Exxon Posts Record Profits

[quote]Professor X wrote:
How does that affect the family of 5 that can barely afford groceries as they enter the nearest gas station for a fill up? Answer? It doesn’t. This is about realizing that prices this high are only “good things” to the rich.

[/quote]

No! You don’t get it! All the poor in America’s ghettos should have gone out two years ago and invested in oil company stock! If they all whacked down, say that spare 10 grand they’ve got lying around, each, they would be laughing about the price increases! What fools! They should have hedged!

[quote]deanosumo wrote:
FightinIrish26 wrote:

This really pissed me off. It is unjust on so many levels. All this shit about oil rigs being damaged, lack of gasoline, gas prices being over $3 was all bullshit. It was gouging by massive corporations. And what a fucking coincidence…record profits when an oilman is in office. Gotta love it.

BP also just recorded a massive 18% percent jump in profits from the previous quarter.

The common man is getting screwed everywhere.

Stop driving and ride a mountain bike everywhere- that’s what I’m doing these days. Fuck 'em.

[/quote]

That’s great that you can get oil stock Hedo. Good for you. But I can’t. I make 14,000 a year and am a poor ass college student. 2.50 a gallon really fucks my day up. And I don’t actually have to pay for rent, food, etc. yet. So the working class, those below the $40,000 mark, do get hit hardest.

I won’t take away anything from what you have done personally with your life. If you have made good money, then that is a good thing. I’m not denieng anything like that.

However, for the rest of us that can’t scrape up money for McDonald’s if we wanted to, it fucks us over. The fact is that high gas prices make no difference with those who have enough money to drive Hummers. It only makes the difference to those of us that can’t afford to buy a belt for a hummer without eating for the week.

All I am saying is if there was such a fucking crisis, you would think that these bastards that own the oil companies wouldn’t be posting such massive gains (the biggest EVER). It screams of screwing the working class.

There is no oil crisis. It even says in the article that the damage to the refiniries, upwards of 250 million, is covered by insurance. So they have lost NOTHING!

This is the biggest scam in the history of big business running the government.

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:

And what a fucking coincidence…record profits when an oilman is in office. Gotta love it.[/quote]

And while I know completely unsupportable conspiracies are the stock in trade of the Left of late, do me a favor and support this thesis with some evidence. Or even an argument.

And, no - quoting Green Day won’t cut it.

[quote]hedo wrote:
Professor X wrote:
hedo wrote:
Bite me you arrogant piece of shit.

I earned every dollar I’ve ever made and I am quite sure I have done more to help the poor in my city and others then you could even dream of.

And as such, I am sure that many who aren’t making above 50 grand a year EARNED every dollar they ever made. I have also EARNED every dollar I have ever made and would bet that most of the people on this forum above the age of 18 EARNED every dollar they ever made. The point you missed in your effort to call me “arrogant”, as if this trait doesn’t reside in yourself at all, happens to be the problems such HUGE price gouging can create. Those who are able to buy stock would be the LEAST affected.

How many people do you employ again? How many minorities? Sorry didn’t get that…how many? You can ignore that but let’s face it your a pretned alturist, compared to a real one who actually supports charities.

I employ none currently (not to say that I won’t in the near future). I am a doctor who works in the military. I “give” to this country daily by making sure the men and women who fight for it are in good health. I wasn’t aware that this was even about you giving to charities. How does that affect the family of 5 that can barely afford groceries as they enter the nearest gas station for a fill up? Answer? It doesn’t. This is about realizing that prices this high are only “good things” to the rich.

No shit sherlock. Stroke your ego on the internet somemore for stating the obvious.

I served also, 4 years, then reserves, so save your throwdown for someone else. You started with your childish bullshit not me sporty. If you don’t measure up then don’t make it about personal attacks. In other words argue the fucking point for a change. You can do that can’t you?

High prices aren’t good for anyone. Fair prices are what establishes a free market. Restricted prices create shortages. Energy Mutual funds have a minimum investment of $100. Shares of other companies even less. 70% of the poor in this country own a color TV, DVD and a car. It’s about choices. Some make good ones, some bad.
[/quote]

The last few sentences have little to do with anything. No one lives without a TV. And as far as I know, most of the working class do not spend their money on a new DVD player every year, or a new TV. Most of the time they are trying to save money to get their kids into a good college, which is damn hard if you work paycheck to paycheck.

Hedo, do they even sell black and white TV’s anymore? What kind of statement is this?

