View Full Version : Some things just ain`t right
Eraser
02-01-2008, 11:25 AM
I read an article this morning on CNN Money and just thought to myself "that ain`t right". Its about Exxon and how they shattered their profit records:
Exxon posts quarterly, annual profit records - Feb. 1, 2008 (http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/01/news/companies/exxon_earnings/index.htm?cnn=yes)
After reading the story I was just....well, pissed. :angry I guess it didn`t help that I had just stop at an Exxon on my way to work to fill up my Rainier.
BigJimZ28
02-01-2008, 11:28 AM
this is news to you?
Eraser
02-01-2008, 11:31 AM
No not really new news. I guess it just hit home a little bit harder for me this morning after zipping my credit card through the gas pump to pay for gas.
cgage
02-01-2008, 11:34 AM
I read an article this morning on CNN Money and just thought to myself "that ain`t right". Its about Exxon and how they shattered their profit records:
Exxon posts quarterly, annual profit records - Feb. 1, 2008 (http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/01/news/companies/exxon_earnings/index.htm?cnn=yes)
After reading the story I was just....well, pissed. :angry I guess it didn`t help that I had just stop at an Exxon on my way to work to fill up my Rainier.
Put yourself in the CEO`s shoes. Your company has invested many billions into buying oilfields and rights to oilfields. Those oilfields are going to run dry in the coming decade. It`s a C-Level officer`s job to have a 10 year plus outlook for a corporation. They need to shore up funds for the inevitable decline.
The only say that the american people have is the amount of oil they use. Your Rainier is not the most fuel efficient vehicle on the planet. Now neither is my Yukon XL, but I don`t really complain about good business...
Eraser
02-01-2008, 01:24 PM
Your Rainier is not the most fuel efficient vehicle on the planet. Now neither is my Yukon XL, but I don`t really complain about good business...
Hey, my vehicle gets great gas mileage. Just yesterday I was driving along this long downhill section of the highway and my car`s computer said I was getting 68mpg. I could even get it up to 74mpg if I barely pressed down on the gas pedal. Of course after going up a couple more hills and back to level it was showing the typical 15.6 avg mpg again. :laugh:
Anyway, you are right no need in complaining. I sure hope GM releases a car along the lines of the Volt concept car. I would buy it the day it was released and never spend a penny on gas driving to work again.
boogiejoe
02-01-2008, 01:49 PM
Do yourself a favor. Learn to invest. Get back some of the profits. Hedge yourself. It`s a better option than drving one of those fruity electric cars or a hybrid.
By the way, if a hybrid is so ecologically friendly, what do they stuff in those batteries?
Eraser
02-01-2008, 02:17 PM
I am going to invest...right into one of those Volts or whatever they will call it when it is released. Then I`ll stop spending so much of my profits pumping gas into my car.
Put yourself in the CEO`s shoes. Your company has invested many billions into buying oilfields and rights to oilfields. Those oilfields are going to run dry in the coming decade. It`s a C-Level officer`s job to have a 10 year plus outlook for a corporation. They need to shore up funds for the inevitable decline.
The only say that the american people have is the amount of oil they use. Your Rainier is not the most fuel efficient vehicle on the planet. Now neither is my Yukon XL, but I don`t really complain about good business...
you gotta be kidding me?? you work for exxon?
oil companies are the worst at reinvesting their profits and those oilfield rights have been paid for many years ago and or only a small % of their overall profits as rent.
now if you were to say how they were investing in research to extract oil from shale, or expanding their refinery capacity (minus marathon oil maybe?), or working to find more environmentally friendly extraction processes so we can finally drill in alaska so all the tree huggers dont cry about a place they know nothing about, then i might agree with you.
i`m all about fair profits, but these are obscene. if any other industry were to report profits like this with out significant R&D (i.e., pharmaceutical, biological, auto, whatever) there would be more congressional hearings than you could stand.
the bottom line is people keep feeding their cars with gas( im guilty and will be because, i own a big truck, a big sedan, and high horsepower sports car) and until people either back off or the economy worsens to point where oil crashes we will pay 3.50 a gallon and exxon will make record profits for a lot longer than 10 years
Do yourself a favor. Learn to invest. Get back some of the profits. Hedge yourself. It`s a better option than drving one of those fruity electric cars or a hybrid.
By the way, if a hybrid is so ecologically friendly, what do they stuff in those batteries?
that defintiely will help unless it crashes again
cgage
02-01-2008, 02:21 PM
Do yourself a favor. Learn to invest. Get back some of the profits. Hedge yourself. It`s a better option than drving one of those fruity electric cars or a hybrid.
By the way, if a hybrid is so ecologically friendly, what do they stuff in those batteries?
100% Agreed on that one, I think nuclear power and hydrogen fuel cells are the best answers on the table right now.
But in the interim I would not mind a hybrid with a plug in option, I am keeping an eye on the ford escape plug in.
Eraser
02-01-2008, 02:23 PM
I am keeping an eye on the ford escape plug in.
Is Ford working on making a plug in Escape?
cgage
02-01-2008, 02:46 PM
Is Ford working on making a plug in Escape?
Yeah, here is a shorty article...
Straightline - Ford testing 120 mpg Escape plug-in hybrid (http://blogs.edmunds.com/Straightline/4206)
Do yourself a favor. Learn to invest. Get back some of the profits. Hedge yourself. It`s a better option than drving one of those fruity electric cars or a hybrid.
By the way, if a hybrid is so ecologically friendly, what do they stuff in those batteries?
Last time I heard NiMH batteries were fully recycleable. You are right about fruity though, any car less than 100k is prety fruitty anyway. Well except for a big SUV. Awesome mobile penis extender.:har: If I wanna look cool, I`ll ride my busa, otherwise its the fruitmobile to work.
Eraser
02-01-2008, 02:56 PM
Thanks for the link. I was tempted to buy the Escape Hybrid but held off because of the battery technology it was using. Lithium-ion is the way to go.
Have you even seen the Tesla Roadster? One sweet looking electric car. Tesla Motors (http://www.teslamotors.com/)
imported_themightytimmah
02-01-2008, 03:18 PM
Their profit margin is well below that of Google, Bank of America, Apple, and a good chunk of other publicly held companies. Granted, it`s a pretty big gross profit, but split that out against their overall investment, and their earnings are solid, at best.
IIRC it was 9ish percent this year. Microsoft pulled close to a 40% profit margin for years. Now *that`s* gouging.