Exxon Mobil Posts Record Profits

[RightIsWrong]

Originally posted by: dug777

Originally posted by: Specop 007

Originally posted by: dug777
At the end of the day, if you don't like it, stop buying it.

Nobody is holding a gun to your head and making you buy more and more at ever increasing prices

The reality is that oil (and gas) is getting dirtier, deeper, and harder to find, and astonishingly enough, the price is rising :Q

Didnt you hear?
If you dont use oil you'll die!

The real world clearly doesn't intersect with those who believe that an resource that is increasingly expensive and difficult to extract and bring to market should remain at the same price indefinitely, or ideally get cheaper

Apparently, in this real world that you speak of....people don't die....EVER from corporate greed and/or negligence.

But if you live in the world that the rest of us do.....If you are unable to work or on a fixed budget that doesn't afford you the luxury of being able to pay your utility bills.... you actually can die.

VICKSBURG -- State regulators are investigating whether American Electric Power followed proper procedures last month when it shut off the power to the home of a 90-year-old Vicksburg woman who died with pneumonia after suffering exposure, frostbite and hypothermia.

The Michigan Public Service Commission typically looks into cases on a complaint basis, but the agency decided to launch its own inquiry because of the publicity generated by the death of Phyllis Willett, spokeswoman Judy Palnau said.

"The commission is aware because of various media reports," Palnau said. "They're looking to see if it was handled correctly."

State rules regulating utilities require that customers be notified -- including a face-to-face visit -- before power is shut off. Company officials have said they mailed a notice to Willett and have a record of calling her, but they refuse to say whether anyone visited her home before her power was discontinued on Dec. 13.

A social worker on Dec. 17 discovered Willett and her 63-year-old daughter, who has a mental disability, wrapped in coats and blankets on the floor of the home. Willett died four days later while her daughter survived.

Granted that this is electric and not gas. But would the outcome have been much different if she was relying on oil for heat and didn't have the money to fill up the tank? Especially considering that oil heat is more costly because it is an upfront payment of hundreds of dollars to fill up your tank before the season hits full stride.

I know, the lovely free market answer....she wasn't being forced to actually have a home and attempt to not live under the overpass. She could have found any number of shelters that would take her in for a few days and then kick her back out onto the street. :roll:

On Jan. 17, Bessie Sanders of Washington was killed in a house fire. It was determined by the fire department that "Ms. Bessie," as she was known to neighbors, lost her life when the candle she was using for illumination in her bedroom accidentally started a fire. During the coldest part of the year, Ms. Bessie was using a candle for light because her electricity, gas and water had all been shut off.

A woman who apparently turned off the heat in her home to save energy was found frozen to death in her bed, a LaPorte County official said.

Deputy Coroner Mark Huffman said Stella Chambers, 61, was found under the covers in her bed in her rural Michigan City home on Monday. She was wearing a hat and several layers of clothing, he said.

"She definitely must have had an issue with the utilities. Unfortunately, it didn't do any good," said Huffman, who ruled the cause of death hypothermia from exposure to the bitter cold inside the home.

National Fuel Gas Co., facing nearly $19 million in penalties for not turning on the natural gas for a 58-year-old Buffalo woman who froze to death in her unheated apartment last winter, has told state regulators that it didn't cause her death and followed the law at every turn.

......

The PSC in September ordered National Fuel to explain why it shouldn't be penalized for allegedly violating state law by refusing Fordham's repeated requests to turn on the gas at her Burgard Avenue apartment.

"We don't think we've committed any of the violations alleged" by the commission, said Julie Coppola Cox, a National Fuel spokeswoman. "We think the potential penalties are excessive and not appropriate."

The commission also ordered the company to show why it shouldn't have to review its records for the past six years and pay penalties to other customers who were denied service under certain circumstances.

National Fuel has shut off service to its delinquent customers at twice the rate of the region's other natural gas provider, New York State Electric & Gas Corp., since the beginning of last year. National Fuel is 76 percent more likely to do so than the three other major utilities in upstate New York as a group, a Buffalo News analysis found.

Not quite death....but you get the idea (hopefully).

CANTON With the gas having been shut off on a bitterly cold morning, a city woman and her son were heating their home with the electric stove burners, firefighters said.

The heat built up at the 220-volt wall outlet, heating up the studs in the wall of their home at 1005 Jones Ct. NW and setting the house on fire, said Battalion Chief Ray Harple.

