Comments on: Supply, demand, oil and profit

By: rocketc

rocketc — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 23:13:30 +0000

your precious Dem’s voted for the stimulus also. Are their intentions pure as the wind driven snow?

By: Neil Collier III

Neil Collier III — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 18:19:12 +0000

Hello,

My comment for you is that would it be possible that the oil companys sponser the stimulus checks (2008) under Bush organization just to raise oil prices to make a profit for the oil companys and his Texas oil buddies.

By: rocketc

rocketc — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 18:50:00 +0000

Yes, you are correct about the different formulas for different areas of the country. My larger point was that if oil companies can lower prices – they will and do.

That 11 billion dollar profit is a good thing and benefits all of us.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 18:44:42 +0000

Part of the reason gas prices vary from state to state is due to different standards required within the state. Some require more processing to reduce emissions, thus the gasoline is more expensive. Different states have different tax rates. For instance Missouri has very low taxes on gas, and gas is usually lower than neighboring states.
While I don’t blame oil companies for the price of gas. It is hard to swallow an excuse of “We are suffering too” when they make 11 billion in one quarter(3 months) time. It’s hard to understand why more and more companies are raising prices due to the price of oil(which is use to make 1,000 of products not just gasoline) but are posting record profits.

By: Deamiter

Deamiter — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 17:31:04 +0000

I’d sure have a hard time stimulating the economy with roads that were falling apart and without emergency services! Some things are just more efficient and cheaper when everybody pays into the same big pot (like health insurance).

Those billions in subsidies along with an incredibly leaky tax-code, deferred tax payments and taxes on only the money they can’t classify away as expenses means they pay a tiny portion of their revenue in taxes.

In contrast, if I could deduct food, clothing, vacations, the purchase of my home etc… as “living expenses” I might pay 8% taxes too!

In reality, the 35% sounds like a lot because we relate it to our income taxes, but it’s quite low and, more importantly, ExxonMobile doesn’t pay NEARLY 35% taxes even on their profits in the US due to subsidies and loopholes. Most of that 46% taxes they pay is in other countries where they can’t play such extravagant games in reclassifying profits to avoid taxes.

I’m not saying they should pay more, but claiming without evidence that 8% taxes on revenue and a flat 18.5 cent tax is having an increasing and significant effect on gas prices is rather silly. Quite frankly, I’d rather see an increase in the flat gas tax to help cover the soaring cost of road repairs, but of course if the gas tax were a percentage rather than a flat number we wouldn’t have funding problems when the price of asphalt and running heavy machinery went up.