Lets all try this (Gas Prices)

[white cloud]

THIS IS NOT THE 'DON'T BUY' GAS FOR ONE DAY, BUT
IT WILL SHOW YOU HOW WE CAN GET GAS BACK DOWN TO $1.30
PER GALLON.


This was sent by a retired Coca Cola executive.
It came from one of his engineer buddies who retired
from Halliburton. If you are tired of the gas prices
going up AND they will continue to rise this summer,
take time to read this please.

Phillip Hollsworth offered this good idea.
This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the "don't buy gas
on a certain day" campaign that was going around last
April or May!
It's worth your consideration. Join the
resistance!!!!

I hear we are going to hit close to $ 4.00 a
gallon by next summer, and it might go higher!! Want
gasoline prices to come down?

We need to take some intelligent, united action.
The oil companies just laughed at that because they
knew we wouldn't continue to "hurt" ourselves by
refusing to buy gas.

It was more of an inconvenience to us than it was
a problem for them.
BUT, whoever thought of this idea has come up with
a plan that can really work. Please read on and join
with us!

By now you're probably thinking gasoline priced at
about $2.00 is super cheap. Me too! It is currently
$3.19 for regular unleaded in my town.

Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations
have conditioned us to think that the cost of a gallon
of gas is CHEAP at $1.50 - $1.75, we need to take
aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control
the marketplace..not sellers.

With the price of gasoline going up more each day,
we consumers need to take action.

The only way we are going to see the price of gas
come down is if we hit someone in the pocketbook by
not purchasing their gas! And, we can do that WITHOUT
hurting ourselves.

How? Since we all rely on our cars, we can't just
stop buying gas.

But we CAN have an impact on gas prices if we all
act together to force a price war.

Here's the idea: For the rest of this year, DON'T
purchase ANY gasoline from the two biggest companies
(which now are one), EXXON and MOBIL.

If they are not selling any gas, they will be
inclined to reduce their prices.
If they reduce their prices, the other companies
will have to follow suit.

But to have an impact, we need to reach literally
millions of Exxon and Mobil gas buyers. It's really
simple to do! Now, don't wimp out on me at this
point...keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is
to reach millions of people!!

I am sending this note to 30 people. If each of
us send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300) ...
and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x10 =
3,000)...and so on, by the time the message reaches
the sixth group of people, we will have reached over
THREE MILLION consumers.
If those three million get excited and pass this
on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will
have been contacted!

If it goes one level further, you guessed it.....
THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!!

Again, all you have to do is send this to 10
people. That's all!

(If you don't understand how we can reach 300
million and all you have to do is send this to 10
people.... Well, let's face it, you just aren't a
mathematician. But I am . so trust me on this one.

How long would all that take? If each of us sends
this e-mail out to ten more people within one day of
receipt, all 300 MILLION people could conceivably be
contacted within the next 8 days !!!

I'll bet you didn't think you and I had that much
potential, did you!
Acting together we can make a difference.

If this makes sense to you, please pass this
message on. I suggest that we not buy from
EXXON/MOBIL UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE $2.00
RANGE AND KEEP THEM DOWN. THIS CAN REALLY WORK.

 

[geek with fire]

Sorry dude, it's a hoax. The math just doesn't work out with reality:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/gasout.asp
Don't get me wrong; I'd love to hit their pocket books, but it's going to require a different avenue.

 

[abelman]

Let's make sure we're placing blame where blame is due. First, the majority of oil producing countries belong to a cartel called OPEC. So, they can fix prices. That happens to be illegal in the United States. But, it's perfectly fine in the Middle East and South America.

Secondly, whenever a gallon of gas is produced in the US, the refiners make 8-10 cents a gallon. They also need to pay for exploration, R&D, peoples salaries, etc. In the mean time, the Government makes 45-50 cents a gallon for doing nothing. At $110 a barrel, the refiners have actually been taking a hit as margins have been squeezed. The price of oil there doesn't do anyone but the OPEC countries any good.

