OUTRAGE: BP profits soar by 148%

Originally posted by dodgygeeza
motorists were paying nearly 120 pence a litre for petrol.

...and according to Wikipedia, at $.55 a litre, half of that $1.20 was tax paid the government of the UK.

Allow me to translate what the UK government is beating around the bush trying to say:
"When fuel prices are high, people buy less fuel. That means we make less tax revenue. In turn, it pisses us off to no end to see oil companies making large profits while we stand here with our teeth in our mouths and our thumbs up our butts making less. Hence, in the future we will sheild against this by setting higher taxes on the profits of the oil companies when prices are high and very well may change to a percentage tax on the customer, to ensure we share in this windfall the next time the Peak Oil Chicken Littles and spectators manipulate the market to overprice oil. Pipp pip, Cheerios."

In case you haven't noticed, the only time governments piss & moan about gas prices and oil company profits is when the prices get so high that people slow down on their gas consumption and said governments see their revenuestake a hit. In this country, for example, states like New York that tax a percentage tax had no complaints at all. Screw the citizen because we're still getting ours!

That is true, our companies have the 2nd highest taxs in the world.

However, there are obscene loopholes and asinine tax breaks in place.

So by the time they clear those loopholes and tax breaks, they can afford to send large chunks of funds into overseas tax shelters.

in the end, they effectively could have one of the lowest taxes (if you look at income vs. actual tax paid) in the world.

I agree with increasing tariffs. This would make the american market competative again.

Tax the snot out of imports, make it effectively more expensive to have manufacturing plants in mexico, instead of here in the united states...

I'm all for opening trade globally, but it really needs to be taxed, to allow our domestic companies over here to compete effectively.

If some politician can manage to push something like this through, and get business going again over here, I'm ok with corporate tax breaks... as long as those breaks are meant to encourage them to put money back into their local communities and such...

Unrestricted and free trade is prabably one of the major downfalls of our economy. However, as a resident of Michigan, I may be biased. The first signs of trouble for us here in MI, was about 10-15 years ago, when GM closed a few plants around our local area, and laid off 60,000 workers...

Since then, its been plant after plant, business after business closing, and moving across the bridge to canada, or down south to mexico...

Michigan now has the 2nd highest unemployment rate in the country... we were number 1 until the last report this month.

Originally posted by SectionEight
reply to post by mlmijyd

 

If you don't like it, grow a large square beard, move to Indiana and drive a horse and buggy. Mom and pop outfits could never fuel the economy, corporations are a necessary evil.

You are, quite probably, the most ignorant person I have ever seen on these boards. Do your research. Between 75-85% of employed people work for "mom and pop outfits".

"Mom & Pop outfits" ARE the fuel for the economy.

reply to post by NOTurTypical


brilliant....if they post a 'record profit' but their margin doesn't increase it really isn't a record profit!! What tosh. You sound just like an old boss of mine who used to say that he got the same salary increase each year as the rest of the staff. When we got a 3% increase on our $20,000 dollar salary ($600) he claimed he got the same on his $250,000 (3% of which is $7500). How many poeple think he got the same as me? The people running these companies must really think we are all idiots!

Originally posted by sir_chancealot

Originally posted by SectionEight
reply to post by mlmijyd

 

If you don't like it, grow a large square beard, move to Indiana and drive a horse and buggy. Mom and pop outfits could never fuel the economy, corporations are a necessary evil.

You are, quite probably, the most ignorant person I have ever seen on these boards. Do your research. Between 75-85% of employed people work for "mom and pop outfits".

"Mom & Pop outfits" ARE the fuel for the economy.

So is that why downtown america no longer exists and WallMart is so big, what a smart guy you are.



[edit on 28-10-2008 by SectionEight]

Originally posted by Anonymous ATS
reply to post by NOTurTypical

 

brilliant....if they post a 'record profit' but their margin doesn't increase it really isn't a record profit!! What tosh. You sound just like an old boss of mine who used to say that he got the same salary increase each year as the rest of the staff. When we got a 3% increase on our $20,000 dollar salary ($600) he claimed he got the same on his $250,000 (3% of which is $7500). How many poeple think he got the same as me? The people running these companies must really think we are all idiots!

Take a basic Economics course someday.

How would you feel if you had to spend $.91 to make $1?

"Big Oil" has a 9% profit margin..

that's paltry.

Originally posted by NOTurTypical


How would you feel if you had to spend $.91 to make $1?

"Big Oil" has a 9% profit margin..

that's paltry.

I would spend it all day long! An NO it not paltry. A 9% guaranteed return is fan-freaking-tastic. SIGN ME UP! Show me something else that has a better profit margin that makes as much money annually! Don't worry, I'll wait!

reply to post by Aggie Man


The Pharmaceutical Industry maintains a 18% profit margin.

Microsoft enjoys a 40% profit margin.

Honestly, the only "worse" operating corporations are grocery store chains, they maintain a 3% profit margin.

Compared to the vast number of other corporations margins, 9% is pretty crappy.

reply to post by NOTurTypical


Well, take out insurance, advertising, marketing and lawsuits and I bet that pharmaceutical companies maintain less than 9% profit. Microsoft, last time I checked, was a company, not an industry, so I consider that null.

