A resentful swipe at Big Oil.

[Tony T.]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/3785382.html



This guy is a little PO too.



Tony

 

[DonTX]

Very interesting. Especially when the guy talking is making Chrysler 300 diesels that get 29 mpg, on THIS continent and won't sell them here! I had supposed he was part of the problem.

 

[rbattelle]

So you have auto companies making cars with poor fuel mileage and refusing to sell high-mileage diesel vehicles here (except for VW). And last summer when fuel prices were higher than ever Americans also bought MORE GAS THAN EVER! Brilliant! Jack up the price, and people actually buy MORE of your product! Big oil can't lose, except that people keep blaming them for profiteering. My attitude is that they don't "owe" me cheap gas, nor am I somehow entitled to it. If they can make a fortune because we're too dumb to buy more fuel efficient cars, then so be it.



-Ryan

 

[john3976]

Your to funny, every time I see a news bit on TV they keep saying that demand has been down not up yet the oil companys keep raking in record profits.



So tell me ol wise one, is the news media lying about demand having been down the last year?



Just tonight on one of the news shows they hit on the $3. 00 plus a gallon fuel prices and once again stated that demand has been down for the last year, yet the oil companys are still raking in record profits.

 

[JUeckert]

So you have auto companies making cars with poor fuel mileage and refusing to sell high-mileage diesel vehicles here (except for VW). And last summer when fuel prices were higher than ever Americans also bought MORE GAS THAN EVER! Brilliant! Jack up the price, and people actually buy MORE of your product! Big oil can't lose, except that people keep blaming them for profiteering. My attitude is that they don't "owe" me cheap gas, nor am I somehow entitled to it. If they can make a fortune because we're too dumb to buy more fuel efficient cars, then so be it.



-Ryan

not to be rude ryan,but my guess is if you were to call me out to give you a price on a new asphalt driveway youd likely be the first to pitch a xxtch,especially if you had seen the price you could have had one built for a year ago. i agree that this country needs a lesson in the greed factor,lots of needless driveing,non fuel effecient vehicles that they could really do without and so on. but at the same time what about the people who dont have that option,low income one vehicle families for instance. not only are they paying more for there gas,they are paying more for there home utilites,food,and basicly any thing they buy out of the store. why?because of the fuel prices. last year was my worst year in history for private work,this year has proven even worse,simply because many people cant afford the expence of getting the driveway repaired or replaced. without a doubt i would be out of buisness if most of my trucks and equipment wernt payed for. i know of at least one logging outfit,one contracter,and one small dump trucking firm that have all gone under due to fuel prices,it's really sad. i had seen on tv about a month ago that fuel consumption was actually down verses this time last year,based on a long time friend of mine who runs a local fuel distributership,he agrees,his deliveries are down 6%. i dont have a problem with companies making money,but what gives them the right to raise fuel prices based on rumors of happenings over seas,or a hurricane in the gulf that may not even be within 500 miles of the nearest oil platforms. this garbage didnt happen 10 or even 3 years ago,give me a break,prices going up and down on a daily basis,you didnt see that a few years back neither.

 

[10.5 Dave]

Demand has continued to rise. You're getting bad info apparently. I haven't read or heard anything other than people keep buying more gas than ever.

As long as our economy continues to boom things will be alright. High fuel prices haven't affected the economy yet.

 

[Diesel Nut]

is making Chrysler 300 diesels that get 29 mpg, on THIS continent and won't sell them here!

Our wonderful political people are to blame for that! Evern VW may not be offering a diesel next year due to the even stricter emissions. There is a whole different issure there. At least we have American jobs making American cars here and exporting them. Not the greatest situation, but better than a swift kick in the @#$!

 

[HBarlow]

Every American wants a higher income. Executives at big oil companies and the millions of ordinary Americans who own the companies are no different. They too want more return on their investment. Big oil companies are under no obligation to sacrifice profit to provide us with cheap petroleum products. We have a choice, we can stop buying their product.



Often the same Americans who angrily criticize and complain about big oil have recently attended a union meeting where their leaders discussed a strategy for obtaining higher wages for their members which will raise the price of whatever product or service they produce for the rest of us.