Lastly, Exxon always seems to end up being the bad guy. Never Conoco, Chevron, British Perolium, CITGO (Chavez and his Buddies), etc. So, let's look at Exxon. Only 25 % of their profits are made in the United States. On top of that, their tax rate is +41%. What that means at the end of the day is tha they have paid an average of $27 Billion in US taxes which has nothing to do with the taxes paid at the pump.

In other words, just one corporation (Exxon Mobil) pays as much in taxes ($27 billion) annually as the entire bottom 50% of individual taxpayers, which is 65,000,000 people! Further, the tax rate for the bottom 50% is only 3% of adjusted gross income ($27.4 billion / $922 billion), and the tax rate for Exxon was 41% in 2006 ($67.4 billion in taxable income, $27.9 billion in taxes). In 2007, they paid $30 billion. I'm pretty sure that's a record. So, if you can find another, any company that paid that much, I'm all ears.


Perhaps we should be focusing on the idiots that keep getting elected to Congress. Just a thought.

P.S. I don't nor have I ever worked for Exxon or any oil/gas company just to be clear.

 

[white cloud]

Oh yeah forgot about snope dog I was in a hurry and did not check it out
Sorry for wasting your time

 

[white cloud]

GOOD LUCK! and GOOD NEWS, it was a hoax after all.

 

[geek with fire]

No problem dude. You didn't waste my time. It's a hot topic so I enjoy the dialog.

 

[smoked]

not to push this or anything...but exactly how much was their profit just last year alone????? I know being a for profit company means making one, but honestly........ the points on the elected officials is dead on, after all.....lets look at the "oil interests" that are in the highest offices now.........

 

[vegansbeware]

No matter how we "attack" the oil companies, the price of gas is still going to go up! It is just like the price of everything else we buy. We all have to understand that the value of the American Dollar is on the decline and has been on a decline since it's birth. I'm sure you old timers remember going to the drug store and buying candy for a penny! Not the case now. I know the price of gas seems to be the sorest subject but lets look at the big picture before concentrating our efforts to lower the price of one thing. Do the math, bottled water costs more! IT'S WATER! The most abundant resource on the planet!
But back to the oil and gas.The only thing that can actually help us is to tap more of our own oil reserves! I currently work for a large oil pipline company that is trying to get into those reserves. But for now we are constructing a HUGE pipeline to get more oil here in the US, where we need it. America is by far the largest consumer of oil. You can't tell people to just stop buying it, or not to buy it from certain companies. That's like telling us not to breath! It just isn't going to happen! If you would like more info on this "Monumental Oil Pipeline Project" go ahead, Google it, Keystone Pipeline Project. I'm sure you will find a ton of info about it.

 

[abelman]

No problem, it's a fair question. In 2007, they made $40.6 billion and paid $29.86 billion in taxes which is a 42% tax rate per their SEC filing.

 

[sparky30_06]

wow 10 BILLION in profits after the government takes their cut. Not bad for a year of work. There is still no reason for gast o be $3.85 a gallon and Diesel fuel at $4.25 a Gallon. This country is heading to fall flat on it's face fast. And with the government taking taxes on a % base and not a flat rate means the higher the price goes the more money they make so they will not step in seeing that they are making lots of money for doing nothing. They are going to put all the small farmers, truckers, and any other company that uses large amount of fuel right out of business.

 

[dionysus]

I agree with VegansBeware, it's not that the price of oil is rising so much as the value of the American dollar is dropping everyday. Look at the Canadian dollar, 2 years ago we were 40% below the US dollar, now we are at $1.01. That's partially because the Canadian dollar increased (but NOT 40%), it's more because of the slumping US economy. As long as the world markets (oil, gold, etc) are based on US currency we are going to see increase costs until the US economy improves. How do you do that, I don't know but hopefully the elections this fall (of which I am NOT taking sides) will help to figure that out.

Oh and by the way in Canada current gas prices are $1.21 per litre ...3.75 litres/US gallon = $4.54 per gallon

 

[lagogarda]

2008 is looking to be even a better year for them!

I'd love to be in the 42% bracket!!!!!!

 

[abelman]

Just to keep things in perspective, General Electric made $22.5 billion last year and paid $4.1 billion in taxes. That's a 15% tax rate.

