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Make Hay While the Sun Shines

 
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Henry



Joined: 03 Apr 2001
Posts: 2878
Location: NYC

PostPosted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 2:15 pm    Post subject: Make Hay While the Sun Shines Reply with quote

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/27/AR2006072700383.html?nav=hcmodule



I know it's been real peaceful here in the Lounge. But...hey...a message to the brain dead...take off your ear muffs and your tin foil...and smell the coffee. Yup...We've never had it so good. At least that's the message I read in to this article. And some of us have You to thank for all this.

I can't thank you enough and hope the next two years will be as productive, sensible and meaningful as the last twelve months were.

"To the good life!" (signed: henry)

ps: & I'd like to thank you in advance for telling me how grateful I should be and how much $ the oilcos spend on research to make my day better and bmw run smoother and how tough it is to make an honest dollar in the oil biz. well...that might be true...the difficulty of an honest dollar part.



------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Company profile: Exxon Mobil Corp
Oil Companies Post High Profits

By William Branigin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 27, 2006; 12:50 PM


Exxon Mobil Corp. today reported a second-quarter profit of $10.36 billion, its second-highest quarterly figure and the latest in a flurry of oil company announcements of lofty earnings stoked by increased gasoline prices.

The company's second-quarter profit this year represented an increase of 36 percent from the second quarter of 2005 and contributed to record first-half net income of $18.76 billion, up 21 percent from the first half of last year, Exxon Mobil announced.
As Profit Rises, BP Chief Seeks To Allay Anger
NEW YORK, July 26 He has gone to the best schools, been knighted, been made a life peer and turned British Petroleum into the world's second-largest publicly traded oil company, but John Browne is still scrambling to make his company bigger, fix a troubled U.S. subsidiary and, above all, explain why...

Rex W. Tillerson, chairman of the corporation based in Irving, Tex., said Exxon Mobil spent $4.9 billion in the second quarter on capital and exploration projects, up 8 percent from 2005. Energy production for the quarter rose 6 percent, he said. The company expects capital spending for 2006 to total $20 billion, Tillerson said.

The earnings announcement by Exxon Mobil, the world's largest publicly traded oil company, came a day after ConocoPhillips, the nation's third-largest energy company, reported second-quarter profits of $5.19 billion, compared to $3.14 billion for the second quarter of 2005, an increase of 65 percent.

In Amsterdam, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, the second-largest oil company in Europe, said today its second-quarter profits shot up nearly 40 percent, reaching $7.32 billion. The British oil company, BP PLC, meanwhile reported a rise of 30 percent in its second quarter profits, to $7.26 billion.

The earnings reports come amid widespread public dissatisfaction with high gasoline prices. According to the American Automobile Association, gas prices currently average $3 nationwide for regular unleaded, up from $2.28 a year ago. In the Washington area, the average price is $3.08, compared to $2.34 at this time last year, AAA says.

etcetera.
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jamminjames



Joined: 18 Jul 2003
Posts: 860
Location: Wilson, NC

PostPosted: Fri Jul 28, 2006 7:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm only responding to show another view - I refuse to get into a debate because I really don't have the time to spend banging my head against a tinfoil wall.

Suffice it to say that any company can make a profit. It's called Capitalism. When someone has a problem with that and want's their "wealth" (profits) redistributed, then we're stepping off the curb into Socialism. Check out Chicago Vs. Capitalism

I will provide some good articles (unlike the DNC-run WP) that reflects my opinions better than I could word them - but I agree whole-heartily. They were written a few months ago, but still true. Take time to read them, if you dare... You might just discover some ideas that you'll never hear on the MSM.

****

In Defense Of Exxon
Quote:
A House GOP leadership aide said that Hastert also responded to calls for hearings into the pay package for Lee Raymond, who retired as Exxon Mobil's chief executive in January. According to a recent proxy filing by the company, Raymond received $48.5 million in salary, bonuses and incentive payments last year; exercised more than $20 million in stock options in 2005; and in January received a lump-sum retirement payment of $98.5 million. The proxy said that after 43 years of service, Raymond had accumulated $183 million of stock holdings plus stock options worth a net of about $69 million at current share prices.

"The speaker is very concerned about compensation packages given to executives like Raymond at a time when families are facing choices between putting food on the table and filling their car with gasoline," Bonjean said. "We met with Exxon Mobil and several companies last fall, and it seems that the message hasn't gotten through."

Exxon had said that Raymond's package was in keeping with his performance as chief executive over the past 12 years, when the company's earnings soared to record levels.