Those less fortunate, as I have said many times, are not damned to poverty and ruin because they make bad choices. Apparently we cannot all make the right ones as you have.

[quote]thunderbolt23 wrote:
FightinIrish26 wrote:

And what a fucking coincidence…record profits when an oilman is in office. Gotta love it.

And while I know completely unsupportable conspiracies are the stock in trade of the Left of late, do me a favor and support this thesis with some evidence. Or even an argument.

And, no - quoting Green Day won’t cut it.

[/quote]

Oh that was witty. God forbid anyone quote a musician, because they haven;t been social critics since the inception of American pop culture. Shove that comment up your ass.

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
Hedo, do they even sell black and white TV’s anymore? What kind of statement is this?
[/quote]

Hell, I bet that have cars that they don’t have to manually crank up as well as those “microwave” thingies when a simple coal burning stove will do.

[quote]Professor X wrote:
hedo wrote:
35 minority employees…thanks for asking. In addition I employ 5 first generation immigrant employees. Mexican, Bulgarian (2), Russian and Croatian. Good people. Built my business around them.

Let’s see how diverse your future business is…let me know if your non-racist banter is bullshit or not when your writing the checks.

You ignored every issue related to this topic to only focus in on the last sentence? I only threw that in there based on what you wrote in your previous one. My comment didn’t have a thing to do with “non-racism” and everything to do with the fact that someone can call others “arrogant” while proclaiming how much they do for everyone.
[/quote]

Yes in response. Should I remain silent why you try your arrogant interent bullying bullshit. It must really piss you off when intimidation doesn’t work…too bad for you. Try sticking to the point…you know like a doctor would.

What’s to address? You are crying that the poor can’t afford gas or heat. Ever heard of heating assistance, tons of people take advantage of it in NYC. How about subsidized public transportation. That’s how a lot of people get to work where I live. Are you seriously saying that the government should subsidize automobile useage because the poor can’t afford to drive their cars. Do you actually think that someone who owns a car is poor?

Your out of touch Prof. Want to help the poor and disadvantaged, provide an opportunity in exchange for their labor or skills.

[quote]deanosumo wrote:
Professor X wrote:
How does that affect the family of 5 that can barely afford groceries as they enter the nearest gas station for a fill up? Answer? It doesn’t. This is about realizing that prices this high are only “good things” to the rich.[/quote]

Newsflash, Einstein - mean, old rich people don’t like high energy prices either.

High energy prices drag on the economy. That can translate into higher prices generally, slumping demand, and slower corporate performance (ie, slower growth in stock prices). What mean, old rich person wants any of that?

That being said, no one is disputing that the hardest hit are the poor. Suggesting an energy stock hedge is not some evidence that none of us care about poor people.

And here is a great idea - you suggest some vacuous “uh, I think we should have some legislation or something” - want to offer an idea? Price controls? Been tried. Got any other legislative concoctions? I am all ears. I hope your patients get more articulate answers about their problems than we do around here.

You have become a one-trick class-baiter. You go hunting for ‘ignorance of the plight of the poor’ in statements where there isn’t any.

Gas prices suck and the price is set in the international market. I persoanlly don’t like it and I am all for diversifying our energy portfolio and conservation.

Your general angst about the poor is nothing novel - and you need to get it through your head that just because taxpayers sit in a particular higher tax bracket doesn’t mean they have abandoned all moral interest in the plight of the poor or have adopted a ‘let them eat cake’ attitude.

[quote]deanosumo wrote:

No! You don’t get it! All the poor in America’s ghettos should have gone out two years ago and invested in oil company stock! If they all whacked down, say that spare 10 grand they’ve got lying around, each, they would be laughing about the price increases! What fools! They should have hedged![/quote]

Pathetic.

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:

Oh that was witty. God forbid anyone quote a musician, because they haven;t been social critics since the inception of American pop culture. Shove that comment up your ass.[/quote]

So, you got an argument or were you just bluffing?

Because I am calling.

[quote]thunderbolt23 wrote:
FightinIrish26 wrote:

And what a fucking coincidence…record profits when an oilman is in office. Gotta love it.

And while I know completely unsupportable conspiracies are the stock in trade of the Left of late, do me a favor and support this thesis with some evidence. Or even an argument.

And, no - quoting Green Day won’t cut it.

[/quote]

Just to throw fuel on the fire, it might be easier to “prove” what impact having an oilman in the White House has had on the energy policy if Cheney would come clean on who was at his energy summit. Kenny Boy Lay maybe, et al???

