g5000
Diamond Member
- Nov 26, 2011
- 127,128
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*sigh*Oil companies are sitting on 11 million acres the size of Massachusetts and won't budge. Why don't they investigate these oil companies, all with records profits and why they continue to raise the prices?
“The bumper profit totals, provided exclusively to the Guardian, show that in the third quarter of 2021 alone, 24 top oil and gas companies made more than $74bn in net income. From January to September, the net income of the group, which includes Exxon, Chevron, Shell and BP, was $174bn.”
Higher Gas Prices As Big Oil Profits Soar To $174 Billion
24 of the top Big Oil and gas corporations made $174 billion in profits this year while hiking gas prices on American consumers.www.accountable.us
I knew it was just a matter of time before someone claimed about the oil companies' "record profits".
Back in 2008 when oil hit a hundred bucks a barrel, Hillary Clinton wanted the government to seize their "record profits".
You know, oil companies aren't the only ones who experience record profits during high prices. Why are you singling out the oil companies.
If I sell widgets at a ten percent margin, and the raw materials and operating costs are 50 dollars, then I sell my widgets for 5 dollars. That's a ten percent margin and I make a 5 dollar profit for every widget I sell.
But if the cost of raw materials and labor rise to 70 dollars, then my ten percent margin brings me 7 dollars of profit for every widget I sell.
Presto! Record profits.
That's basic stuff, but there are also a lot of other complicated economic factors behind high gas prices. This is a global problem, not just a US problem.
During the pandemic shutdown, the oil companies had to let thousands of workers go as demand dried up. And they had to shut down a lot of wells and so forth.
You can't turn all that around like a light switch when demand suddenly surges to record highs.
So you have a low supply and high demand. Presto, higher prices.