Good sound bite Cory19080 but weak on facts. Oil companies earn about 7% per gallon of gas; Google, Intel, Msft, etc. earn 40-60% on their services and products. Your computer uses all three of those companies products and the level of profitability is significantly more than that of any energy company.

You have an option you know: go off the grid.

Don't let the facts get in the way of your opinions.

You are correct in your percentages, however, are you required to refill your computer daily? Which do you think occurs more, buying new computers and software per household, or buying gasoline per household? The frequency of the latter is far greater, which means their profits are far greater. 7 percent a few million times a day is not chump change.

OK Cory, that is true. In your opinion what is an appropriate profit level for an oil company? Also, as with the computer data, doesn't value come into the equation? As far as your point that their profits are great, so are their sales and more importantly their expenses. These companies employ hundreds of thousands of workers and spend billions finding and refining their products; no one pays them for the dry holes. Pharma companies likewise have high profit margins. Would you disincent them to find new cures or for that matter, more oil?

Would you give your valuable labor away for less than society will pay in order to be altruistic?

There are countries in the world like most of the middle eastern countries, Cuba, Venezuela, etc. that subsidize the price of oil. Perhaps you would like to fill up there? America is based on the capitalist system, this is how we roll here.

The change in fuel prices more times do not reflect the change in price per barrel. In other words, if the oil is produced domestically, and the hard workers earn a set salary or wage, where does the money go?
I know your response:

The dependence on foreign oil is what causes the price change. If we were more domestic-reliant, we would not have the same issues.

If the workers, refineries, and insurance companies were consistent, then I would have no problem. But how is it that oil has cost more in February than in the previous June, July, and August?

Bad Petroleum (BP) is really bad

In our capitalist society there is something called supply and demand. Energy is a world market, not just a US market, therefore US price reflects the world price when it can be transported like oil. US nat gas, on the other hand, is 1/6 the price in Japan because the very expensive facilities to ship it aren't developed. Don't hear you complaining about that Cory; can't have it both ways buddy.

Or do you have a problem with the gas companies drilling in the shale turning out low cost product, too?

Pig: So don't buy from them and they'll go out of business. Problem solved.

I am simply sticking to the subject at hand.

However, I have no problem with Marcelles Shale. I believe that we need to be more domestically dependent overall. Once that is achieved, (which may or may not happen) the price could be more controllable.

But when the world market rises, do the hard workers at the refinery earn more? Are their wages increased, then decreased when world markets slows? No. So my question is, where does that money go?

BP probably thought that handing the fund distribution would save them a lot of problems.

Here's what happened instead

When BP was doing the administration, funds were distributed quickly and to anybody who asked. When the fed took it over, complaints arose because the government is always slow to pay and often doesn't pay people who deserved the help.

Now, BP is experiencing what they sought to eliminate. People filing against them for being denied.

Government is broken, yet we trust it no matter how wrong it is.

norm903, to hell with all of these polluting oil companies. What good will all of them jobs be if we have no clean air to breathe?

Greedy people suing a Greedy Oil Company. Humm what to do?

Cory: Sticking to the subject at hand and asking your question directly, when the world price of bananas goes up the banana workers do not get more or less money.. Risk and reward go to the productive class, not the people who would not lend a hand to Henny Penny when she asked for help to sow the field, plant the seed, harvest the crop, separate the wheat from the chaff, or bake the bread. Of course, you Cory and Brian were in the front of the line asking for a slice. Most people choose no risk and no reward while bemoaning their lot in life.

Greedy oil companies? That's rich.

Norm and Cory.
Speculation is now the largest single driver of gasoline pump prices.

William: To a degree your point is accurate. Be it "real" market pricing or speculation, the price varies up and down, and it is those willing to take risk that enjoy the profits or take the loss. Those dependent on others for their income take what they get. That's the American way, and ain't it great! Certainly works for those who understand our system and traditions.

What risk are they really taking, please explain when speculators have enough capital to influence the market to go one way or another despite the supply and demand.

It is so funny to hear people talk as if they are so well educated on a subject, to watch them as they befuddle the facts and prove their overall density on the matter. We always got some steelhead talking about a mere 7% earnings by oil companies on a gallon of gas. What they fail to talk about are the Hundreds of BILLIONS they make in sales for oil bi-products, plastics, big pharma, materials, housing products etc etc etc....

and lets talk about the fact that no matter what they make in small percentages, their shear volume sales, their monopoly in their field, their selfish control and continuous lack of safety standards considering their minimal return to the people for doing business on our soil and from our lands...all in all, anyone that defends the oil companies while they continue to parasitically do business at cut rate tax rates with tens of billions in government subsidies, we pay a friggin TON for their blessed business and if you do defend them, then it merely proves how totally ignorant you are. Then consider they take their offices and headquarters overseas for cheaper taxes though they found their creating foothold as USA companies, and then grow to send their factory work to other countries that pay minimal life sustaining wages far beyond fair trade ideals and human rights efforts. Consider their lack of concern for spills in other countries that kill off whole fish industries and humans in Africa without compensation, far beyond what occurred in the gulf?

