Exxon reports $9.9B in NET profits
polycounter lvl 18
Holy shitballs.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4383296.stm
Uh...when are our representatives going to do something about this? When Bush leaves? Since when is it ok to gouge the fuck out of consumers, especially in times of emergency?
I think it just boils down to greed. Exxon: "We got the oil. You need the oil. We could take some profit and build more refineries but why the fuck should we do that?? We're filthy rich yay!"
Those jack-me-offs in Washington need to take a break from giving themselves raises and put down some hard legislation about fossil fuel being our prime source of energy so it's unethical to fuck with it unfairly.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4383296.stm
Uh...when are our representatives going to do something about this? When Bush leaves? Since when is it ok to gouge the fuck out of consumers, especially in times of emergency?
I think it just boils down to greed. Exxon: "We got the oil. You need the oil. We could take some profit and build more refineries but why the fuck should we do that?? We're filthy rich yay!"
Those jack-me-offs in Washington need to take a break from giving themselves raises and put down some hard legislation about fossil fuel being our prime source of energy so it's unethical to fuck with it unfairly.
Replies
But, it's all about supply and demand. Fuel prices will continue to rise as long as the demand is there. So far it hasn't gotten to the point where consumers are altering what they do because of high gas prices. When that happens, then you will see some changes. It has little to do with Bush or the government. They cannot put price limits on fuel. If anyone is old enough to remember the last time that happened(Jimmy Carter in the late 1970's) it had disastrous effects.
I don't think diddly squat will happen unless/until America implements some serious election reforms. As it is now, the country is pretty much owned by big business, and stuff like this happens as a result. We desperately need to limit the overwhelming influence of money on campaigns, and open up the political process to 3rd parties more.
[/ QUOTE ]
That's why we need public funding of elections and ban any private funding (especially from corprate sources). Some people might bitch about spending tax dollars on elections, but in the long run we'll save shit loads of money by electing politicians who are no longer beholden to private interests.
Well, you have to understand that in a capitalistic society, that companies like Exxon answer to their stockholders.
[/ QUOTE ]
It has fuck all to do with stockholders. The market determines the price; dividends come out of profits and do not influence the price of a good.
ride a bike!
[/ QUOTE ]
I do
I LOVE the way the government 'investigated' the oil companies for price gouging btw. It took them a whole, what?... 3 days? To determine that they weren't price gouging. Yeah, I'm confident that the investigation was really thorough.
25 miles? pshhaa...you could do it! 50 miles a day and you could be Lance armstrong part duex in no time.
Ok, maybe not...
What motorcycle you have ben? I got bitten by the bug a few months ago after seeing one of the new matte black Ducati Monsters riding around. good thing theyre pricey or i'd be in some serious temptation. =P
I even bought the "ultimate guide to motorcycle whatever it is"
god, im such a wannabe
Irritant, true the reason that big oil gives is "supply and demand" but also mentioned in the article is the problem that these oil companies reaping record profits need to build new refineries in order to increase supply. They have absolutely no incentive to right now. Oil = life. It's a basic need (for right now) There are laws against price gouging during emergency situations (like Katrina) and have special provisions for more punishment on gouging on the basics. I just think the country is more theocracy now than it was back in the 18th century.
And OF COURSE it has to do with Bush (who clearly just pretty much rewrites laws on the fly) and the government. The Bush family has a web of ties with big oil. Are you still defending your decision to vote for that greedy monkey at this late date?
i havent owned a car in 6 years, you dont need one. americans are just too lazy and get really tierd trying to walk and balance their 500 pound asses at the same time.
all joking aside i have been looking for a car recently but the search for a car has been such a headache i am back to thinking i am better off without one.
I'm with many of you when it comes to SUVs, WHAT'S THE POINT!? SUVs are ridiculously pointless, the only reason a person could possibly like them is if you either constantly hauled around a dozen people at once, or you've got WAY too much money to burn.
We're now seeing a big push towards gas efficient cars, biodiesel and hybrids, hopefully the whole SUV trend will kick the dust real soon.
I've got an oldish jeep cherokee that I take around when I need to... but I've recently started exploring the bus system around here and I'm finding it's pretty damn good. Cheap and fast, with stops everywhere, and some great web support (http://www.busmonster.com/ and http://transit.metrokc.gov/)
humans are greedy by nature... the only instinct that will override the greed in the end is the need to survive, which will kick in once gas passes $5/gallon I'd imagine. Gas prices have been there and higher in europe for a while, and they now have cars that are far more fuel efficient (their Prius has an "electric only" button on the dashboard... the american version just has a plastic circle where the button should be). Hooray for capitalism!
ps - if anyone here has a prius and is interested, here's some info on the "missing button"
My mom drive's a Chevy Avalanche, and before I hear a single peep about 'gas guzzling SUV', we use that thing to haul / tow / carry stuff on a weekly basis, often loaded to the hilt.