The problem with these record profits is that they come at a time when the administration has been making a case for drilling in the Arctic, etc. Just how much money is enough?

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
deanosumo wrote:
FightinIrish26 wrote:

This really pissed me off. It is unjust on so many levels. All this shit about oil rigs being damaged, lack of gasoline, gas prices being over $3 was all bullshit. It was gouging by massive corporations. And what a fucking coincidence…record profits when an oilman is in office. Gotta love it.

BP also just recorded a massive 18% percent jump in profits from the previous quarter.

The common man is getting screwed everywhere.

Stop driving and ride a mountain bike everywhere- that’s what I’m doing these days. Fuck 'em.

That’s great that you can get oil stock Hedo. Good for you. But I can’t. I make 14,000 a year and am a poor ass college student. 2.50 a gallon really fucks my day up. And I don’t actually have to pay for rent, food, etc. yet. So the working class, those below the $40,000 mark, do get hit hardest.

I won’t take away anything from what you have done personally with your life. If you have made good money, then that is a good thing. I’m not denieng anything like that.

However, for the rest of us that can’t scrape up money for McDonald’s if we wanted to, it fucks us over. The fact is that high gas prices make no difference with those who have enough money to drive Hummers. It only makes the difference to those of us that can’t afford to buy a belt for a hummer without eating for the week.

All I am saying is if there was such a fucking crisis, you would think that these bastards that own the oil companies wouldn’t be posting such massive gains (the biggest EVER). It screams of screwing the working class.

There is no oil crisis. It even says in the article that the damage to the refiniries, upwards of 250 million, is covered by insurance. So they have lost NOTHING!

This is the biggest scam in the history of big business running the government. [/quote]

Fightin

I hear what your saying. I was poor as shit in college. My old man was a carpenter. I didn’t have two nickels in college to rub together. I was pissed that my buddies had more then I did. I would have liked to have had a car, nice clothes etc. I worked at UPS during the holidays for extra $$$. Worked construction and whatever else I could in the summer. I bounced and bartended because I could eat for free at those places.

So I’m not discounting what you are saying. I’m just saying that nobody owes you anything. You’ll graduate, work your ass off, hopefully get lucky and make a few breaks for yourself. I’m not bullshitting you. I learned about investing in college, at an investment club on campus. I scraped together $50 to join. I got back $80 at the end of the year. I was hooked.

Sure I drive a hummer now. When I was in school I drove a 76 Chevy pickup with seats from the junkyard and bald tires. When gas went up to soemthing like $1.20 gal. it stayed parked. I couldn’t afford to drive it. You driver what you can afford and you make do.

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
hedo wrote:
Professor X wrote:
hedo wrote:
Bite me you arrogant piece of shit.

I earned every dollar I’ve ever made and I am quite sure I have done more to help the poor in my city and others then you could even dream of.

And as such, I am sure that many who aren’t making above 50 grand a year EARNED every dollar they ever made. I have also EARNED every dollar I have ever made and would bet that most of the people on this forum above the age of 18 EARNED every dollar they ever made. The point you missed in your effort to call me “arrogant”, as if this trait doesn’t reside in yourself at all, happens to be the problems such HUGE price gouging can create. Those who are able to buy stock would be the LEAST affected.

How many people do you employ again? How many minorities? Sorry didn’t get that…how many? You can ignore that but let’s face it your a pretned alturist, compared to a real one who actually supports charities.

I employ none currently (not to say that I won’t in the near future). I am a doctor who works in the military. I “give” to this country daily by making sure the men and women who fight for it are in good health. I wasn’t aware that this was even about you giving to charities. How does that affect the family of 5 that can barely afford groceries as they enter the nearest gas station for a fill up? Answer? It doesn’t. This is about realizing that prices this high are only “good things” to the rich.

No shit sherlock. Stroke your ego on the internet somemore for stating the obvious.

I served also, 4 years, then reserves, so save your throwdown for someone else. You started with your childish bullshit not me sporty. If you don’t measure up then don’t make it about personal attacks. In other words argue the fucking point for a change. You can do that can’t you?

High prices aren’t good for anyone. Fair prices are what establishes a free market. Restricted prices create shortages. Energy Mutual funds have a minimum investment of $100. Shares of other companies even less. 70% of the poor in this country own a color TV, DVD and a car. It’s about choices. Some make good ones, some bad.