Firefighters were called to the home of Darius White and Robin Blackshear at 9:37 a.m. Sunday, arriving to find that the fire was ?literally just running right up the wall,? Harple said. ?We had to bust a wall open, chase it upstairs and open a wall in the bedroom above it.?

LOL.....It's ok. I made a joke about dying from not using gas so that means that it doesn't really happen. See...I made a funny. That proves it. :roll:

 

[Specop 007]

Originally posted by: Homerboy

Even with costs and expenses rising etc etc, they are still making a profit of $75k PER MINUTE. that profit is made on the backs of every American who has to drive to get to their job or eat food from a grocery store, or buy clothes for their children.

Please answer the following to the best of your (apparently limited) ability...

1) Is Exxon a GLOBAL corporation, or do they ONLY do business with America?
2) Is Exxon the ONLY petro company in the marketplace?
3) Is Exxon the ONLY petro company making a profit?

Why are you bitching again?

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Xavier434

That won't happen if it is regulated properly just like we don't run out of power when the government properly regulates the power companies.

Oh absolutely that is what would happen. You can't compare oil and power companies.

I honestly had no idea people actually want gubment to limit freedom/capitalism. I really can't understand how communism is so appealing these days.

supply/demand. live, learn it, love it.

 

[Specop 007]

Originally posted by: Xavier434

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Homerboy

Originally posted by: Specop 007
Everyone loves a free market, until they think they're getting screwed then they want .gov intervention.

Not that our market is really free anymore, but it is what it is.

Thankfully, no one is forcing you to use oil. Which really makes all the bitching so amusing. Ultimately, you CHOOSE to pay the price they ask for the product they produce. They certainly dont force you to use it.

No I don't "choose". I don't use much gasoline AT ALL. $20 a week on the high end.
However I DO eat, drink and use my heat in my house. It costs the producers of my food more money to ship it to my grocery store because it costs more in the gas pumps for them. It costs the grocery store more to keep my milk cold because now their electric bill has gone up too.

ITS NOT JUST THE GAS PUMPS FOR MY MINIVAN!

And it costs the oil/gas companies more for a unit of oil. SHOCKING!

Tell you what, let's get the government involed so that the oil companies go out of business because of regulation and the inability of said regulations to quickly adapt to changing world prices.

Then you'll have no food, no nothing. brilliant! No gas because it isn't profitable for anybody to make it for you. Brilliant!

That won't happen if it is regulated properly just like we don't run out of power when the government properly regulates the power companies.

I wish I was as clueless as you, jesus life you be great. Ignorance is bliss as they say.

Oil is a GLOBAL commodity. You regulate it to be unprofitable, they wont sell it here. Period. End of story.
Electric is different because, while regulated, they can still run at a profit and probably as much if not more then they may make by shipping it somewhere else.

Trust me, if YOU dont want to pay $95 per barrel of oil China damn well will. If your politician passes a law that no barrel of oil may be sold to America costing more the $75, we aint gonna have any oil being sold here.

You CANNOT limit profits in one area without doing the same in the other. How this most simple of concepts eludes you is truly beyond me.

 

[RightIsWrong]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Homerboy

Originally posted by: Specop 007
Everyone loves a free market, until they think they're getting screwed then they want .gov intervention.

Not that our market is really free anymore, but it is what it is.

Thankfully, no one is forcing you to use oil. Which really makes all the bitching so amusing. Ultimately, you CHOOSE to pay the price they ask for the product they produce. They certainly dont force you to use it.

No I don't "choose". I don't use much gasoline AT ALL. $20 a week on the high end.
However I DO eat, drink and use my heat in my house. It costs the producers of my food more money to ship it to my grocery store because it costs more in the gas pumps for them. It costs the grocery store more to keep my milk cold because now their electric bill has gone up too.

ITS NOT JUST THE GAS PUMPS FOR MY MINIVAN!

And it costs the oil/gas companies more for a unit of oil. SHOCKING!

Tell you what, let's get the government involed so that the oil companies go out of business because of regulation and the inability of said regulations to quickly adapt to changing world prices.

Then you'll have no food, no nothing. brilliant! No gas because it isn't profitable for anybody to make it for you. Brilliant!

Spidey....you have outdone yourself here.

You are usually posting crap like this in P&N about how the free market is the answer to all the world's ills and no matter what the argument made to show you that regulation of some resources and/or products is required....you still come back to it everytime.

