if it is so do those in the US care or are they too concerned about possibly quite unnecessarily "feeling sorry" for themselves - and only themselves?
[End edit]

Perhaps if the "Arabs" and the oil cartels are making less money (US$) they might have that much less to lend (back?) to the US to "bail out" a lot of companies that were making much bigger margins than Exxon, but which, after huge profits were "trousered" by Executives and then the Companies "folded" and were bailed out by the US? That sure was some "dime" that they got and some "Soup Kitchen" they were dining in/at!!

I don't know whether the various Governments and Agencies that collect revenue for Exxon and the like levy those taxes, imposts, levies etc. on a "flat rate", a "sliding scale" or a "pro-rata" basis, but in any case other than the flat rate, Government etc. has a vested interest in "gas" etc. prices and volumes staying "up" rather than going "down".

So, perhaps the Exxons of the US are a very handy and very necessary "cash cow" so far as revenue is concerned.