Friday
Get your hand out of my pocket!!!!!!
Congratulations to ExxonMobil for another strong performing quarter. I'm sure the employees, shareholders, and executive management members are being rewarded handsomely. But this is not a blog about unfair oil profits, instead I want to give a blogging middle finger to the whiners and big governement proponents that think the US government should increase its control over private enterprise. If you really want to see higher gasoline costs, let's remove the incentive for the american oil companies to produce at a net margin of only 8.2%. The banking, health care, and professional service industries all exceed this net margin by industry average. This is a dangerous slope to start down if we are going to target big corporations for making "unfair" profits. What is an "unfair" profit anyway? The last time I checked, we were still a capitalist nation, but not for long.
All of this talk makes me want to become a Libertarian. Very limited government, just enough to keep us from killing eachother and prevent foreign invasion. But then again, maybe we should tax or seize the oil companies. Yeah, that's a great idea. I'm sure the government wouldn't do us any wrong. We could have an entitlement program for gasoline. We could call it the "Big Three Security Plan". This way we will rightfully be "owed" our fair share of gasoline at a price Americans want to pay, $0.00. I'm sick and tired of hearing the complaints of people about gasoline prices. Especially those who drive a $40,000 vehicle and cry uncle when it costs them an extra $1,000 to drive it. Guess what, you made the decision to buy that vehicle, you chose to live in the suburbs, and you were the one keeping up with the Jones's.
This hurts me to say this, but Western Europe has it right. A workable public transportation system and limited suburban development. OOOUUUUUCCCHHHHH, that did hurt. Not that I am advocating the US to aspire to be Europe, but they did all of this because gas has been $3.00+ a gallon for years. What are we going to do about it? If you don't like the current situation, do something about it. Change your behavior or become an innovator and promote alternatives.
~Milt~
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Ahhh... The Libertarian brotherhood would welcome you Milt. Here's a couple of connect-the-dot pointers from a non-economist.
1. There is no such thing as quasi-capitalism. Either you bow to mother dollar or move to Oregon (hey wait a minute,isnt Oregon...?)
2. Those "obcene" oil profits the left is crying a river about are going to A) More R&D for finding new resources and B)my loving 401K, my mutual funds quarterly earnings statement and the couple of shares we ALL have if you are member of any Union, Association, AARP etc.... Why the hell do you Pinheads think your Portfolio keeps growing at a 10% yearly clip, from investing in Edsels?
3)I did not see anybody lift a freakin' finger the way they did the Airlines and Auto industries when Exxon was loosing their ass in the early 90's when "Big" oil was $9 bucks a barrel. That guy who just got the couple hundred million dollar retirement should have gotten more. The company sucked before he made it lean, efficient and profitable to the point of attracting investors (like me). That companies should not be making profits like this because we are all suffering are two mutually exclusive arguments. That an industry has to be punished for profits (wallmart anybody?) is contrarian to the very principals of who we are. Lastly, it was under Clinton's watch that the Exxon-Mobil merger was authorized thus creating one less major player in the world oil powers and by such less competition. I don't see anybody mentioning THAT!
Every summer we all get our undies in a wad over this. Has anybody noticed that China and India are growing at an annual rate of 10%? You think their industries run on Bartles and Jaymes oil? There is simply not enough oil to meet demand. We have not built a single refinery or Nuclear plant in 30 years! Kennedy and Romney want air turbine farms as long as they are not in the Nantucket sound (go figure). Add it all up America, we've not invested in anything except SUV's and IPOD's. Good point on the Euro transport system, Milt. That is the ONE thing in which the Euros where ahead of the curve.
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1. There is no such thing as quasi-capitalism. Either you bow to mother dollar or move to Oregon (hey wait a minute,isnt Oregon...?)
2. Those "obcene" oil profits the left is crying a river about are going to A) More R&D for finding new resources and B)my loving 401K, my mutual funds quarterly earnings statement and the couple of shares we ALL have if you are member of any Union, Association, AARP etc.... Why the hell do you Pinheads think your Portfolio keeps growing at a 10% yearly clip, from investing in Edsels?
3)I did not see anybody lift a freakin' finger the way they did the Airlines and Auto industries when Exxon was loosing their ass in the early 90's when "Big" oil was $9 bucks a barrel. That guy who just got the couple hundred million dollar retirement should have gotten more. The company sucked before he made it lean, efficient and profitable to the point of attracting investors (like me). That companies should not be making profits like this because we are all suffering are two mutually exclusive arguments. That an industry has to be punished for profits (wallmart anybody?) is contrarian to the very principals of who we are. Lastly, it was under Clinton's watch that the Exxon-Mobil merger was authorized thus creating one less major player in the world oil powers and by such less competition. I don't see anybody mentioning THAT!
Every summer we all get our undies in a wad over this. Has anybody noticed that China and India are growing at an annual rate of 10%? You think their industries run on Bartles and Jaymes oil? There is simply not enough oil to meet demand. We have not built a single refinery or Nuclear plant in 30 years! Kennedy and Romney want air turbine farms as long as they are not in the Nantucket sound (go figure). Add it all up America, we've not invested in anything except SUV's and IPOD's. Good point on the Euro transport system, Milt. That is the ONE thing in which the Euros where ahead of the curve.
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