$4.50 a gallon in Brooklyn!!
- Thread starter drewski59
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SVTContour
New member
Well said JimHare.
I'd add that all these reports of record profits by evil oil companies, trumpet the profit amount, not the profit margin. Most people in the US are too busy watching American Idol to understand the difference. In a nutshell the % of profit that they make stays about the same when the price at the pump is $1 or $3.
I'd add that all these reports of record profits by evil oil companies, trumpet the profit amount, not the profit margin. Most people in the US are too busy watching American Idol to understand the difference. In a nutshell the % of profit that they make stays about the same when the price at the pump is $1 or $3.
SpoiledMan
New member
One sells something we all need and the other needs to sell us all something.
porta said:
JimHare said:
Here in Denmark (and in Sweden as well) we use the "Research" method. Since the "Motor" method gives around 10% lower results, the US scale would be around 5% lower. Anyway, in Denmark we have 92, 95 and 98, which is roughly 87, 90 and 93 octane on your scale.
Currently we also pay around $6,10/gallon of 95 (90). On the other hand, over here the price has only gone up by around $1 in the last five years, and even 20 years ago we paid around $3,50/gallon. So it seems your prices are getting closer to ours, even though I still think your prices are quite low
Since this is my first post here, I wanna say thanks to everyone for a great forum...
Krautfed 03
New member
I live in Illinois, and we have a large tax on gas. If I recall, the State Legislature temporarily suspended the tax when gas prices "spiked" to about $1.60 a few years ago. (Boy, I wish those days were back!!) This action dropped fuel prices about $0.40 per gallon. Why haven't we heard of anyone doing this now, when prices are double from then?? If the Federal and State Governments would suspend, or even reduce their tax on motor fuel, I would bet our prices would drop almost $1.00 per gallon!! We have the greedy oil companies AND the greedy Government!!
I have defended our President for his entire term, but I am seriously second-guessing myself!!
I have defended our President for his entire term, but I am seriously second-guessing myself!!
imported_animes2k
New member
Krautfed 03 said:I live in Illinois, and we have a large tax on gas. If I recall, the State Legislature temporarily suspended the tax when gas prices "spiked" to about $1.60 a few years ago. (Boy, I wish those days were back!!) This action dropped fuel prices about $0.40 per gallon. Why haven't we heard of anyone doing this now, when prices are double from then?? If the Federal and State Governments would suspend, or even reduce their tax on motor fuel, I would bet our prices would drop almost $1.00 per gallon!! We have the greedy oil companies AND the greedy Government!!
I have defended our President for his entire term, but I am seriously second-guessing myself!!
I can't believe I'm doing this, but...
It's not Bush's fault. Or at least not entirely his fault.
As was stated above, demand has been skyrocketing in places like China and India, supplies are limited, refinery capacity is limited (it takes 10 years to bring a new refinery online) and pretty much all of the known oil fields are near peak or in decline.
Unfortunately, cheap oil is gone. Period. The price will continue to rise and we may be too far past the breaking point to recover completely from our oil addiction before it basically runs out.
Scary stuff, but it's much bigger than a single American administration.
Krautfed 03
New member
Yeah, I don't blame Bush for the oil prices, just the fact that there has been no real action on his Administration's part up until now. Everyone saw this coming since last September. Like I said earlier, reducing taxes on motor fuel would help some.
I have a Toyota Tundra with a 26 gallon tank, so just $0.50 per gallon makes a big difference to me, since I fill up 3 times a week.
My A4 gets 30+ MPG, however, it runs like s**t if I use anything less than 91 octane. So It isn't much cheaper to drive than my 17.5 MPG Tundra.
I have a Toyota Tundra with a 26 gallon tank, so just $0.50 per gallon makes a big difference to me, since I fill up 3 times a week.
My A4 gets 30+ MPG, however, it runs like s**t if I use anything less than 91 octane. So It isn't much cheaper to drive than my 17.5 MPG Tundra.
SpoiledMan
New member
Krautfed 03 said:
You better check your math on that again.
Miles/MPG
600/30 = 20
600/17.5 = 34.29
Cost to go 600 miles
20x ~$3.35 =$67 Audi
34.29x ~$3.15 =$108 Tundra
It's not even close.