I tell you, Oil is the safest, most sure fire, most profitable business there is...wars are fought over it...no one fights a war over Microsoft or medication!

All that aside, you really think $1 for every $0.91 is paltry? you are crazy!

[edit on 29-10-2008 by Aggie Man]

reply to post by NOTurTypical


where are you finding your stats? not questioning them.. just curious

EDIT: Okay, I found all the stats on yahoo..Here's the profit margins for all the big oil companies. I don't really see the point in comparing them to different industries tho. The closest would be MSFT, their profit margin is ~29% btw, but their market cap is in line with Exxon ($205b vrs $388b for Exxon).

BP plc (BP) 8.7
Chevron Corp. (CVX) 7.34
ConocoPhillips (COP) 7.86
Eni SpA (E) 16.51
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) 8.64
Petrobras Energ�a Participacio (PZE) 9.81
PetroChina Co. Ltd. (PTR) 8.51
Repsol YPF SA (REP) 5.69
Royal Dutch Shell plc (RDS-B) 8.79
Total SA (TOT) 10.93

Industry Browser - yahoo

What angers me about the oil industry is that it is basically a cartel that fixes its price in order to maximize its profits.

Just look at Dubi to see what our oil dollars are being spent on.

I've read if the price of crude falls to around 50/brl they really start hurting, so I think the current price of 65-75 or in the low $2/gal US range is fair for the moment. I also wouldn't want it to go so low that it discourages finding alternative resources.

But any argument that $150/barrel or more is in any way fair or not price gouging is pretty weak IMHO. But their not the only ones to be mad at, they were living large off these bubbles just like everyone else and now its time to bring things back to reality.

[edit on 10/29/2008 by toepick]

Also..since we seem to want to compare, here is a nice article about Exxon.

If Exxon had had the 18% net profit margin of the pharmaceuticals industry, last year's earnings would have been $66.8 billion

Tillerson's Exxon Makes History With Record Profit

Its an old article (1/30/06) but a good read.

Originally posted by Aggie Man
reply to post by NOTurTypical

 

Well, take out insurance, advertising, marketing and lawsuits and I bet that pharmaceutical companies maintain less than 9% profit. Microsoft, last time I checked, was a company, not an industry, so I consider that null.

I tell you, Oil is the safest, most sure fire, most profitable business there is...wars are fought over it...no one fights a war over Microsoft or medication!

All that aside, you really think $1 for every $0.91 is paltry? you are crazy!

I'm not "crazy", I have an elementary understanding of Economics and I know the difference between "profits" and "profit margin".

Profits: Exxon Mobil's first-quarter earnings of $10.9 billion, up 17% from a year earlier, are stirring outrage in Washington. Some are calling such profits "obscene." What a sad lack of understanding of economics.

Truth is, oil industry profits are in line with the rest of American industry. In 2007, a record year, they earned 8.3 cents per dollar of sales. Beverage companies and cigarette makers, by contrast, earned 19.1 cents. Drug makers, 18.4 cents. Indeed, all manufacturers, 8.9 cents on average, made more than "Big Oil."

Investor's Business Daily

Who is BP?

If you are an investor in the stock market, you are BP.

If you have a 401k, hedge fund or other investment vehicle, you are BP.

If you have a pension scheme that is managed by another company, you are BP.

I am BP and the chances are, you probably are too without knowing it.

You wanna know what I did? I cut down on my driving when the petrol price was too high. I bought BP shares with the money I saved, and made a small killing on the price increase.

I was pissed at petrol prices too, but I didnt get mad... I got money.

Also how can you rant at BP considering they make at best 33-50p from a litre; the government makes the vast majority through fuel excise duty at 60-70p a litre. Yes, BP made a killing; but the government does it every day, to every company and every person.

Originally posted by 44soulslayer
Who is BP?

If you are an investor in the stock market, you are BP.

If you have a 401k, hedge fund or other investment vehicle, you are BP.

If you have a pension scheme that is managed by another company, you are BP.

I am BP and the chances are, you probably are too without knowing it.

You wanna know what I did? I cut down on my driving when the petrol price was too high. I bought BP shares with the money I saved, and made a small killing on the price increase.

I was pissed at petrol prices too, but I didnt get mad... I got money.

Also how can you rant at BP considering they make at best 33-50p from a litre; the government makes the vast majority through fuel excise duty at 60-70p a litre. Yes, BP made a killing; but the government does it every day, to every company and every person.

I agree!!!
In the UK the government makes more profit from fuel than the actual energy companies that sell to us...
In America they have it very lucky, petrol cheaper than bottled water...

It's not just American companies that profited but Canadian as well:

www.imperialoil.com...

Imperial Oil announces third quarter financial and operating results


Calgary, AB, October 30, 2008


Imperial Oil today announced that net income for the third quarter was a record $1,389 million or $1.57 a share, compared with $816 million or $0.88 a share for the same period last year. Net income for the first nine months of 2008 was $3,218 million or $3.60 a share, versus $2,302 million or $2.45 a share for the first nine months of 2007.