"Having a profit is good. We believe in that as Republicans," Bonjean said. "But when you're making this kind of money and American families are being affected, there should be appropriate things done to bring prices down. We're going to be asking them again: What are they doing with their enormous profits?"

Gas prices get high in an election year and next thing you know, you have Dennis Hastert doing his best Lenin impression. Since when are Republicans worried about what companies are doing with their "enormous profits" and the "compensation packages given to executives?" What business does anyone in Congress even have getting involved in something like that?

Listening to politicians in Washington complain about how much money a corporation like Exxon makes is like an enormous, bloated tick complaining that the Cocker Spaniel it's attached to is using too much blood. The truth is that if you add in the state gas tax, the Federal gas tax, and the enormous taxes Exxon and its employees pay out, you'll find out that the government drives up the cost of gas far more than any profits Exxon takes, even at $3.00 a gallon plus.

Yet, they're mad that Lee Raymond is making "too much money." Because I'm not running for anything, I can tell you the unvarnished truth, which is that Lee Raymond is probably UNDERPAID. The guy has been the chief executive of Exxon for 12 years and just last year they made a $36 billion dollar profit (which incidentally, is only a 9.7% profit). Considering how much money he has helped them make over the years, if they paid Raymond a billion dollars, it wouldn't be too much.

See, you're not supposed to say that though. Nobody likes oil companies. Nobody likes rich people. People are mad about how much they're paying at the pump. But look, folks, we live in a world where Derek Jeter can get paid $189 million dollars to play baseball for 10 years and top Hollywood actors can make $20 million plus per film. So, why shouldn't Raymond be able to make a bundle for running a company the size of Exxon? Just because it turned out that gas prices were extremely high when he retired? Please!

Lee Raymond deserves the giant pile of cash he's going receive, but he doesn't deserve the cynical carping from the politicians or the petty jealousy of people who are envious of his success. America is much better off because of high achievers like Lee Raymond and more people should recognize that fact instead of gnawing at his ankles in envy.

****

Excerpt Of The Day: Mac Johnson Slaps Around O'Reilly And Explains Why Gas Is So Expensive
Taxes cost you about $0.42 per gallon on average. So the next time you hear Sen. Chuck Schumer (D.-N.Y.) worrying about the price of gas having an impact on “working families,” such as those who I imagine work for him, just remember that the Federal government could lower the price of gas $0.184 per gallon overnight, if it simply suspended the excise tax it impacts upon those poor working families. State governments could reduce the cost by more than $0.22, if they really wished to.

Is it marketing and distribution making prices rise? Nooooooo. Although advertising on “The O’Reilly Factor” undoubtedly is expensive and delivering gas to every street corner in North America is quite a feat, these items are only a small part of gas costs: just $0.11 per gallon this last March. That’s pretty amazing when you consider the post office can’t get a lightweight and non-flammable letter to your neighborhood for less than $0.39.

Well then, maybe it is refining costs that have made gas so expensive. You’re getting warmer. Refining costs shot up noticeably after Hurricane Katrina, since several refineries were knocked out by the damage to the Gulf Coast. Most of our refineries are concentrated there because people on the East and West Coasts are too good to have to look at them. To ease the Katrina price crisis, the government suspended all sorts of very important and wise rules telling the petrochemical engineers that run the refineries how to best make gasoline. The price then dropped suddenly, proving that regulation does not affect cost much.

But now the rules are back in place. And the government added some new ones. Most fuel in the U.S. must now contain ethanol, which is expensive, cannot be transported in pipelines and is a pain in the barrel to work with. So costs have gone back up, and then up some more.

Well that just leaves crude oil costs. Have they gone up? Well, yes, apparently they have. In the three years in question they have gone from about $0.70 per gallon to $1.34 per gallon -- a 91% increase. Perhaps the rise in crude oil prices was an underreported story, and thus missed by Mr. O’Reilly? Together with the increased costs of refining by Congressional committee, the increase in crude oil prices totally explains the price of gasoline, without the need to examine if Exxon had a second shooter on the grassy knoll.