If you think for a nanosecond that regulated utility/gas prices will drive the companies to close their doors and find another line of work you are delusional. There will still be billions being pumped into the sector by people realizing that no matter how regulated it is, they can turn a buck and make a profit.

Don't believe me.....check out how many phone companies there are. Check out how many utility companies are popping up all over. Heavily regulated but still inviting to investors and others.

 

[imported_Lothar]

Originally posted by: Minjin
As I always say when this topic comes up, if you truly believe that the oil companies are absolutely raping the consumer, then buy stock in those companies and share in it. The extra cost of gasoline is a pittance compared to a well chosen investment.

Those complaining about Exxon's profit can either follow this useful advise, or keep being morons.

 

[LegendKiller]

Originally posted by: moshquerade
Now... now... that is so deceiving. Those "profits" are being used to build and update refineries and invest in new drilling sites and research. They aren't using that money to give their big guns huge bonuses or anything silly like that.

While I am mostly against big pay packages for CEOs, this is certainly one area (and company) where the CEOs have done decent jobs at keeping themsevles involved and profitable.

As far as the profit. It's to be expected, the falling dollar raised the price per barrel, which was passed on. The profit margin % didn't increase to any significant extent.

 

[Specop 007]

Originally posted by: RightIsWrong
Don't believe me.....check out how many phone companies there are. Check out how many utility companies are popping up all over. Heavily regulated but still inviting to investors and others.

Oil is not teh fone mang.

Rationing and shortages have happened, in fact just within the last few years.
Some region in China thought it would be smart to enact price controls. Guess what happened....... Go on......Guess....

Yep. GLOBAL market. The companies stopped selling oil in that region.

 

[txrandom]

Ride your bike, walk, or take public transportation if you are so concerned about paying that much for gasoline.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: txrandom
Ride your bike, walk, or take public transportation if you are so concerned about paying that much for gasoline.

Or move to Europe where the prices are 3-4 times higher due to gubment interference (taxation)

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: Homerboy
$41B stolen in my opinion.

Well, stop buying gasoline then.

ZV

 

[Xavier434]

Originally posted by: Specop 007

I wish I was as clueless as you, jesus life you be great. Ignorance is bliss as they say.

Oil is a GLOBAL commodity. You regulate it to be unprofitable, they wont sell it here. Period. End of story.
Electric is different because, while regulated, they can still run at a profit and probably as much if not more then they may make by shipping it somewhere else.

Trust me, if YOU dont want to pay $95 per barrel of oil China damn well will. If your politician passes a law that no barrel of oil may be sold to America costing more the $75, we aint gonna have any oil being sold here.

You CANNOT limit profits in one area without doing the same in the other. How this most simple of concepts eludes you is truly beyond me.

Less insults. More education please. I don't claim to be an expert. I am just expressing an idea based on what I know.


I don't think you understand how I would like to see it regulated. Let me try to explain what I would like to see done in an example. Keep in mind that I realize that it isn't this simple but I believe the example will demonstrate the basic idea.

Let's say a country is selling us barrels of oil for $100 a barrel and the companies are selling it to the consumer for $150 a barrel for a profit of $50 a barrel. What I would like to see regulated is how much profit is made by the US companies without effecting how much a country outside of the US is selling it for. For example, maybe the government will step in and say that they cannot make $50 profit a barrel and instead can only make $40 profit by selling each barrel for $140 instead of $150. Doing it that way will only limit profits on our end.

Now, keep in mind that I do not wish for any price limits to be set in stone. It will require constant regulation to reflect the changes in prices that the countries outside the US are selling those barrels to us for. I realize this method of regulation goes against the US's traditional freedoms when it comes to business but considering how important and rare this resource is I think it would be for the best.


In the end, it really doesn't matter that much anyways. If nothing changes I won't care because I know we are going to run out eventually. When that time approaches, these rich oil and gas companies will just dump more money into developing alternative fuels and then there will be competition between those companies to see who can standardize the next type of fuel first.

 

[slsmnaz]

Originally posted by: Xavier434
Let's say a country is selling us barrels of oil for $100 a barrel and the companies are selling it to the consumer for $150 a barrel for a profit of $50 a barrel. What I would like to see regulated is how much profit is made by the US companies without effecting how much a country outside of the US is selling it for. For example, maybe the government will step in and say that they cannot make $50 profit a barrel and instead can only make $40 profit by selling each barrel for $140 instead of $150. Doing it that way will only limit profits on our end.

