Help Me Explain This

[MorningGlory]

I'm not a liberal, but I'm inclined to agree with the person you are talking to.

Fact is, in 2005 Oil Companies showed record profits IN SPITE of all the damage the various hurricanes did to refineries and offshore rigs. How is that possible?

"In spite" of all the damage? Are you serious? Such damage would be the reason that oils companies raised prices. As the president of Exxon told Congress last week "The basic rules of supply and demand apply." When supplies are low or restricted and demand goes up, prices go up. The "record profits" argument is simply a misnomer - in fact and outright lie by lib nut jobs who want to make "Big Oil" to blame for all of America's woes instead of holding to the fire the feet of the persons responsible for the regulations which have made 85% of America's coastlines unavailable for oil exploration.

Simple. They were charging us almost double the fair value of the oil, simply because they found out they could get away with it. And now they found out they can get away with charging twice as much more.

Nonsense. Do you know what the profit margin was in 2006 for Exxon? It was 8.5%. That means Exxon made about $.09 on the dollar for every gallon of gasoline sold. Want to know how much of that dollar federal and state gas taxes are? About $.40 on the gallon. So, who's making more money from the sale of gasoline?

Do you know anybody that can operate a company on an 8.5% profit margin? Your typical retailers are operating at about 20-30%, and on a good year might do as much as 40%. And people complain about all the profit that those big bad oil companies are making from gasoline. For every dollar that you spend on your average JC Penny T-shirt Penny's cost is about $.10. But you don't see people fussing about the cost of a t-shirt, do you, or the "big profits" that JC Penny is making from their customers.

Its STandard Oil + Muslim Oil.

They own everything, either directly, or by proxy. And they'll kill to keep it that way. It HAS happened before.

Conspiracy theory.

So many christians vote republican because they are the "conservative" party, but do you actually realize their fiscal policy hurts everybody except the richest people? The only people it helps are your local real estate tyccoon and CEO and a few other people who struck it rich by abusing someone else.

Bush and all your little senators and representatives are either owners of Big Oil, or they are puppets for Big Oil. That's why none of them ever do anything substantive to change the oil situation. They are loving it. They use Oil + that little green thing called a "Dollar" to take us for everything we've got.

More conspiracy theory. How many Democrat senators own stock in oil companies? Did you know that the biggest conspiracy nut job on the planet, Michael Moore, who actually made a so-called "documentary" in which he basically accused George Bush of conspiring in the 9/11 attack just so he could go to war in order to profit from oil, owns stock in "Big Oil" himself?

So let's have a little perspective here, okay? The only real problem with our "elected representatives" is that they have been cowering to the whims of every eco-nut group that wants to save little fuzzy worms in places where we could have drilled for oil 30 years ago. If "Big Oil" was allowed to explore and drill for oil in the vast reserves this nation has in Alaska and off-shore we wouldn't nearly be in the pickle that we are today. It has absolutely nothing to do with party politics and which politicians own stock in oil companies.

Absolutely true; it's not a political thing. It's a combination of many things; not the least of which are those who are contributing to this mess by artiificially inflating the price of oil through speculation. But, if we want to start changing things, we need to start in Congress . and fire any of them who continue to oppose energy independance. They work for US and, let's not forget, can be kicked out of their cushy jobs by us. It's time to call them up on the carpet of accountability....no one can do that except us, the people. Everyone needs to bombard their representatives on this issue starting today. I intend to send an e-mail a day to each of my Senators and Representatives. If every one of the 160,000,000 voters in this country did this....Congress would be reeling under the weight of 640,000,000 e-mails every day! And they will fold under public pressure; they always do. I'm off to send my four for today.

[kat8585]

Absolutely true; it's not a political thing. It's a combination of many things; not the least of which are those who are contributing to this mess by artiificially inflating the price of oil through speculation. But, if we want to start changing things, we need to start in Congress . and fire any of them who continue to oppose energy independance. They work for US and, let's not forget, can be kicked out of their cushy jobs by us. It's time to call them up on the carpet of accountability....no one can do that except us, the people. Everyone needs to bombard their representatives on this issue starting today. I intend to send an e-mail a day to each of my Senators and Representatives. If every one of the 160,000,000 voters in this country did this....Congress would be reeling under the weight of 640,000,000 e-mails every day! And they will fold under public pressure; they always do. I'm off to send my four for today.

This is a very good idea, but the problem is we have to be very specific, as the libs who claim to want this define it as alternative sources, ethanol, and everything else but the real solutions, like drilling, refineries, etc.

[MorningGlory]

This is a very good idea, but the problem is we have to be very specific, as the libs who claim to want this define it as alternative sources, ethanol, and everything else but the real solutions, like drilling, refineries, etc.

Yes, exactly. I told them I either want them to support smacking down the restrictions on domestic drilling or....to get ready to be replaced by someone more attuned to the needs of the U.S. and their constituents. It doesn't need to more than two sentences and I am going to save it and just cut and paste it every day to save time. Short and to the point but very effective. Oh, and I found out I only have one Rep., not two. The figures I posted were wrong; it would be 480,000,000 e-mails a day. If we, the people, allow them to stay in office, while doing NOTHING to solve our energy dilemna....then we deserve what we get.

[kat8585]

I agree. Keep it short and to the point. Whoever reads their email won't want to read a long drawn out one.

[MorningGlory]

I agree. Keep it short and to the point. Whoever reads their email won't want to read a long drawn out one.

Good thinking, kat. The short and direct approach is the way to go. Just make sure one point is that their career is in jeopardy because of their inaction on the energy crisis.

[kat8585]

It's a good idea to contact John Boehner, the House Minority leader too. He has a list for Republicans to do to win in Nov. I don't know if energy independence is on it, and if it is, drilling probably isn't, but he needs to be told that it had better be.

http://republicanleader.house.gov/Contact/

I know illegal immigraton isn't on it, and I already emailed him and told him he'd better put that on the list.