Not going to rant - we've hashed it to death, but since there are about 8 threads on this board RIGHT NOW that speculate about cars/trucks and gas prices, I think it is prudent to post.

ExxonMobil record profits... EVER in US history
Exxon's fourth-quarter net income rose 27 percent, to $10.71 billion

"The results pushed up Exxon's profit for the year to a staggering $36.13 billion -- bigger than the economies of 125 of the 184 countries ranked by the World Bank. Profit rose 42 percent from 2004."

"...excluding the lingering effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which slammed into the U.S. Gulf Coast last year, as well as divestment and entitlement effects, production rose 2 percent."

 

Yeah, that sounds about right. All the speculation about why the gas prices are higher is just BS. The real reason is that they will use any excuse to raise the prices of gas for profits. What can you do? It is a company after all.

 

[keanu reeves]WHOA![/keanu reeves]

42%!?!?! Wow. I didn't know they made that much.

sigh, time to sell the jeep for a geo.

 

Yeah making money is bad!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :run: :noes: :ugh:

Profit margins are pretty low, right around 10% all kinds of industries have higher margins and no one harps on them...

 

I originally supported them after Katrina as I work with the oil industry (hydraulics)...

But it is starting to get alittle ridiculous. You can only cry supply and demand for so long. It's really starting to squeeze middle/low income budgets thats for sure...

 

Smells like another Enron scam to me. Anyone remember California Electric prices in 2002?

 

Their profit rose 42%, but their margin is still 10%?

 

42% over LAST year, and look at how much their revenues went up...

 

Quarterly revenue ballooned to $99.66 billion from $83.37 billion a year ago but came in shy of the $100.72 billion Exxon posted in the third quarter, which was the first time a U.S. public company generated more than $100 billion in sales in a single quarter.


Last I checked 10.71 was about 10% of 100B...I guess its closer to 11%...

 

well yeah, obviously.

I'm not a whiz-bang when it comes to economics, so all i'm asking is did the margin to what they spent vs. what they made stay the same compared to years previous, or did they just decide that in 2005 they should be making more money?

edit: treed

 

Margins are up about .8% over last year, so they saw a small margin increase but not much...it also depends onthe company...exxons 4th quarter margins are actually down about .5% compared with last year...these companies are investing billions in exploration which is why you can see an increase in profits and revenues and margin% drop some...

 

Which tells me there is absolutely NO REASON we should be paying over $2 for a gallon of gasoline. Gas will be over $3 a gallon for many parts of the country at times this summer. You can see it coming.

 

You know it's really pretty simple...if we, as a country, believe gassoline prices are too high, all we have to do to change that is to truly conserve.

I expected thart there might be a real conservation effort after the impact of Katrina but other than a slight dip in big SUV sales, it really never materialized.

As long as we as consumers are willing to pay the price, the oil companies would be pretty foolish to not charge those prices - they aren't being "unfair" to charge what we are willing to pay.

 

Unfortunatly for a lot of people it isn't we are willing to pay, it is we have to pay. You can't buy anything but gasoline cars in the USA, and E85 is sold at like 1-2% of gas stations. For many the car is the only way to get to work. Police dept. can't just stop patroling because of high fuel prices. Even at $20 a gallon I still need that gas to get to work.

As a nation we could probably trim 10%-15% off are driving, but thats it.

 

All true but we can all, if we wish to do so, make chages in our habits that taken together, could make a significant difference.

I drive about 45 miles round trip to work each day..I could have chosen an econobox for my vehicle but I decided to get a full-sized pick-up. I do a lot of driving that is fare more "pleasure" oriented than truly necessary.

The changes we could make would vary from person to person, but that doesn't mean wen can't make them.

While our vehicles overall all are a lot more effecient than they were prior to the 1973 oil embargo, our driving habits, as a nation, haven't changed much in all that time not to mention the significant increase in the number of drivers/vehicles since that time all putting puresure on demand for gassoline.