However, Mr. O’Reilly rejects the idea that the price of crude should affect the price of gasoline, because it is just a “paper price.” I’m not sure what other sort of price he thinks there is (a “street price,” perhaps?) but Mr. O’Reilly, a graduate of Harvard, thinks that the “paper price” is some sort of new-fangled hocus pocus created by speculators: “These speculators operate in the so-called commodities markets. They gamble on where the price of oil and other tangible assets will be months from now. These Vegas-type people sit in front of their computers and bid on ‘futures’ contracts.” -- Mac Johnson

****

More:
What's So Special About Gasoline? By Jane Galt

I Get Letters: I'm Talking 'Bout A Revolution

And to top it off: Things I'm Sick of Hearing By Doug Patton

****


And these are from just one website... A very popular website. Sure, I don't like the high gas prices. I would like to see them come down voluntarily by the oil companies (let's not even get into gas taxes - imposed by you-know-who). But I don't want us to start down on that slippery slope by forcing the big companies to share their profits. Nope, I don't need anyone telling me (as a person or as a company) how to handle the money I make.

Sometimes, it helps lesson the pain if you look at the big picture rather than through short-sighted tunnel vision. But, that's just my opinion.

Just like the Wal-mart article I linked to at the beginning of this post - if you start imposing restrictions and regulations on big companies, they'll just close up shop and go elsewhere. Then what are you going to tell all the jobless families? That we'll raise taxes and then support them? If so, who'll pay for it? Not big business, because the're gone - it'll be you and me. But I guess that's what Socialism (and Communism) is all about, isn't it?

Slippery slope...
_________________
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--Dr. Soren


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donaldan



Joined: 01 Jul 2001
Posts: 1881
Location: Ft. Myers, FL

PostPosted: Fri Jul 28, 2006 10:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

james, I couldn't agree with you more. Having politician/government meddling in free enterprise courts disaster. That is why all socialist/communist states were economic basket cases.

By the way, the same people who promoted boycotting ExxonMobile are the ones who are now attacking Wal-Mart who have so successfully curbed prices and providing unsurpassed customer services (24/7 store hours, one-stop shopping, etc.). Where is the logic, attacking one charging high prices and another for charging low prices?

By the way, no one forces anyone to shop at Exxon or at Wal-Mart. There are choices. I regularly shop at Wal-Mart. Anyone attacking Wal-Mart is in fact infinging on my economic rights.
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panzerkeil302



Joined: 10 Mar 2004
Posts: 2182

PostPosted: Fri Jul 28, 2006 3:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

donaldan wrote:
...I regularly shop at Wal-Mart. Anyone attacking Wal-Mart is in fact infinging on my economic rights.


God I hate Wal-Mart. I think I'm going to make a documentary called "wal-mart really sucks" I'm going to take a hidden camera and a stopwatch into wal-mart and ask the same question over and over and over..."Where are your shower caddys?"

But hey, after 45minutes of being sent to hardware, houseware and then health and beauty, I'm pretty sure I got the best priced shower caddy China makes....so I got that going for me,,,,which is nice.
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donaldan



Joined: 01 Jul 2001
Posts: 1881
Location: Ft. Myers, FL

PostPosted: Fri Jul 28, 2006 6:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

"I know it's been real peaceful here in the Lounge." Henry, as you can see, it is no longer so peaceful.

Panzer, sorry to hear of your dissatisfaction with Wal-Mart. Like any human enterprise, there is imperfection. In fact, the bigger the enterprise, and the more vibrant the activities are, the greater is the risk of making mistakes. There are choices, however. Go elsewhere as you please, or go back and try again. That is what free competitive market is all about. The ones that can't attract enough customers eventually fail.
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Henry



Joined: 03 Apr 2001
Posts: 2878
Location: NYC

PostPosted: Fri Jul 28, 2006 8:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Don Writes...."I know it's been real peaceful here in the Lounge." ..."Henry, as you can see, it is no longer so peaceful."

Well...it isn't Lebonan either. Perhaps with the passage of events and time some of the more volitile rhetoric (and I'm guilty of this and I'm also not the only one guilty of this...) has muted and we can occasionly or infrequently post a topic without going ballistic with exchanges provocative language.

I'm glad that I posted this topic and am also glad some of us have responded.

Personally...I respect the points of views without having to aggree, attack or get mean about them.

My only personal thought is that there's more then the simplicity of profit...supply...demand...shortage...at work here. I just have a gut feeling (and am not going to go dig up quotes or articles to substantiate this and post all week long) there a hell of a lot of real dirty work involved in this and if we pay attention and are less trusting then we'll be able to pinpoint the dirty work and perhaps get beyond the idea that there's a free and open or fair market place at work here.

Historically...if anyone on our Forum cares to study the history of Standard Oil of New Jersey and the IG Farben Company of Germany...a relationship that began in writing...public documents...that began in 1929 you would see history of what was to the general public considered a free and open exchange of patents, trade and money. However, a study of this relationship (and I plead guilty to studying this relationship) can show us quite a lot about what the public was encouraged to believe and what the men who ruled those two companies were up to and why they had a public face and a very secret private face.