The old saying certainly applies: It is bad enough you present yourself a fool, then to open your mouth and prove it to one and all beyond denying?

Your parents were republicans weren't they?

"The old saying certainly applies: It is bad enough you present yourself a fool, then to open your mouth and prove it to one and all beyond denying"

Sure does-and damn did you prove it true with you next sentence-

"Your parents were republicans weren't they"

Just because you happen to be a far-left nutcase-from the land of rainbows and unicorns-does not mean that the oil companies are always wrong- or that you are somehow superior to anyone from the Republican party

People are ripping off BP-people who lost ZERO money due to the oil spill-and YOU think that is okay?

Where do you people on the left get your morals and ethics? Because you sure as h*ll don't have any-unless you consider two wrongs making a right being moral-or ethical!

First off, I'm not a far lefty chump'. I stand firm in the middle as any true American should. Its the enslaved masses that are blindly led into being a "party" member that sell their souls to these devils we pass off as legislative leaders, this shipwrecked ship of fools we call our government.

Second, if BP is getting ripped off, its about time. Tell that piece opf hogwash BS to the families of the 11 killed on DeepWater Horizons, killed art the hands of BP and their contractors, BP at the head of the list for allowing safety regs to diminish to a point of normalcy. And leave it to a Repuke to stand behind their lords and masters in defense of big oil. Wasn't it a repug that apologized to BP for the way they were being treated at the very start of the disaster when BP was lying about the amount that was spilling from the uncapped head, and lied about how readily a new cap could be implemented and continued to lie about contractors being at fault when in all they followed suit to BPs demands and leadership and protocols? All in the name of big bucks and now they complain because the American people are getting their unjust big bucks rewards.

I am ashamed their are idiots who stand in defense of BP even now, and make idiotic excuses by saying TWO wrongs don't make a right! Do you think once during the debacle, that BP was genuinely concerned about doing right? Whoring your emotions and opinions on this out to BP in their defense is about norm for a Repuke.

Norm:

I disagree. That "risk and reward" goes to the most non-productive class. And often they can game the markets so that they can have only rewards while passing the risks off to others. But the people who play the market don't produce anything. They are non-contributors who take money out of the system.

norm903;

When any company claims to lose "billions of dollars" a year, yet posts HUNDREDS of billions dollars in actual profit -- that company is either engaging in "fuzzy math" in its accounts, or is just plain lying about "losing" so much money.

BP has been claiming to both "lose" money AND make a hefty profit AT THE SAME TIME.

Maybe the American citizens will file a lawsuit against BP for "improper" statements just after the explosion.

Uh oh.....BP is really hurting financially:

Oil company BP has reported a loss of $1.4 billion pounds for the second quarter on the back of lower prices for oil and gas as well as reduced output.

BP reported Tuesday that its net loss compared to a net profit of $5.7 billion a year earlier. Revenue was down 9 percent at $95 billion. The company also made an additional provision of $847 million for the Gulf of Mexico oil rig disaster and cleanup, taking the total provision to just over $38 billion.

Yep, rake in BILLIONS OF DOLLARS and ONLY provide MILLIONS FOR THE CLEANUP. Just wait until the oil plumes rise from the depths of the Gulf of Mexico. Heck, the plumes are probably in the Atlantic by now.

If it waddles like a duck, and it quacks like a duck.....it is a duck. (Duck can be changed to anything you so desire......)

Quacked One: shareholder here--BP posts a net loss some quarters, profits of <5B others.

[comment was cut off] BP posts a net loss some quarters, profits of a few billion others.

BP launches appeal against 'fictitious' oil spill claims

Hmmmm, whaddya know, more waste, fraud, abuse and corruption in our government.

Yet Internet advertisements from lawyers boast of the ease with which payments far in excess of actual losses can be obtained.

And of course, as usual, the biggest winners will be the lawyers. Funny how no one ever seems to go after the lawyers for any criminal activities, isn’t it?

I guess when you make the laws so convoluted that only the lawyers know what they wrote they get away with anything.

Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy is the largest in history, and it's also been the most lucrative one for lawyers and consultants. The defunct bank's bill: nearly $1.6 billion. That tally comes from the latest court filings that track fees and expenses as of January 31, 2012

It’s the American way.

Let's face it, our world's energy usage is dependent on "fossil fuels?" Is that a crude joke? We're running off dead dinosaurs? That's our main source of energy? Is that the stupidest thing ever? We're talking about the height of human civilization and this is what we have to show for?