Hybrids, in my opinion, are a dumb idea, particularily cause noone seems to consider the costs of repairing / replacing the battery / engines once their warranty is up; and having to trade in your old hybrid for a new one after just a few years just to keep it under warranty is an absolutely ludicrous idea.
The other *huge* problem with this area is the environmentalists in CA pretty much made it mandatory that any new freeways have to have a commute lane, so noone's building wider roads to accomodate all the traffic, and the few areas that are getting upgraded are really just receiving a commute lane. The traffic jams caused by the loss of a lane during commute hours are absolutely ridiculous. Not to mention the fact that the people that drive hybrids have to pay through the nose just to get a 'commute lane OK' pass.
Hybrids, in my opinion, are a dumb idea, particularily cause noone seems to consider the costs of repairing / replacing the battery / engines once their warranty is up...
[/ QUOTE ]
It's not just about a personal expense standpoint though. The current gas based transport model isnt sustainable, noone can argue that point. So this is a baby step towards the next model, which will hopefully be hydrogen based.
Also keep in mind that the only reason hybrids are expensive now is because its a new technology. In 20 or 30 years, your Corvette will probably be more expensive to maintain than a hybrid/electric.
As for the traffic situation, yeah it's crap over there, but that can ONLY get worse. If you have a bunch of hybrids on the road, at least you can get rid of some of that smog while youre sitting in traffic. So in that respect i think its a good move to have the commuter lane incentive, even if it's just a band-aid solution.
Personally i wish theyd stop dicking around and invest in a proper rail system. That will do a much better job of clearing congestion than adding more lanes.
The thing that bothers me is how they jack up the price when an 'accident' happens at a refinery, or some other sort of disaster causes the prices to go up. But when that problem is resolved, the prices never returned.
There is going to be no more oil to sell in 50 years. The big oil companies know this and are adjusting the prices so their supply can last them until they can transition into something else.
ChaosEidolon.. The maintenance costs for hybrids is likely to go up, not down, over the years, as the technology involved gets more in depth and less Battery + Motor + Generator, particularily with the newer batteries in development. Any person that buys a vehicle and doesn't consider the personal expense standpoint shouldn't even be buying a car in the first place. I somehow doubt my 'vette is going to be more expensive to maintain over time, particularily with the wide availability of parts (it's just a standard Chevy v8) and the overall simplicity of the combustion engine. I must argue about the traffic, as it's actually gotten better over here in recent years; the end of the .com era with the 'dot-bomb'ing easily cut traffic in half around the bay area. The problem that remains is that CalTrans is a government-paid road maintenance program, so it works just about as fast as any other government program at taking care of the roads around here. To make matters worse (though considering how fast I drive, I shouldn't be complaining), the number of CHP's in the area (, heck, even in the state I believe,) has not gone up at all compared to the number of drivers on the road. Combine all these factors with the number or *extremely* poor and uneducated drivers on the road (who haven't got the first idea of how to drive defensively or react properly to a situation), and it truly is amazing that we don't have more accidents and traffic jams than we already do.
http://www.viralchart.com/media/clips/gasguzzler.mov
I don't think diddly squat will happen unless/until America implements some serious election reforms. As it is now, the country is pretty much owned by big business, and stuff like this happens as a result. We desperately need to limit the overwhelming influence of money on campaigns, and open up the political process to 3rd parties more.
[/ QUOTE ]I was watching this documentary on the internet about the cadidates for what I think was Governour of the State Bill Clinton was in. It was portrayed in the media as a *four* horse race, when in fact there were *five* in the running. For whatever reasons the fifth guy was refused airtime and even had to interrupt and voice his protest at a public 'head to head' that was being held between the cadidates, he barely got that.
When you see things like that going on with a legitimate political candidate nothing else is a supprise, so is it really any wonder why they don't listen to the poeple, they don't need to.
While Ford is having trouble getting hybrids to American buyers, in the UK, Ford cars average 20-40 mpg more than their US counterparts.
Ford UK Ford USA
Model MPG Model MPG
Ford Focus 49.6 urban/57.6 extra urban Ford Focus 26 City/34 hwy
Ford Fusion 61.4 mpg combined Ford Fusion 23 city/31 hwy
Ford Galaxy 42.8 combined Ford Freestar 18 city/24 hwy
Ford Ka 32.1/51.4 Ford Escape Hybrid 36 city/31 hwy
Ford Mondeo 34.5 urban/ 57.7 extra urban Ford Taurus 20 city/27 hwy
source : http://www.evworld.com/view.cfm?section=communique&newsid=10438
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1808314,00.html
I get the bus to a from work most days, but actaully walk home quite a lot when I think about it. costs me 1.08 a day for my pass.