So would you say a 10% profit for the company is unreasonable?

 

[RightIsWrong]

Originally posted by: Lothar

Originally posted by: Minjin
As I always say when this topic comes up, if you truly believe that the oil companies are absolutely raping the consumer, then buy stock in those companies and share in it. The extra cost of gasoline is a pittance compared to a well chosen investment.

Those complaining about Exxon's profit can either follow this useful advise, or keep being morons.

Maybe I'm being a little naive here but can you explain to me which orifice this magical investment money is supposed to be yanked from for the vast majority of those that have issues with being able to fuel up to get to work so that they can pay their rent/mortgage and still have enough to eat?

Oil is not teh fone mang.

Rationing and shortages have happened, in fact just within the last few years.
Some region in China thought it would be smart to enact price controls. Guess what happened....... Go on......Guess....

Yep. GLOBAL market. The companies stopped selling oil in that region.

I understand that oil != phone.

What you are not understanding is that the comparison was made to show Spidey that his idiotic statement about any regulation will cause the oil companies to close up shop is just that...idiotic. There are dozens of industries that are heavily regulated and there is still investment money poured in and others coming into the sector on a routine basis.

As for price controls, we had them in this country for decades on PUs and they didn't hinder our ability to produce and advance. The places that you are referring to just didn't have the economic muscle to give the oil companies the finger and say try to make as much without us....go ahead...try.

Do you honestly think that if the US enacted price controls on gas/oil that Exxon, BP, Shell, etc would stop selling in the US?

 

[JS80]

10% profit margin - sounds reasonable to me.

 

[Specop 007]

Originally posted by: Xavier434

Originally posted by: Specop 007

I wish I was as clueless as you, jesus life you be great. Ignorance is bliss as they say.

Oil is a GLOBAL commodity. You regulate it to be unprofitable, they wont sell it here. Period. End of story.
Electric is different because, while regulated, they can still run at a profit and probably as much if not more then they may make by shipping it somewhere else.

Trust me, if YOU dont want to pay $95 per barrel of oil China damn well will. If your politician passes a law that no barrel of oil may be sold to America costing more the $75, we aint gonna have any oil being sold here.

You CANNOT limit profits in one area without doing the same in the other. How this most simple of concepts eludes you is truly beyond me.

Less insults. More education please. I don't claim to be an expert. I am just expressing an idea based on what I know.


I don't think you understand how I would like to see it regulated. Let me try to explain what I would like to see done in an example. Keep in mind that I realize that it isn't this simple but I believe the example will demonstrate the basic idea.

Let's say a country is selling us barrels of oil for $100 a barrel and the companies are selling it to the consumer for $150 a barrel for a profit of $50 a barrel. What I would like to see regulated is how much profit is made by the US companies without effecting how much a country outside of the US is selling it for. For example, maybe the government will step in and say that they cannot make $50 profit a barrel and instead can only make $40 profit by selling each barrel for $140 instead of $150. Doing it that way will only limit profits on our end.

Now, keep in mind that I do not wish for any price limits to be set in stone. It will require constant regulation to reflect the changes in prices that the countries outside the US are selling those barrels to us for. I realize this method of regulation goes against the US's traditional freedoms when it comes to business but considering how important and rare this resource is I think it would be for the best.


In the end, it really doesn't matter that much anyways. If nothing changes I won't care because I know we are going to run out eventually. When that time approaches, these rich oil and gas companies will just dump more money into developing alternative fuels and then there will be competition between those companies to see who can standardize the next type of fuel first.

Why the insults?
Because you have a vote. Yes, people LOVE it when a politician stands up and says "Look at all that money they made! They made it from you! We should take it" and very few people ever stop to think about the issue.
So then a whole bunch of uninformed people vote for someone who doesnt truly give a damn and wants to "get that money back" and then he pisses off the business and they leave to another place where they can do business in a more cost effective manner.....

Oh wait......

Guess people in groups really are dumb because its been happening for a long time and we still havent learned.

Ok, so in your example.
What stops the company from not selling to us.
Sell to America for a fixed price of $140, sell to Asia/Europe/Africa/South American for $150.

Whats the benefit of taking a $10 loss per barrel? The only time it becomes prudent to sell for $140 to America is when you've filled all open orders abroad for $150, THEN you pick up the cheaper orders. Which means the guy who wants to pay less doesnt get what he needs, he gets whats available. Which simply may not be enough to meet the needs.