Of course equally ludicrous is that, seriously...? capitalism? REALLY? A system based AND enforces the concept of greed? REALLY? That is the system in which we pride our modern civilization? And the fact nobody sees the absurdity of it all? A concept based on, "Hey man, more for me so "f" you." And of course no matter how one defends capitalism, they always overlook 1 fact - "greed." So, "if I have the ability to make more money than others, so why not?" OK, but can you do so "honestly?" That IS the question. And the answer is no, because humans suck. You know it, I know it.

At the end of the day it appears to come down to "tainted money", you know, money that "taint yours" and you want some of it. BP is getting ripped off, period, and taking steps to prevent it. The company is owned by shareholders and it wouldn't be a surprise if many of the anti-energy coalition on this board own energy shares in their 401 k, pensions, etc. What BP is doing is responsible.

The American system is based on capitalism. If you don't like how much profit a company earns you are free not to buy their products or move to Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, etc. This is not a suggestion TO move, merely pointing out your freedom of choice that our democratic, captitalistic system allows you. If you were in charge it seems we would not enjoy the same freedoms our system allows...unless it coincidentally was in alignment with your views.

Interesting note: how many of you are typing your posts on Apple computers, a company that makes more money per quarter than Exxon. Where is the outrage?

Norm:

My outrage with Apple computers is not with the fact that they make a lot of money. In fact, I don't have a problem with people making a lot of money. I just note that many of the biggest money-makers contribute nothing. And here I make no judgement on BP's specific claim.

Jeff Jared, no kidding, I think you'd like North Korea. It's one of the more equal places on earth. No opportunities for those people you don't like who want to get ahead in life.

Hello folks, is anybody buying into the BP Public Relations propaganda machine that the spill wasn't as bad as first thought and the oil has evaporated or been eaten by microbes therefore 75% of the oil is gone and there is no damage to the Gulf or its inhabitants? Nobody has gone to jail over the deaths of 11 people and and the fines aren't even close to compensating for the ecological damage that has been done.

Did you know the well is still leaking and Corexit is still being used? You will still hear the mantra by the ignorant of drill baby drill. Hey folks, we have a symbiotic relationship with mother earth and if she dies we die. But alas, the ignorant will continue to support the destruction of our planet saying we have no choice just as they will say we have no choice in attacking other countries and killing, maiming, and displacing millions of people. If you were a galactic civilization wouldn’t you quarantine this type of ignorance from the rest of the universe?

The largest marine oil spill in our history began on April 20^th, 2010 and was capped on July 15th. Initial spill estimates by BP were 1,000 barrels a day. Later those estimates were adjusted to 40 to 100,000 thousand barrels a day, nobody will ever really know. So let's do the math and this is the conservative estimate. 86 days of the spill at 50,000 barrels at 42 gallons a barrel equal 180 million 600 thousand gallons that have been spilled in the Gulf. If you double that, it is probably a more accurate reflection. And since the well is still leaking we will never really know how much oil has been leaked into the gulf. Many scientists claim the gulf loop current has been broken as a result of the leak, if so, this will have a dramatic effect on the European weather. If you want evidence of the leak just talk to the residents and oil spill workers living along the gulf from Texas to Florida.

So you wonder where the oil has gone! The figures thus far don't include the Corexit dispersant poured into the Gulf which BP claims is well over a million gallons. If you use the same corrected estimated percentage of the oil spill with the Corexit that was intentionally dispersed into the Gulf, that figure is much higher, once again we will never really know the amount dispersed as it is still being used. Now where did all that oil and dispersant go? It's still in the Gulf and the dispersant is doing its job and cloaking the oil which is making it more difficult to detect. Scientific experts claim that the carcinogenic nature of Corexit causes chronic and acute health problems which kill red blood cells causing liver and kidney damage. Nalco, the manufacturer of Corexit, which is owned in part by Goldman Sachs and Blackstone, will not list all of the chemicals in Corexit as they claim proprietary privilege. The known chemicals in Corexit are Bioconcentrating in the aquatic organisms which will affect the entire food chain in the Gulf including mother earth and us. Recent reports illustrate a high rate of birth defects in the aquatic organisms in the gulf.

This doesn't even take into account the emotional and economic devastation that has been forced upon the Gulf residents. Nobody in their right mind can minimize this catastrophe, except BP, and their paid off Public Relations flunkies, because they are beholding to their board of directors and their greedy stock holders. In what I believe is an act of the most perverse propaganda by BP, people are being encouraged to bathe in and eat the byproduct of BP’s toxic stew. After all BP has been running the show and people are just collateral damage and will be used to help mitigate reparations. Please don't let them con you and the American public.