We are all in this economy together. No segment of it is isolated from the rest. My pay raise is your increased cost of living. Your increase dings my budget. Government is the problem, not the solution. If government got out of the issue "big oil" would find new cheaper sources for oil and produce it in higher quantities. Increased production would increase competition among suppliers giving us lower prices. The free market works. It allows ordinary people to set the price and determine the quantity and quality.



Auto manufacturers have only one goal. That is to make money selling their products. If Americans would buy tiny three cylinder economy boxes Detroit would stop building Crown Vics, Town Cars, Cadillacs, Suburbans, Explorers, and Chrysler 300s. The market makes the determination what will be built and how it will be priced.



... ... stepping down off my soap box now.



Harvey

 

[SMolteberg]

It's no problem for any manufacturer to make a Diesel that meets the new emissions, but is it a market for it? Of course all on this board would like a small diesel next to our beloved Cummins Dodge, but are average Joe ready for it? GM damaged the Diesel name with their 350 Diesel and the general carbyuer still remember this fiasco, even if most of it is myths and rumors.

The problem with the oilmarket are the same as the stockmarket, the prices up and down are based on rumors and "feelings" Very little are based on true facts. Big Oil know the Americans will continue to buy the expensive stuff, what are the alternative? People must get from A to B and there is very little public transport in your country

 

[rbattelle]

Your to funny, every time I see a news bit on TV they keep saying that demand has been down not up yet the oil companys keep raking in record profits.

So tell me ol wise one, is the news media lying about demand having been down the last year?

First of all, I humbly apologize for having offended you. I am not a "wise one" by any means - I am probably much less educated than most people on this board. I usually try to voice my opinions in a way to avoid confrontation, but obviously failed in this case. Again, I apologize for offending you.



Secondly, here's statistics on consumption from EIA. I apologize that it only runs through 2004 - I couldn't find stats for 2005. For numerical data, click here. Washington Post article.



Don't get me wrong - high prices really suck. I don't like it any more than anyone else. Thank God my driveway's concrete!!

 

[Coolslice]

What I don't get is that demand has gone up approx 1. 9% since last year, allegedly. How does a 1. 9% increase in demand translate into a 25% price increase? How long is that trend going to last? We cannot continue to trade 1. 9 for 25 year after year. That puts us at $5/ gal very soon.



BTW- That guy at Chrysler is a moron. Has he looked at his product line? Hemi this and Hemi that, even their smaller cars get bad mileage. I think instead of whining about the oil companies he should be trying to convince his superiors to build a more fuel efficient line of cars instead of putting a Hemi in everything...

 

[john3976]

First of all, I humbly apologize for having offended you. I am not a "wise one" by any means - I am probably much less educated than most people on this board. I usually try to voice my opinions in a way to avoid confrontation, but obviously failed in this case. Again, I apologize for offending you.



Secondly, here's statistics on consumption from EIA. I apologize that it only runs through 2004 - I couldn't find stats for 2005. For numerical data, click here. Washington Post article.



Don't get me wrong - high prices really suck. I don't like it any more than anyone else. Thank God my driveway's concrete!!

Let me start by saying that you in no way offended me, so no problem in that regard, demand was down last year, with the exception of the hurricane periods at which time during the each of the hurricane periods demand shot up, that is to be expected, but overall for daily activities demand was down from past years.



Now if demand is down from past years for every day use and the only reason there is any upward movement on consumption is due to hurricane activity then I just don't see the justification for these wild price swings.



Further, I feel a lot of these price swings are aided by these yahoo day traders who think they are raking in all this money when in fact all they are doing is causing our stock market to swing wildly in both up and down directions. They don't stop to think that the extra money made today is just going to be spent next month at the stores who have had to raise their prices due to the cost of oil and other needed consumables going up and the cost of them being passed on to the customer.



And to answer the statement from Hbarlow of: "We have a choice, we can stop buying their product. "



you must really be living in fantasy land, could you please stop by and pick up the rest of us on your next trip to fantasy land, we could all use a good vacation.



If everyone just stopped buying gas as you suggest this entire nation would come to a stand still in about 3 to 6 days. You don't have any choice to just not buy gas, all you can do is hope to find the cheapest price that is not 20 or 30 miles out of the way. 2 to 3 cents a gallon difference is not worth driving even five miles up the road as you still spend more in wasted gas to get their then you saved by paying 2 to 3 cents less.



