Exxon-Mobil posted the largest profit of any American corporation...EVER. $40B in Profit. Not income...Profit.
That's $133 from EVERY American. If you limit this to "Adults" then it goes to $200.
Now, there are two people in my family. That's $400. Now, we can't let them run for No profit. That's not the way it's done. So, let's say they had made $10B Profit. That means they made an "additional" $150 on every adult American. For my household of two, that means $300. Going by 'normal' prices, that's one tank of heating oil and 25 gallons of gasoline, at $2.00/gallon.
Interesting, how *ONE* company can post such a HUGE profit when there is a 'crisis' situation they use as an excuse for raising prices.
=?iso-2022-jp?q?Hachiroku_=1B$B%O%A%m%=2F=1B=28B?= wrote in news:gTUYh.3889$r77.1582@trndny08:
They sure do run their business well. Unlike Shell and BP, they've been careful with their investments and have avoided the many problems some other companies have had.
Would you punish ExxonMobil for running their business carefully and competently?
This all means they're well-insulated for when oil prices eventually fall the rest of the way down. You can't say that about some other oil suppliers.
Great! This must be part of the reaosn some of our mutual funds have gone up. I'm benefiting too.
You're no economist, that's for sure.
ExxonMobil does not set oil prices, they just benefit (or get damaged) when prices move.
And frankly, I'm very glad so much money is in the hands of a stable, well-run corporation like ExxonMobil, which is based in a stable, free country like the US. Better that than Venezuela or Russia.
While this is true, it is like a politician talking out of both sides of his face. On the one hand, there is an 'oil crisis' occurring; usually when something is in 'crisis', everything is squeezed, including profits.
In this "crisis", the only thing getting squeezed is the consumer...
=?iso-2022-jp?q?Hachiroku_=1B$B%O%A%m%=2F=1B=28B?= wrote in news:gx1Zh.398$YW4.211@trndny06:
Not necessarily. It depends on the reason for the "crisis". In this case, the crises are resulting in the market putting a higher premium on the commodity in question. This is partly why ExxonMobil's profit has climbed.
BP, Suncor and Shell have not enjoyed the same degree of profit increase, reflecting their less-competent management.
Then blame:
US federal government debasement of the currency (or excess liquidity from the Federal Reserve)
US federal "Strategic Oil Reserve" buying (which only recently slowed)
environmental regulations that make it all but impossible to build new refineries
a constantly-changing regulatory climate that makes it risky to sink money into new refineries even if you could get the permits
specific disasters, such as fires and hurricanes, which make the resulting short-supply situation much worse
unstable political situations in third-world countries that are major oil producers
All the above cause markets to get jittery and send the price of oil products skyrocketing.
Thing is, the oil companies have not experienced a major increase in their _costs_, so they get higher prices for their product, but don't have higher expenses to offset the high prices.
ExxonMobil is calculating their strategy carefully, controlling their costs and planning so as to be ready for $30 per barrel oil. The other guys are less careful, and when oil prices drop to that level, they will be hurting.
This is the biggie. Refineries are running at nearly 100% and can't keep up with demand, and Escalade driving Soccer Moms put more pressure on the refineries.
They keep telling us their costs are higher. And, every time there is an increase in cost, the increase to the consumer is IMMEDIATE. Most other industries pass on higher costs as they make it into the manufacturing process (for example, the price of a widget increases, and Apple keeps the price of iPods the same until the new widgets start comeing through.) while oil companies hear about an increase in the price of crude and immediately apply it to fuel that's already in the tanks at gas stations.
Should we expect people that never held more than a few hundred dollars in their hand to understand how a business operates, especially some who hang in a NG?
One should have enough sense to look at a companies rate of return before complaining about their profits in dollars. Wal-Mart and Target have a much higher rate of return than do ANY of the US oil companies.. I wonder if those complaining where sending checks to the oil companies to help keep them in business when crude was trading at $20 a barrel? LOL
In message news:gTUYh.3889$r77.1582@trndny08, =?iso-2022- jp?q?Hachiroku_=1B$B%O%A%m%=2F=1B=28B?= sprach forth the following:
XOM's profit margin is lower than Time Warner's. And Viacom's. When did CNN and CBS inform their viewers of this?
The federal budget is the equivalent of $6,667 from EVERY American. XOM provides me with far more useful goods and services than George W. Bush and Nancy Pelosi. Corporations are a bargain. Government is a ripoff.