ScubaStevo
New member
$1.20-1.30 /L here.
SVTContour
New member
Krautfed 03 said:
"Greed" is good, "greed" is going to produce alternatives to fossil fuel. Just think about it, the companies that produce the best alternative fule technologies are going to make billions, if not trillions over the next 50 years if oil prices continue to rise. That's why I don't get scared over this "peak oil" paranoia. The open market produces solutions. :bigups
It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we can expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. - Adam Smith
Food for thought: Where in the US Constitution does it address the government keeping gas prices low (outside of policing collusion, price fixing, etc)? :usa
Excellent article on why tinkering with gas prices makes no sense: click me
Krautfed 03 said:I have defended our President for his entire term, but I am seriously second-guessing myself!!
Me too, but I keep hearing how gov't spending has doubled since he's been in office! :grrr :angry :wall :bat
Krautfed 03
New member
SpoiledMan said:
I understand your point, however, that difference should be greater when you compare a 2.0 liter 4 cyl. that weighs 3400 lbs to a 4.7L 8 cyl. that weighs over 5000 lbs.
However, I would not trade either vehicle, as I really like them both. I just monitor my driving closely.
imported_Shaun Carollo
New member
I was watching the news the other day and I heard it only costs $3 to get a barrel of oil out of the ground. I'm not sure if this is refined yet or not, but either way I don't think it costs $68 to refine. I think the whole gas thing is gonna come to a screaching hault in the near future, everybody is talking about how they are fed up with exxon mobil posting $8,000,000,000 in profit in 3 months.
imported_animes2k
New member
Shaun Carollo said:
Here's an informative chart from the washington post on the cost of gas:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2006/04/21/GR2006042100040.htm
SVTContour
New member
Shaun Carollo said:
Well I don't know who "everyone" is, but maybe instead of complaining about it, they should by Exxon Mobil stock.
When all the costs that go into a product go up (see the chart in the above post), and then the price of a good is increased to maintain the same profit margin, then yes, the evil big oil robber-baron tycoons (which are all W's Texas friends by the way 
) will end up with a higher total amount of profit.Let's say you are a furniture store and you sell couches for $500, and your total cost is $400 per couch. Therefore your profit per couch is $100 and your profit margin is 20%. Suddenly, there is a cloth shortage and your couches now cost you $800. In order to maintain a 20% profit margin, you raise your price to $1000 per couch, and you make $200 per couch. OMG, someone call CNN, Bob's Furniture is GOUGING customers!!! If you average 10 couches sold per year, you are now making $2000/yr profit instead of $1000.
Don't mean to rant, but that kind of emotional, ignorant statement just irks me.
imported_animes2k
New member
indeed. I have a feeling SVT and I are on opposite sides of the political fence but in this instance we're in great agreement. It's really not a political issue and I hate to see it being turned into one. It's simple economics, really...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/27/AR2005102702399.html
but in this instance we're in great agreement. It's really not a political issue and I hate to see it being turned into one. It's simple economics, really...http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/27/AR2005102702399.html
SVTContour
New member
animes2k said:indeed. I have a feeling SVT and I are on opposite sides of the political fence
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/27/AR2005102702399.html
Great info that you dug up. :hifive:
I was looking for something like that. I guess it is good that I work for a subsidiary of Merck, we're more than doubling the profit margin of the big oil gougers!!! :nana:
SVTContour said:Well I don't know who "everyone" is, but maybe instead of complaining about it, they should by Exxon Mobil stock.
Let's say you are a furniture store and you sell couches for $500, and your total cost is $400 per couch. Therefore your profit per couch is $100 and your profit margin is 20%. Suddenly, there is a cloth shortage and your couches now cost you $800. In order to maintain a 20% profit margin, you raise your price to $1000 per couch, and you make $200 per couch. OMG, someone call CNN, Bob's Furniture is GOUGING customers!!! If you average 10 couches sold per year, you are now making $2000/yr profit instead of $1000.
Don't mean to rant, but that kind of emotional, ignorant statement just irks me.
dont forget the percentage of tax vs profit margin...