Cheap gas does you no good if theres none available!

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: DrPizza

Originally posted by: Beev
Supply and demand. As much as it pisses me off to see gas at $3, I would do the same thing if I were the oil companies.

It's not supply and demand.

1. It's not a free market.
2. The demand function isn't <oh, what's the word I'm trying to think of...>

edit: And the supply side of things isn't working the way it's supposed to work in supply and demand. As prices/profits go up, more people are supposed to enter the market selling that good to also make a profit; increasing the supply. A) You think a company can just enter this market? B) I don't see any new refineries being built, do you?

It's an oligopoly, and each oil company knows what the other is doing. If one builds a new refinery, they know that the other would build a new refinery. Thus, they both know it will hurt their own profits in the end, and they both know they don't have to worry about a new company entering the market to build the needed refinery. It's sort of a mutual "let's screw the customers over; they don't have any choice but to buy our fuel."

what kind of oligopoly makes 10% profit margin?

 

[thomsbrain]

They are a publicly traded company. If you can't beat 'em, buy 'em.

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: RightIsWrong

Originally posted by: Modeps
I thought they were raising prices because Oil costs were going up... boy am I naive!

This was my first thought also.

Oil Exec: "We are only charging the consumer their first born because our expenses are out of the world. If we could lower the prices to offset the economic concerns of the average consumer we would yesterday"

Broke-ass consumer: "But you are posting record profits so you obviously are able to lower the prices to ease the strain on the working class and help bolster the economy as a whole by keeping all other prices in check or maybe even reducing those also"

Oil Exec: "Get that fvck out of here and confiscate any tapes of that exchange."

Oil Exec: "Okay....we rolling again? Good. Hi, I'm here on my brand new 110' yacht to show you how we at Exxon are working hard to get the price of crude down so that you are not effected by our only recourse of raping you at the pumps."

They are on 10% profit margin. You think them lowering price by 10% and going in the red will help the consumer any? If you want cheap oil, vote for a neo-con that will invade Iran and confiscate the oil (not stupid free iraq and let them keep their oil)

 

[Specop 007]

Originally posted by: RightIsWrong
I understand that oil != phone.

What you are not understanding is that the comparison was made to show Spidey that his idiotic statement about any regulation will cause the oil companies to close up shop is just that...idiotic. There are dozens of industries that are heavily regulated and there is still investment money poured in and others coming into the sector on a routine basis.

As for price controls, we had them in this country for decades on PUs and they didn't hinder our ability to produce and advance. The places that you are referring to just didn't have the economic muscle to give the oil companies the finger and say try to make as much without us....go ahead...try.

Do you honestly think that if the US enacted price controls on gas/oil that Exxon, BP, Shell, etc would stop selling in the US?

Of course not.

They would simply sell to us last. Hell man this happens every single day in business.

If I can sell an item to you for $10 or to your neighbor for $20, who will I sell to??

If I have 6 items and your neighbor only wants 5, guess who gets the 1 left. You do.

If I produce 5 million barrels of oils a day and China is paying market price of $95 a barrel (or whatever its currently at) and has an open contract for 4 million barrels per day and America has set prices that I cannot sell for more then $85 a barrel and has daily open contracts for 5 million barrrels how many barrels will they be sold a day.

1 million, because the other 4 million I produce just went to China for $10 more per barrel.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: RightIsWrong
Do you honestly think that if the US enacted price controls on gas/oil that Exxon, BP, Shell, etc would stop selling in the US?

The last time we had price controls was the gas shortages of the 70s.

The companies won't stop selling gas, but they'll restrict their supplies to the US so that they aren't being killed with losses.

 

[LegendKiller]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: RightIsWrong
Do you honestly think that if the US enacted price controls on gas/oil that Exxon, BP, Shell, etc would stop selling in the US?

The last time we had price controls was the gas shortages of the 70s.

The companies won't stop selling gas, but they'll restrict their supplies to the US so that they aren't being killed with losses.

I think people forget that price/wage/supply controls lead to inflation, shortages, hording...etc. It's a ridiculous thing to do and smacks of ignorance of economics.

 

[RightIsWrong]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: RightIsWrong
Do you honestly think that if the US enacted price controls on gas/oil that Exxon, BP, Shell, etc would stop selling in the US?