In addition,the government tax I referred to (40-50 cents a gallon) isn't paid by Exxon, Conoco, or any other distributor, you pay that at the pump. Regardless of where the tax is paid, the cost of doing business goes up as it alwats gets passed on to all of us.

Just giving you all the facts, you can decide from there.

 

[psychobrew]

I've figued out the best method to cut my gas expense -- I usually work from home. If more companies let their employees do that, everybody would win. The liberals would get their cleaner planet, roads wouldn't be so congested -- less expense for increased infrastructure and easier commutes for those that have to drive, and the price of gas could go down due to the reduced demand.

I do agree about the falling dollar causing higher gas prices, but when Exon is making record profits at a time when gas reaches a record high every day, something else is up as well.

And then we have the gas taxes. Why isn't that money being used to fix the bridges?

 

[packplantpath]

It's simple math really. As the dollar gets more useless, which is good for american corporations, and as long as oil prices are set in dollars, the cost will go up. OPEC has a certain profit margin they will get no matter what. With dollar values falling, they make it cost more so they don't lose money.

As far as gas company tax rates goes, they only make so much money because they sell so much fuel. Their profit margin is far far lower than a typical business. Less than 1%, they just sell that much because we use it. The only way to get prices down is to use less, which is hardly likely.

But, a few facts for you all. Gas prices really did not rise at all after the 70's oil crisis. So, 20 some odd years of inflation never happened to gas prices. How much did bread go up, milk, beer? Much more by far percentage wise. In the past month, gas prices just got as high as they did in the 70's when accounting for inflation.

So, yes it's high. But, due to the artificially low and stable price of the last 25 years, and the sudden run up, we had no time to adjust. Had prices crept up slowly like they do for everything else, nobody would have said a thing, and we probably would have adapted as prices rose and be driving more efficient vehicles.

The biggest fear now has to be a return to stagflation, and I fear the stupid moves our federal reserve is making is going to really increase the inflation rate (almost 100% positive) causing economic growth to slow. The actions of the fed are making your dollar worth less, all to bail out corporations who made stupid decisions.

 

[pne123]

lets not forget the environmentalist. 50+ different type of gas sold nationwide. No new refineries in years and years. no drilling in Anwar or off the coast (even though other nations are). no nuclear. no coal. now they do not even want wind farms (which are useless) because they kill birds. Biofuel which is not cost effective. Mileage drops 25-60%, depending on what type, on this stuff and it expensive to make and grow. Moves corn to other industries so meat and milk prices shoot up.
open up all these markets by reducing regulations and the price would plummet. Get the gov't out of it.
Besides gas company profits are not just removed from the equation. That money does not disappear from the economy. It gets paid out to their employees, stock holders (if you have a 401k you probably own stock) and gets put back in to the economy as they search for more oil, research and infrastructure.

 

[placebo]

Can anyone explain why diesel fuel has gotten higher than regular gas? I was always under the impression that diesel was cheaper to make than gas and this is the first time I ever recall it costing more than gas.

 

[erain]

i have heard that when they make diesel not all the byproducts are removed in the refining process ,allowing them to to make certain plastics etc. yes cheaper to make because less refining but they loosin out on other markets.

i work for a large trucking company and for the trucking companys small and large to be able to stay profitable they are passing the increase in fuel directly to the costomers in fuel surcharges, which are then passed on to consumers. nearly everything we eat,wear,use in life, comes to us via truck. this is all increasing because of the fuel costs also.

 

[smoked]

still not to be a negative nelly....but what about the billions in subsidies they get from the government as well????? seems wierd, big profits, complain on big tax's but take big bene's from subsidies while not putting dime one back into building more refineries or in some of their cases....other sources of energy......but it's all the big oil game.....

 

[packplantpath]

Those subsidies are the same subsidies that every corporation in America gets. They are not "oil specific", they are across the board tax breaks for corporations.

One can argue that no corporations deserve them and should be allowed to succeed or fail on their own regard (I would tend to agree), but that will never happen in this country. Our gov't is fussing about brokerages and bankers doing stupid things (giving loans to those who can't afford them) when the fact of the matter is 10 years ago, the government told the banks that they needed to make it easier for subprimers to get loans.

Logic doesn't exist in government.