The last few sentences have little to do with anything. No one lives without a TV. And as far as I know, most of the working class do not spend their money on a new DVD player every year, or a new TV. Most of the time they are trying to save money to get their kids into a good college, which is damn hard if you work paycheck to paycheck.

Hedo, do they even sell black and white TV’s anymore? What kind of statement is this?

Those less fortunate, as I have said many times, are not damned to poverty and ruin because they make bad choices. Apparently we cannot all make the right ones as you have.[/quote]

If you stay in school until at least high school graduation, don’t have children out of wedlock and don’t use drugs…you will eliminate a lot of poverty.

Of the poverty that reamins much is transient. Recent divorces, the unemployed, recent collge graduations. Time will lift them out of proverty. In a growing economy people will take advantage of opportunity and prosper. It may take time but it will happen.

The problem is real poverty is not having anything to eat or a place to live. Poverty in the US is defined quiet differently. My point is if you have a car, color TV, DVD player, subsidized housing and food stamp assistance as well as an income safety net and health insurance you cannot be considered poor in either global or historical terms.

Of course if you stay in school, don’t have children out of wedlock and stay away from drugs, you should have no problem exceeding the poverty level and landing solidly in the middle class. That’s a choice anyone can make.

[quote]chadman wrote:
thunderbolt23 wrote:

The problem with these record profits is that they come at a time when the administration has been making a case for drilling in the Arctic, etc. Just how much money is enough? [/quote]

Hmmm. There has been a push to drill the Arctic since long before record profits. And the primary argument - which I am not even necessarily all that warm to - is that increasing domestic supply via that drilling will help reduce our dependency on barbarian-controlled oil.

So what is your connection between wanting to open up the Artic to drilling and surging energy company profits? Drilling in the Arctic is about supply, less about pricing.

[quote]hedo wrote:
FightinIrish26 wrote:
deanosumo wrote:
FightinIrish26 wrote:

This really pissed me off. It is unjust on so many levels. All this shit about oil rigs being damaged, lack of gasoline, gas prices being over $3 was all bullshit. It was gouging by massive corporations. And what a fucking coincidence…record profits when an oilman is in office. Gotta love it.

BP also just recorded a massive 18% percent jump in profits from the previous quarter.

The common man is getting screwed everywhere.

Stop driving and ride a mountain bike everywhere- that’s what I’m doing these days. Fuck 'em.

That’s great that you can get oil stock Hedo. Good for you. But I can’t. I make 14,000 a year and am a poor ass college student. 2.50 a gallon really fucks my day up. And I don’t actually have to pay for rent, food, etc. yet. So the working class, those below the $40,000 mark, do get hit hardest.

I won’t take away anything from what you have done personally with your life. If you have made good money, then that is a good thing. I’m not denieng anything like that.

However, for the rest of us that can’t scrape up money for McDonald’s if we wanted to, it fucks us over. The fact is that high gas prices make no difference with those who have enough money to drive Hummers. It only makes the difference to those of us that can’t afford to buy a belt for a hummer without eating for the week.

All I am saying is if there was such a fucking crisis, you would think that these bastards that own the oil companies wouldn’t be posting such massive gains (the biggest EVER). It screams of screwing the working class.

There is no oil crisis. It even says in the article that the damage to the refiniries, upwards of 250 million, is covered by insurance. So they have lost NOTHING!

This is the biggest scam in the history of big business running the government.

Fightin

I hear what your saying. I was poor as shit in college. My old man was a carpenter. I didn’t have two nickels in college to rub together. I was pissed that my buddies had more then I did. I would have liked to have had a car, nice clothes etc. I worked at UPS during the holidays for extra $$$. Worked construction and whatever else I could in the summer. I bounced and bartended because I could eat for free at those places.

So I’m not discounting what you are saying. I’m just saying that nobody owes you anything. You’ll graduate, work your ass off, hopefully get lucky and make a few breaks for yourself. I’m not bullshitting you. I learned about investing in college, at an investment club on campus. I scraped together $50 to join. I got back $80 at the end of the year. I was hooked.

Sure I drive a hummer now. When I was in school I drove a 76 Chevy pickup with seats from the junkyard and bald tires. When gas went up to soemthing like $1.20 gal. it stayed parked. I couldn’t afford to drive it. You driver what you can afford and you make do.

[/quote]

Haha. I had no idea you drove a Hummer. Time to play the lottery…

[quote]hedo wrote:
Yes in response. Should I remain silent why you try your arrogant interent bullying bullshit. It must really piss you off when intimidation doesn’t work…too bad for you. Try sticking to the point…you know like a doctor would.[/quote]

WTF? "interent bullying bullshit? Have you been copying off of Zeb’s paper again? At least come up with something original. I respond as I feel. If that “bullies” you or anyone else, perhaps you should invest in a backbone.

