I get angry when I hear people bitching about gas prices. Consumers should not expect the prices of a non-renewable resource to remain stagnant while demand grows at an exponential rate. It defies basic principles of economics and logic.

So perhaps raising gas prices that high would be good for the economy and consumers in the long run. It might force people to stop whining and actively seek cleaner and more efficient forms of energy.

Just because we’re paying less for something — even in inflation adjusted dollars — than we were thirty years ago doesn’t mean that current value should match historic value.

I’m not bitching about the prices, Vinny. I’m bitching about the profits.

Jack the price up to where it should be based on what it was in 1973. Doing so would put gas prices at approximately $6.73 a gallon. Now the price is no longer artificially low and we can all move on with our lives.

Honestly, we really have nothing to bitch about. It’s 1/3 of what it should be accounting for inflation, and we still bitch about it.

Get a grip guys.

ExxonMobil for the year ended 12/31/04 had net income of $25.5 billion on revenue of $298.0 billion (8.56% margin).

The interesting number — and I’ve been waiting almost a year for it — is the PROFIT numbers.

Revenue giant (and leading revenue company) WalMart had 9 million in profit in 2003. Exxon Mobile, on the other hand, had around $21.5 billion in pure, clean, liquid profit.

I honestly don’t mind paying more at the pump if there are legitimate reasons to do so — hell, throw on a 100% tax to cover state and federal road work for all I care. But when an oil company MORE THAN DOUBLES the profit of that well-known profit monster WalMart, then, yes, I’ve got a problem with it.

I’m not suggesting by any stretch that ExxonMobile doesn’t have a right to turn a healthy profit. But, frankly, what they did in 2003 is simply obscene.

Stay tuned to see if last year was a repeat.

Every once in a while I hear (usually from NPR) that Shell recently under-estimated expected supply.
This would obviously have the effect of driving up prices. It could be a simple mistake but I’m a little more cynical. Hell, remember Enron?

Gee, I wonder if Shell & friends just ‘pretended’ that they had to raise prices on oil so that they could double profits from the previous year… yep, that’s it.

So when I see the price of gas at my local Shell or Mobile jump 30 cents every time a bomb goes off in Riyadh, I cry on the outside, but smile on the inside knowing that a rich oil tycoon just got richer, and I just got poorer. God, I love the oil industry!

And on the flip-side, I imagine that the oil tycoon just LOVES when the media puts a suicide bombing or Saudi gun battle on the front page – Cha-Ching!!! Profits incoming!!!

What?

We are too dependant on OPEC and therefore our government has little influence on gas prices?

Better read President Bush’s proposed energy plan. It specifically outlines a plan to significantly reduce our dependence on foreign ernergy. Among an array of justifications is the Bush administrations reasoning that this will grant the U.S. more influence over oil prices and supplies.

So it seems conservatives aren’t so different from liberals in this respect. They both seem to beleive that government can at least manipulate market prices.

It’s really a simple economics concept.

Seriously, the gas “problem” is highly overrated.

Thank goodness I get 5% back, but that still keeps it over $2 a gallon! NO BUENO!!!