I've been putting serioius thought into selling my car, which I love and it gets great gas mileage. For the price I can get, I can buy a Toyota truck, and a nice motorcycle. I can drive the bike to work to save gas, and use the truck only when I need to. It won't do much to save the world, but I'll feel better about myself, and have more money around to put in savings.
I just can't believe a company could profit so much during our "time of crisis", and do nothing about it. Imagine of a fraction of those profits went into financing new technologies.
Send the children of the rich oil tycoons to Iraq.
BTW I love the diversion known as E85 that byfar has to be the smartest thing they have released. Its not oil and is "home gown" so we feel pride in sticking it to the oil companys. Yet its made by the oil companys and is just as bad for the air... Way to go!
in tokyo you're mad IF you own a car.
Also, my truck gets around 12mpg city (it was given to me, so don't bitch, I didn't choose it).
[/ QUOTE ]
I have the same problem (I drive an old '88 3/4-ton Suburban that gets about 10mpg), but I'm fortunate enough to live in a small down that's great for biking (I've been told that Chico, CA is one of the best biking towns in the US).
How can the demand be so high?
[/ QUOTE ]
because of what I mentioned earlier:
[ QUOTE ]
but an even bigger contributor to this new demand are speculators. In the past five years or so, confidence in the American economy has fallen (due to huge debt, borrowing billions from communist China, etc.), so investors have been moving money out of American industry and have started buying up commodities instead (the big two being gold and oil). That's a big part of why the price of gold and oil has more than doubled in the past 5 years.
[/ QUOTE ]
You have to realize that people at the pump aren't the only one's who are buying oil; they're also buying it on Wall Street. Investors have been buying oil like crazy, because the Bush economy is running on fumes and borrowed Chinese money, so confidence in American industry has fallen.
I wonder how all that money will go back into the economy.
in tokyo you're mad IF you own a car.
[/ QUOTE ]
Probably paying off all the construction crews to rebuild the rigs that Katrina played with like little toys...
...and does that explain some of the crazy looking vehicles we see Jap modders mess around with?
...but if they haven't, then YE GODS, sloppy journalism.
If anyone else does a bit of searching on this they will find that of the cars SOLD in America, Honda and Toyota are the most fuel efficient, and Dodge, GM and Ford in that order are the worst cars for fuel efficiency.
I'm about to put on my iPod and my sunglasses and walk 10 minutes to a bus stop (not the closest one, I want to walk around a bit in this glorious weather) and hop on the bus.
Unfortunately, GM's lack of foresight will bite them in the behind, since (according to NPR this week) their taking so long to jump on the hybrid/simply better fuel efficiency bandwagon has taken so long, that a gazillion patents that have already been filed by Toyota et al in that realm, they're gonna have to now pay for.
As for buses, no idea, but in my OWN UNIFORMED opinion, I'll state with no proof, simply theorising:
Most buses in Edinburgh city are full or nearly full, certainly at peak times.
Most cars have one person in them.
1 bus takes the same road space as what, 6 cars, yet I *doubt* it uses 6 times te amount of fuel. Those 6 cars will cause more congestion than 1 bus
I have trouble believing that as most trains run on electicity these days. Until you can fuel your car with plutonium (cue the Back To The Future references), wind or hydropower that can't be compared.
wouldn't it be farcical if it turned out the writer of the first article you linked had merely pulled the economy stats from different US and european sources and forgotten that the US gallon is smaller than the european one.
The difference in mileage is smaller than the difference in gallon size.
Never mind that european websites would give a litres/100km number instead of miles/gallon.
My word.
While Ford is having trouble getting hybrids to American buyers, in the UK, Ford cars average 20-40 mpg more than their US counterparts.
Ford UK Ford USA
Model MPG Model MPG
Ford Focus 49.6 urban/57.6 extra urban Ford Focus 26 City/34 hwy
Ford Fusion 61.4 mpg combined Ford Fusion 23 city/31 hwy
Ford Galaxy 42.8 combined Ford Freestar 18 city/24 hwy
Ford Ka 32.1/51.4 Ford Escape Hybrid 36 city/31 hwy
Ford Mondeo 34.5 urban/ 57.7 extra urban Ford Taurus 20 city/27 hwy
source : http://www.evworld.com/view.cfm?section=communique&newsid=10438
[/ QUOTE ]
Another reason for this is that these cars are not identical. As I understand it, most carmakers put much smaller engines in their cars when they release them in the UK (because of gas prices).
I don't think you can sell a car in the US that has less than 100 horsepower, there's a stigma left over from the muscle car age.