How much profit?

[woodsrider]

you mean "0"

 

No, I mean $9.8 billion. And it was actually 2006-2010 they paid more in US tax then they made in the US. $59 billion in tax versus $40.5 billion in profit.

[bballfamily]

This debate can go on all day, but the last entity in a free society to say how much is too much profit is the government.

If one thinks a certain company is making too much, buy from one of its competitors to increase their profits.

Then one may have a real dilemma, as you improve the second companies profits, you may have to go back to the first company.

Or find a third company to improve their profits or just quit buying that product completely.

In the case of a gas powered car, switch to an electric car. Then one can complain of coal company profits.

Profit haters are having such a difficult time these days.

[cammando]

If you buy an all electric car in New York you now have to pay a yearly tax to off-set revenue lost on gas tax...

[John Anthony]

There is nothing wrong with a profit but when the masses are suffering you have to start asking questions.

[Clyde]

There is nothing wrong with a profit but when the masses are suffering you have to start asking questions.

 

Such as?

[John Anthony]

Such as?

 

Well if we have to pay 4.00 a gallon only to see the GDP shrink doesn't that present a problem? If people are going 75 in the fast lane and a few are going 150 they stand out too much and people will notice it. Fly right below the radar not into it.

[coldweatherfan]

Last I saw Exxon has just under a 4% profit margin. Yes their profit dollars are large because their sales a large, but as a percentage they are very small.

[Clyde]

Well if we have to pay 4.00 a gallon only to see the GDP shrink doesn't that present a problem? If people are going 75 in the fast lane and a few are going 150 they stand out too much and people will notice it. Fly right below the radar not into it.

 

Who do you have the problem with? The oil companies ? US govt and citizens?

[okie1]

I know plenty of smart people who live a nice lifestyle, but also show a loss in their bussiness...

[woodsrider]

The problem here is that not every price and every profit and every cost is based on supply and demand. Oil is the perfect example. Plenty of oil right now, and plenty of demand, but not more demand than supply. Price per barrel is lower now that it was when we paid these gas prices before.

 

I also think there are more questions to ask than simply profit margin. What kind of responsibility to you have to the environment? What kind or responsibility do you have to your workers? What is your responsibility to your community? What is your responsibility to your country? Is everything purely economics, and can there be other factors outside of profit margin.

So what do you think is a fair profit margin a company should expect to make? 2%, 4%, 10%?

 

When it comes to a for profit business there really aren't any other outside factors. Their goal is to make money.

[Trinity alum]

If it is a truly free market a company should make as much profit as it it deems to be in its best interests. The problems start when the market isn't really free. Oil falls into that category. Total world oil production is controlled by OPEC. Speculators control oil prices. At the risk of losing my liberal card, the problem with gas prices isn't the big oil companies. It is a rigged system. Middle East oil just about jumps out of the ground. Most US oil production is much more expensive. That keeps US oil production down since OPEC can put US oil production in the tank any time it wants to. If you want to increase US oil production, the solution would be to put a big tax on oil imports that would be adjusted daily or weekly to keep imported oil prices at least at $60.00 or $80.00 per barrel. That would provide a floor under the price of US oil production as well as production of alternative energy. That floating tax on imports probably violates all sorts of trade agreements. Too bad.

[bballfamily]

There is nothing wrong with a profit but when the masses are suffering you have to start asking questions.

 

How socialistic of you to spread the pain. Instead of finding the solutions to problems socialists just spread the misery.

[Clyde]

How socialistic of you to spread the pain. Instead of finding the solutions to problems socialists just spread the misery.

 

BB - discussions/debates go a lot better when you do not resort to cliched labels. Just because one disagrees with you doesn't make him/her a socialist.

 

It's unbecoming.

[bballfamily]

BB - discussions/debates go a lot better when you do not resort to cliched labels. Just because one disagrees with you doesn't make him/her a socialist.

 

It's unbecoming.

 

He can have another viewpoint, even if it is a socialist viewpoint. And there is nothing wrong with pointing that out. As socialism is not about finding solutions to grow society, but just making more slices of the pie that never grows acccording to socialists.

[Clyde]

He can have another viewpoint, even if it is a socialist viewpoint. And there is nothing wrong with pointing that out. As socialism is not about finding solutions to grow society, but just making more slices of the pie that never grows acccording to socialists.

 

Then discredit his point with facts and not labels.

 

Debate shuts down and/or gets off track when simply throw out pejoratives.