And hence, apply those lessons to the contemporary oil situation. Oil...historically...and I go back to the mid east of at the end of the 19th century...with the British...when the British changed from a coal fired navy to the steam turbine and an oil fired navy ... all the way past to British involvement in Persia and Iraq and FDR's special interest in Saudi Arabia...Oil commerce was always very special. And I believe that oil commerce remains very special today.

At least that is what the documents from the British Foreign Office, the US Archives, the German Archives,the archives of IG Farben etc. show anyone interest and with the time available to study them. Oil is special and goes way beyond No Influence and Fair Trade.

(no accusations...no mean talk...and a historical perspective...) We've been here a long time and considering the rhetoric of years past...it's really nice that we're still talking with each other and making nice.

Panz...shop at the WMart late at night. At least in Santa Fe it's the best time to go there. Open 24 hrs and no one spots me. I used to dislike the place and stay away...until I begn saving dollars there. I just wear a false beard and dark glasses when shopping at the WMart.
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donaldan



Joined: 01 Jul 2001
Posts: 1881
Location: Ft. Myers, FL

PostPosted: Fri Jul 28, 2006 8:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

"I just wear a false beard and dark glasses when shopping at the WMart."

You must be kidding! It amuses me to think that one has to hide one's self shopping at Wal-Mart. There are millions who shop there every day, those who have to be price conscious and/or who can't shop at regular hours, etc. Are you so class conscious that you can't identify and mingle with the less financially established? May be some of us BMW owners ARE class conscious. Certainly not me though.
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Henry



Joined: 03 Apr 2001
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 28, 2006 9:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Not only that, Don, but I'm always being asked for autographs and hence, a disguise in necessary. My fans number in the hundreds of thousands.
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donaldan



Joined: 01 Jul 2001
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 28, 2006 9:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

On the second thought..... why not? Wouldn't it make me feel important? Who cares about others....if only it would make me feel gooood. I could pretend to be upper class, couldn't I?
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panzerkeil302



Joined: 10 Mar 2004
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 28, 2006 10:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sorry about that last post,,,I think it needed a few Laughing Laughing Laughing to show the very "unserious" nature of it....

deep breaths everyone....deeeep breaths
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donaldan



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PostPosted: Sat Jul 29, 2006 6:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Panzer, you are so correct. This is unnecessarily serious. But isn't it what Henry wanted - to stir things up a notch or two? Laughing Laughing Laughing
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Henry



Joined: 03 Apr 2001
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 29, 2006 8:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

By D. "But isn't it what Henry wanted - to stir things up a notch or two? "


Just wanted to post a topic that's been around for about 2 years now. A trend we've followed on the Forum. Serious...stir things up...whatever we call it...at least we can be serious without tearing each other a new you know what. I've stated my case...gave a bit of history on the subject of oil and how oil as an industry is quite different in the history of foreign policy and the history of conflict then many other businesses. My point is that oil is not business as usual. It never was. The dealings between the industry and governments is different. The dealings within the industry and in the context of adversarial nations is different then lets say selling deodorant...or whatever. However, if some of us think what's going on in just the free market capitalism idiom at work and looking at this differently is tending to socialism and offer the opinion of people you read to support this...well fine.

My reading of the documents and statements and behaviors of the very important Standard Oil of NJ/IG Farben (and this was in its day bigger then big and more important then important...Germany would have been unable to wage war without IG). And all this was supposed to exist in the supply and demand and prices go up and down environment. Well, there was so much more happening then... And in my opinion there's much more happening today way beyond what appears obvious. And there's much more to the cost of a barrel of oil going from $38 to $78 in less then 2 years then just allowing the marketplace to find its very "natural" level. It's just that as in 1929, '36, '39, and '41 the documented contrivences behind the industry as they affected foreign policy, the alliances of oil comps and the then German govt infrastructure and the secrecy of all that might or could still be at work today (with different people and different govenments) and under our noses by people we trust and have elected while the policies are hidden and defended by people we read, respect and trust. History of the oil biz has shown this to have occurred in the past and the indications are and my opinion is that it's happening again. It would probably take a Congressional committee with people under oath and subject to the penalty of jail...and the ability to demand records and a very intense investigation...with penalty...to ever discover what's going on here. Perhaps.

I hope there's nothing wrong with being occasionaly serious on our Forum while also continuing to be respectful and pleasent.

I'm always interested in what you guys have to say on a topic...whether I agree or disaggree with what your point of view is.
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