Face the facts, big oil is raking in record profits each quarter and it is only a matter of time before they cause the economy to come crashing down due to the high cost of their product.



Housing is already starting to see a cool down as the feds keep raising interest rates, just stop and think of the cost of fuel going up as short term high interest loans only each time you fill up they raise the interest rate, at what point do you start cutting back on your driving to counter the effect of the massive price gouging by the oil companies? i. e. the cool down to being able to buy gas.



I would like to see you go to your local food mart and buy a weeks worth of eats and try to get them home on some type of public transportation, now I would pay to watch you do that trick. Excuse me but I need the next four seats on the bus to place my weekly eats, LOL, yeah right. By the way you can't use a taxi cab as that would be the same as you putting gas in your own vehicle, you may use a bike, walk or public transportation (bus), and if it rains while you are out to bad so sad, deal with it!

 

[dezeldog]

Face it. Big oil has us over a barrel... no pun intended. Even if we lower our consumption of oil, the price would go even higher as they need to make those huge profits. With demand down, the price goes up and consequently the profit margin goes up as well. It is a can't win for us and a can't lose for them. Also let us not forget the additional $2 bil. in tax breaks for the oil giants in GW's energy bill signed last Nov.

There is a movement afoot to reign in Exxon's excess by 15 of the largest environmental groups. To join the effort go to www.ExxposeExon.com. This might be the opening shot fired in the battle of the oil giants.



Jim

 

[amsoilman]

My take on this is plain Greed! I have a friend who is in the gas station business, and he says the executives are just making way too much money! He claims the top executive in Mobil/Exxon made 31 million last year!





wayne

 

[RustyJC]

For those of you who think "big oil" controls crude oil and refined product prices, why do you think we had $10/bbl oil and $1/mmbtu natural gas as recently as the late 1990s? Because of the global recession that hit the Far East especially hard, worldwide demand was down, prices plummeted and energy companies (and their suppliers) were laying off people and (in the case of suppliers) shutting facilities left and right. Marginal, high cost of production "stripper" wells were being plugged as the economics were not there to produce from them.



Markets drive prices. The oil companies, in the long run, would rather have $30/bbl to $40/bbl oil than $60/bbl to $70/bbl oil because $70/bbl (or higher) oil will ultimately (1. ) provide a price umbrella for development of economic alternate sources and supplies of energy and (2. ) will ultimately restrain economies (perhaps even lead to recessions) which cuts demand which pulls the rug out from under prices - and could lead to another 1990s crash.



Rusty

 

[Tony T.]

Sure I remember the early 1990's, I bought my current home then, a buyers market home. It was appraised right at $100,000. 00 before and then along came the real estate market plummet and after a year of seller trying to sell it and it being empty it was picked up by me for $45,000. Amazing though it's back up to close to $100,000. 00 appraisal with normal maintence and no added improvements, the taxes reflect that each year. Maybe a time cycle is coming soon for another plummet, reckon my taxes will drop any.



Tony

 

[RustyJC]

Sure I remember the early 1990's, I bought my current home then, a buyers market home. It was appraised right at $100,000. 00 before and then along came the real estate market plummet and after a year of seller trying to sell it and it being empty it was picked up by me for $45,000. Amazing though it's back up to close to $100,000. 00 appraisal with normal maintence and no added improvements, the taxes reflect that each year. Maybe a time cycle is coming soon for another plummet, reckon my taxes will drop any.



Tony

Which illustrates my point. Markets set prices.



Rusty

 

[Rman]

amazing how people raping each other on housing is OK, but when gas raises a few pennies, everyone's gets wadded up. Markets have a nifty way of steering producers.

 

[Tony T.]

amazing how people raping each other on housing is OK, but when gas raises a few pennies, everyone's gets wadded up. Markets have a nifty way of steering producers.

Where do you get off on a raping issue, answer me a question did you pay full MSRP for your current ride if not you raped the poor dealership friend, if you did well what can I say.



Tony

 

[Rman]

I was alluding to the fact that the housing market is susceptible to market swings and that people tend to openly gouge prices without consequence, BUT when fuel goes up a few pennies proverbial sh_t hits the fan. How that got into your cherrios, or how it remotely relates to MSRP on a pickup truck is up to you.