The last time we had price controls was the gas shortages of the 70s.

The companies won't stop selling gas, but they'll restrict their supplies to the US so that they aren't being killed with losses.

Which is why we developed a Strategic Petroleum Reserves so that if/when the oil companies wanted to play tough, we could swing back.

Just because the oilmen in office now won't tap into it doesn't meant that it doesn't exist.

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: Xavier434

Originally posted by: Specop 007

I wish I was as clueless as you, jesus life you be great. Ignorance is bliss as they say.

Oil is a GLOBAL commodity. You regulate it to be unprofitable, they wont sell it here. Period. End of story.
Electric is different because, while regulated, they can still run at a profit and probably as much if not more then they may make by shipping it somewhere else.

Trust me, if YOU dont want to pay $95 per barrel of oil China damn well will. If your politician passes a law that no barrel of oil may be sold to America costing more the $75, we aint gonna have any oil being sold here.

You CANNOT limit profits in one area without doing the same in the other. How this most simple of concepts eludes you is truly beyond me.

Less insults. More education please. I don't claim to be an expert. I am just expressing an idea based on what I know.


I don't think you understand how I would like to see it regulated. Let me try to explain what I would like to see done in an example. Keep in mind that I realize that it isn't this simple but I believe the example will demonstrate the basic idea.

Let's say a country is selling us barrels of oil for $100 a barrel and the companies are selling it to the consumer for $150 a barrel for a profit of $50 a barrel. What I would like to see regulated is how much profit is made by the US companies without effecting how much a country outside of the US is selling it for. For example, maybe the government will step in and say that they cannot make $50 profit a barrel and instead can only make $40 profit by selling each barrel for $140 instead of $150. Doing it that way will only limit profits on our end.

Now, keep in mind that I do not wish for any price limits to be set in stone. It will require constant regulation to reflect the changes in prices that the countries outside the US are selling those barrels to us for. I realize this method of regulation goes against the US's traditional freedoms when it comes to business but considering how important and rare this resource is I think it would be for the best.


In the end, it really doesn't matter that much anyways. If nothing changes I won't care because I know we are going to run out eventually. When that time approaches, these rich oil and gas companies will just dump more money into developing alternative fuels and then there will be competition between those companies to see who can standardize the next type of fuel first.

lol ok Marx. Look what good your ideology did to Russia.

 

[LegendKiller]

Originally posted by: JS80

Originally posted by: Xavier434

Originally posted by: Specop 007

I wish I was as clueless as you, jesus life you be great. Ignorance is bliss as they say.

Oil is a GLOBAL commodity. You regulate it to be unprofitable, they wont sell it here. Period. End of story.
Electric is different because, while regulated, they can still run at a profit and probably as much if not more then they may make by shipping it somewhere else.

Trust me, if YOU dont want to pay $95 per barrel of oil China damn well will. If your politician passes a law that no barrel of oil may be sold to America costing more the $75, we aint gonna have any oil being sold here.

You CANNOT limit profits in one area without doing the same in the other. How this most simple of concepts eludes you is truly beyond me.

Less insults. More education please. I don't claim to be an expert. I am just expressing an idea based on what I know.


I don't think you understand how I would like to see it regulated. Let me try to explain what I would like to see done in an example. Keep in mind that I realize that it isn't this simple but I believe the example will demonstrate the basic idea.

Let's say a country is selling us barrels of oil for $100 a barrel and the companies are selling it to the consumer for $150 a barrel for a profit of $50 a barrel. What I would like to see regulated is how much profit is made by the US companies without effecting how much a country outside of the US is selling it for. For example, maybe the government will step in and say that they cannot make $50 profit a barrel and instead can only make $40 profit by selling each barrel for $140 instead of $150. Doing it that way will only limit profits on our end.

Now, keep in mind that I do not wish for any price limits to be set in stone. It will require constant regulation to reflect the changes in prices that the countries outside the US are selling those barrels to us for. I realize this method of regulation goes against the US's traditional freedoms when it comes to business but considering how important and rare this resource is I think it would be for the best.


In the end, it really doesn't matter that much anyways. If nothing changes I won't care because I know we are going to run out eventually. When that time approaches, these rich oil and gas companies will just dump more money into developing alternative fuels and then there will be competition between those companies to see who can standardize the next type of fuel first.

lol ok Marx. Look what good your ideology did to Russia.

Gotta love internet libersocialcommutopians.