P.S. If you care about our oceans you might want to investigate The Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

I feel the energy warming my skin as I walk along the beach, I see it as the seagulls glide effortlessly through the air, I hear it as the waves crash against the coastline, and it is all free, no one owns the sun, the wind or the waves. That is not to say that certain corporations have not tried to own the rights to all energy sources though. In the 1990's Chevron lobbied our congress to get the right to the rays of the sun. Yes that's right, big oil, who claims solar energy is not viable, actually wanted to own the sun. No matter whether you had privately owned solar panels in an off-grid home, Chevron wanted you to have to pay them for every kilowatt hour produced by the rays of the sun. Why do you think Big Oil has been doing everything in it's power to slow the progress of our inevitable switch renewable energy, SO THEY CAN HAVE TIME TO FIGURE OUT A WAY TO CONTROL IT. From the very beginnings of capitalism the exploitation of natural resources was how greedy talentless thugs acquired wealth. They did not create a better widget, they did not paint a masterpiece or write a symphony, they simply took something that should have belonged to everyone on the planet, claimed it as their own and then sold it back to us at a profit. They manipulated our political system so that all competition was crushed, they used propaganda to fool the people into thinking theirs was they only way, the started wars to control the supply, they destroyed our public transportation system to control the demand, and they created turmoil in the middle east so that they could increase the price to the consumer through speculation.

It is time to cut these criminals out of the loop, too many of our children have died fighting wars to keep these vultures in control of our energy, our health is being harmed by the pollution, we have become fat and lazy, the very environment that sustains our lives is on the verge of collapse. Change your lifestlye, go off grid, use less, walk more, recycle everything. We do not need BP, or it's filthy product, to survive, in fact it is just the opposite, without us consuming their product, BP will go the way of the dinosaur.

Nice post @deprogrammer, very wise words!

My thoughts exactly Virginia. I have no sympathy for BP, but right is right - no matter how much money they make.

Alabama has been inundated with legal advertisements on television by lawyers urging ANYONE no matter where located in state or what their business to call and let them file for your 'compensation'. You get used to seeing all the attorneys' ads for social security benefits, car wrecks, meso, medical malpractice, et al - but this took it to a new level. And unfortunately for the moral health of our country, I'm sure a lot of people responded.

BP has a 70% profit margin? Mortgage your house and buy BP stock!

What's great about ordinary Joe is that he doesn't drive a pickup truck that runs on gas, or turn his lights on. He doesn't need big oil! Big oil just propels him from a-b, heats his house, and does all that other stuff! Other than that, big oil sucks! Down with big oil!

Jeff,

It shouldn't affect the price of gas. We are told that oil is sold on the global market at whatever the market price is. Theoretically, if Exxon is selling its oil at $25 a barrel, then BP can't expect to sell its oil for $26 a barrel just to make up for its costs.

LostFL, how do you think the eventual terms of the BP settlement will figure into the risk analysis on a new Exxon well? Do you think that Exxon will incorporate this knowledge into their downside risk? If they don't, do you think their shareholders or insurers won't?

You don't understand an efficient market.

Bobby didn't have any trouble taking the BP money to boost his economy..

Explains how he could refuse Govt. Bailout stimulus money doesn't it....

Whatever happened to honesty is the best policy

Good question...check with the big hats at bp...maybe they can tell you.

I'm rather embarrassed over the way we've treated our best ally in the world.

Greed is a disease that spreads exponentially.

well as the saying goes what comes around goes around BP is just finally getting a taste of their own greed. As other poster have said BP will get no pity from me

Halliburton has cut corners since the Gulf War, where our Soldiers were Electrocuted by their shoddy work.

Did you also know <Public Record>, Halliburton bought , for cash, the largest Oil Spill , environmental clean up company in the world three weeks before the spill?

AND they also were the ones who were approved to continue spraying heavy loads of toxic dispersant without Federal over-site.

Go Figure...

Yeah and who had the cap contract for that one too? Research...Halliburton.....They will never pay for a foreign oil disaster....

They have been dodging fines their whole existence...

Read about the fines they have dodged in Texas alone. 1 year 214 violations of release of dangerous toxins..

Not one cent paid..

Not one day in court.

All suits just upheld and suspended by good ole Boys on the Texas Bench.......

So if we cannot get them to accept responsibility here...

How can we get them to accept responsibility in Mexico, Africa or Australia, all areas where they have been found negligent resulting in spills....

I guess if you cant see them from my house it is o.k. to kill the planet....

Yeah, you're right, there are some out there that will try to make a quick buck. That's just as much a crime.

The cheats should be prosecuted, made to return the money in addition to huge fines. There is no excuse for claiming money that they are not entitled to receive. It is typical of many Americans today: sue, sue, sue!

All things considered, they did a good job by immediately providing help to those who REALLY were affected by the spill. All the fake claims should be tossed out. Greedy bastards!

All things considered, they did a good job by immediately providing help to those who REALLY were affected by the spill. All the fake claims should be tossed out. Greedy creeps!

Agree.