=?iso-2022-jp?q?Hachiroku_=1B$B%O%A%m%=2F=1B=28B?= wrote in news:0m5Zh.1117$dy2.704@trndny01:
The cost for FUEL is higher because of the commodity markets. Oil companies sell each other fuel on a daily basis, so the market price is important for everybody, including the actual producer of the feedstock.
There is a good reason for this: the gas they get tomorrow has to be bought with the proceeds of today. If they don't get enough for today's gas, they won't be able to buy tomorrow's without losing money.
Most gas stations fill their tanks at least once a day, sometimes twice.
A highly volatile retail price is a sure sign that margins are low (or threaten to be low at some point). If there was a huge margin, the retail price would vary hardly at all until there was a large change in the market cost of oil products.
You cannot compare the two.
1) The iPod has a giant profit margin for Apple, and the iPod consists of a huge number of parts, only a few of which change in price, and usually the change is very steadily DOWN, as it is with most consumer electronics. You do NOT see those cost reductions until the next batch of stock is brought in!
And do you seriously believe Apple passes on every penny of their cost reductions to you? No way Jose! They have to hang on to every penny of their gross, as their margin could evaporate overnight.
2) Apple retailers do not replenish their stock every day, or twice per day, like gas stations do. Their time frames are greatly dilated, so you're far less likely to notice the changes. How often do you look at the price of gas? How often do you look at the price of anything else? Is anything else sold to the public in nearly the same volume as gasoline?
"Mike Hunter" wrote in news:pr-dnXUTdIEeh6jbnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@ptd.net:
"Rate of return" maybe, but nobody's measuring that. We're looking at net prceeds, or the bottom line.
Wal-Mart, Target and grocery stores make a lower margin than the oil copmpanies (something like 5% rather than 10%). But their markets are very different, and they don't have nearly the same volume as oil companies do.
With the extreme volatility surrounding oil prices, those margins are FAR from secure. If the Middle East begins to enjoy some sort of stability, and/or the oil companies manage to get a few new refineries built, those "record profits" would evaporate overnight, as they've done before. ExxonMobil has a long memory; they've been largely avoiding the expensive projects (like the Canadian oil sands) for fear of being stuck with money- losing commitments should oil prices drop again.
You also need electricity, possibly home heating oil and food.
So what? ExxonMobil has to buy oil platforms, trucks, tankers, wells, etc. There is a huge risk involved for ExxonMobil.
I have seen a lot of people say that ExxonMobil and the other oil companies make too much profit. Yet, no one has said what profit they should be making. ExxonMobil has a profit margin of 11%. Is that too much? PPL, an electric utility, has a higher profit margen.
So tell me, how much profit should ExxonMobil be allowed to make and why that much?
Jeff
Technically, I could get buy without Target (I have been to a Walmart maybe four times).
target tries to be politically correct. I think the motive for sending away the salvation army is they don't want to offend the muslim workers, LOL. Did you know that some of the muslim workers won't check out people who are purchasing pork? When I go to check out, I look for a hometown person, easy to spot, I do racial profiling, LOL. Anyway, if there is a muslim at the checkout, I go to another one or I just drop off my stuff and go to another store.
I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore.
Actually, Target says that it should not allow one religious group and not others to solicit their costumers.
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Sad that you don't respect others.
I have seen some wonderful people who are Muslim. I have coached them and taught them. I would rather coach and teach kids who happen to be Muslim than prejudiced scum, like those who do racial profiling. In fact, the only reason why I would avoid going to a Muslim during checkout is if I had a product (like pork) which offends them.
"Jeff" wrote in news:EwsZh.4646$r77.2302@trndny08:
Oh, but they KNOW, you know. They just KNOW. Just like those idiot politicans that impose pricecontrols of various sorts. They just KNOW. Which is why they always f**k stuff up.
Microsoft was about 25% net the last time I looked.
What? That people aren't going to need gas anymore? Heating oil? Utilities will stop buying oil?
Not in my lifetime...
You have me in a quandry here, Jeff.
As a typically Hands-Off type, I would say let them make the profit they can make. That's how I usually feel about it. If you can sell it and make whatever profit, be my guest.
However, the product is different, as I have mentioned, from large screen TVs, iPods, computers, etc. Gasoline and petroleum produtcs are the fuels of the economy. And if people have to pay too much for gas for the things they HAVE to do with their cars or whatever, then that's less money they have for other things. So, in a way, the oil companies fuel the country in a couple of different ways.
How much should they make? Hmmm...certainly enough to stay in business, for sure. How much is that? Good question.
But $40B when there is a "crisis" is a bit too much...
And, don't try to compare it with News networks, etc. It is no where remotely the same.
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