[quote]
What’s to address? You are crying that the poor can’t afford gas or heat. Ever heard of heating assistance, tons of people take advantage of it in NYC. How about subsidized public transportation. That’s how a lot of people get to work where I live. Are you seriously saying that the government shourd subsidize automobile useage because the poor can’t afford to drive their cars. Do you actually think that someone who owns a car is poor?[/quote]

Are you actually this unable to see anyone’s point of view that you would fall onto some ridiculous notion of automobile subsidies? I said regulation (or at least the discouragement) of the amount gas companies can baselessly increase the price of gas. This government has gone through endless effort to make sure that credit card companies can continue to gouge the finances of even those who have had bankrupting occurances destroy their way of live…but there is no attention to the poor in this situation as far as the need to for gas, transportation and how that can affect the economy? Who do we really care about?

How does this make me out of touch? Simply because I don’t agree with you? As I said at first, it must be a wonderful world when you can wake up and make yourself believe that everyone who is poor got that way because they just didn’t try hard enough…or at least not as hard as you.

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
Haha. I had no idea you drove a Hummer. Time to play the lottery…[/quote]

LOL.

I normally don’t post here but I do feel compelled to answer since I am employed by one of the larger Oil Companies.

There are reasons why fuel costs are up and it is dictated by more than the what some seem to consider gluttony of the oil companies.

It is the law of supply and demand.
There is less refining capacity of crude oil with several gulf coast refineries still not operating after Katrina.

We had to shut down our refinery for Katrina. We were down for almost a week (this means absolutely no fuel production). We worked in shifts around the clock, some of us sleeping at the refinery, so we could work longer hours. Every effort was made to restore the refinery to full production ASAP in a safe and environmentally sound manner.

Our number one goal was to restore fuel to the market to ease the price of gasoline.

When Rita was headed towards Houston 25% of the nation’s refining capacity was stopped for several days.

Our large Port Arthur refinery is just now beginning to produce gasoline.

Remember, all of this loss of gasoline production happened and no one stopped consuming gasoline around the country. We do not keep billions of gallons of gasoline sitting around in tanks waiting on a crisis. The demand is so high, and the availability is so low, the situation creates a price hike.

India and China has increased their need for oil by the tune of something like 18% in the last year. That sets the stage for a global increase in oil prices. Couple that with the damge and the loss of domestic oil production in the Gulf of Mexico and it adds to the cost of producing gasoline.

Gasoline prices have come down a bit now that most refineries are back to full production.

Race fan,

Excellent post. It is always good to hear an insider’s perspective.

[quote]Race Fan wrote:
I normally don’t post here but I do feel compelled to answer since I am employed by one of the larger Oil Companies.

There are reasons why fuel costs are up and it is dictated by more than the what some seem to consider gluttony of the oil companies.

It is the law of supply and demand.
There is less refining capacity of crude oil with several gulf coast refineries still not operating after Katrina.
[/quote]

I think most of us understand the concept of supply and demand (by the way, thanks for posting as someone with a background at the company). I also have an uncle who works at Shell. However, this was stated in the article:

[quote]
"High prices for oil and natural gas propelled Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC to their best quarterly results ever on Thursday, with Exxon becoming the first U.S. company ever to ring up quarterly sales of $100 billion.

To put Exxon’s performance into perspective, its third quarter revenue was greater than the annual gross domestic product of some of the largest oil producing nations, including the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. The world’s largest publicly traded oil company also set a profit record for U.S. companies by posting net income of almost $10 billion, according to Standard & Poor’s equity market analyst Howard Silverblatt. "[/quote]

How does this match up with the devestation that you wrote about? There are many days around my area where most gas stations don’t even have gas. Usually, if you don’t fill up before thursday, you might as well give up the idea of getting gas until the following Tuesday. With that much damage done to facilities due to the storms, how did they top out on profit? They sure are doing well…while the country does so poorly in regards to the storms.

[quote]thunderbolt23 wrote:

No! You don’t get it! All the poor in America’s ghettos should have gone out two years ago and invested in oil company stock! If they all whacked down, say that spare 10 grand they’ve got lying around, each, they would be laughing about the price increases! What fools! They should have hedged!

Pathetic.

[/quote]

I thought it was kinda funny.