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Originally posted by verbal kint
reply to post by jetxnet
I doubt there's a person on ATS that can accurately grasp the immense size of the number 1 billion; much less 11.
Originally posted by Slothrop
reply to post by verbal kint
what is "wrong with this picture"? companies are supposed to make money. exxon is making a lot of money right now. that's the point of running a business. why do people fear and hate success so much?
Originally posted by verbal kint
Thug went out today and killed a squirrel. He came home, cooked the squirrel, and ate. He gave the left overs to Werko, who was hungry 'cause he was tired and hadn't done squat all day.
How do you think Exxon just returned the largest quarterly profit ($11,000,000,000+) in history (by ANY company)?
Originally posted by verbal kint
How do you think Exxon just returned the largest quarterly profit ($11,000,000,000+) in history (by ANY company)?
I know, this is a tough one. But please, think hard and we can figure this out...
Cheers,
-v
PS- Isn't there something wrong with this picture? Shouldn't we do something about it? Realistic ideas anyone?
www.time.com...
and don't forget... we're in the middle of a recession and flirting with a depression. ...my behind is a little sore. how's yours?
[edit on 8/2/2008 by verbal kint]
[edit on 8/2/2008 by verbal kint]
Originally posted by TheRedneck
reply to post by Animal
You have a good memory! Yes, I did say that.
The thing is that it would probably increase the profits made by the oil companies, but then again, it would put to rest once and for all this silly crying that the oil companies are somehow 'ripping off' the American people by making a mere 8% profit margin.
The money made is made because they sell a lot of fuel products. Period. Would you expect the corner convenience store to make as much as the local WalMart? Of course not. WalMart sells many many times what the convenience store does. They also hire more people (let's not get into how they treat their employees; I know all about that), they pay more for the store space, and they have to stock more merchandise. They're bigger.
Likewise, oil companies are huge. They sell massive amounts of fuel, for cars, delivery vans, trucks, planes, motorhomes, trains, home heating, lawn mowers and chainsaws. The more they sell, the more they make. Blaming them for making money is like me crying to Toshiba that they charged me too much for this old laptop. Of course they didn't charge too much, because I paid it. If it had been too much, I wouldn't have paid it. End of argument.
Verbal kint had a nice little metaphor above, outlining the relationship between Thug and Werko. The one thing he left out is Ug, the big guy with the club. After a while, Werko decided he was having to do too much to get the leftovers, so instead of going hunting himself, he got Ug to beat up Thug and take his squirrel away. Werko had promised Ug he could have half of the squirrel. Ug decided that he needed more than Werko, so he ate the squirrel and gave Werko the leftovers and the dirty pans.
In the meantime, Thug woke up with a bad headache and decided to hide his squirrels from Ug and Werko from now on. So now Ug has decided he likes squirrels and wants more, and Thug doesn't seem to have any, so Werko gets forced to go get some squirrels to give to Ug. Ug keeps giving Werko less and less leftovers each time (but plenty of pots to wash), until finally Werko is hunting and washing for nothing (except to keep Ug from beating him over the head with the club). So Thug still has his squirrels, but he has to hide them and wash his own pans, Ug gets plenty of squirrels for doing nothing, and poor Werko gets to hunt squirrels and wash pans for occasional leftovers. But, hey, Thug got what was coming to him! Right?
This my friends, is socialism and nationalism. Ug is the government that is going to make sure those mean old oil companies don't make you work any more.
TheRedneck
[edit on 3-8-2008 by TheRedneck]
'You are looking at the biggest oil refinery in the world,' indicates LaNell Anderson. She refers to the edifice that is the 3,000-acre Exxon Mobil plant at Baytown, near Houston, producer of 507,800 barrels a day. Here begins a story of both dynasty and destiny, for it was on this spot in 1917 that the Bush family's oil connection was forged - where the Humble Oil company, which struck black gold in the Houston suburb of that name, took root, later to be- come the Exxon behemoth. Humble's founder, William Stamps Farish, went on to become president of Standard Oil. His daughter became a friend of George Bush Sr and his grandson William Jr was taken in 'almost like family' (said Barbara Bush) while campaigning for George Sr's entrée into Washington Senatorial politics in 1964. Farish Jr claims to have been the first man to whom Bush Sr confided his ambition to be president one day, and was last year named US Ambassador to London.