why are we paying such HIGH gas prices, you ask?

[kpete]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/speakerpelosi/with/5714066256/

OBAMA:

... at a time when big oil companies are making more money than ever before, we’re still giving them $4 billion of your tax dollars in subsidies every year. Your member of Congress should be fighting for you. Not for big financial firms. Not for big oil companies.

In the next few weeks, I expect Congress to vote on ending these subsidies. And when they do, we’re going to put every single Member of Congress on record: They can either stand up for oil companies, or they can stand up for the American people. They can either place their bets on a fossil fuel from the last century, or they can place their bets on America’s future. So make your voice heard. Send your representative an email. Give them a call. Tell them to stand with you.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/2012/03/17/weekly-address-ending-subsidies-big-oil-companies

[joeybee12]

1. Oh, but they're job creators!

[Tennessee Gal]

2. Please share the source for that.

Maybe I can figure out how to post it on Facebook.

[kpete]

4. here you go...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/speakerpelosi/with/5714066256/

peace, kpete

[Tennessee Gal]

7. ty

[liberal N proud]

3. It's all Obama's fault.

Face The Nation today was all about blaming Obama for high gas prices. The are continuing with the flawed rhetoric that the President wants high gas prices. In an election year?

[renate]

15. when this happened during Bush's second term, I admit that I thought he had something to do with it

But I think that wasn't an unreasonable assumption, given his and especially Cheney's connections to the industry. It made a certain amount of sense to at least consider the possibility that they were deliberately failing to do something about it (not that I could have guessed what) to make their oil friends happy.

In this case, there's just no logic behind it at all, not even paranoid logic.

[liberal N proud]

24. bu$h and cheney were connected to big oil.

That does give credence to the belief many had to their enabling of the higher prices. Add the miraculous drop in prices at the pump near elections. It was easy sell.

To date I have not seen anything tying Obama to oil companies.

[onehandle]

5. According to my math, we taxpayers are awarding them almost 12% of their profit.

Last edited Sun Mar 18, 2012, 02:30 PM - Edit history (1)

Nationalize Energy Now!

[Ron Obvious]

6. It's clearly supply and demand

Clearly we're producing record amounts of domestic oil, and since demand is down because of the slow economy and... No, wait a second....

[Frustratedlady]

8. That is obscene. eom

[progressoid]

9. Drill baby drill!

[gateley]

10. Honestly, Obama needs to stand in front of and explain that we're giving them

4 BILLION of OUR TAX DOLLARS in order to get support for this and have EVERYBODY flooding their Representatives with calls, emails and faxes.

Seeing the visual makes so much more of an impact than just hearing the figures.

And nobody is going to go to the WH site except us! This message needs to get out there to all those who aren't really paying attention.

So take care of that, would ya kpete?

[LiberalFighter]

11. I suggest that there should be a chart showing the salaries and compensation received

of all oil executives for the past 10 or 20 years.

[on point]

12. Sloppy thinking and meaningless magnitude numbers

Now I don't all the figures, for all the companies, or how they might haved cooked the books, BUT these numbers by size mean NOTHING without a sense of their profitability.

A quick search on Exxon shows they have 10.68 % return on assets, which I am sorry to say is not extreme.

For instance if they invested 1 Trillion and had a 5% return their profit would be $50 billion. A big number maybe, but not really given the investment size. In fact it would be a mediocre return.

S please think about making the numbers real and in perspective before getting bent out of shape. It is a disservice to rational thought.

[just1voice]

18. "Rational thought" you say, about price-gouging criminals? OK...

They should be arrested, tried and convicted then jailed for their conspiracies to manipulate energy prices and the U.S. government should be leading the charge to arrest them.

That's plain and simple, completely rational.

[bhikkhu]

23. They haven't nearly enough of the market to manipulate prices

Calculate what 90 million barrels would cost, and then figure that that is what the world uses every day. The vast majority of that oil is owned and controlled by governments and national interests - even "Big Oil" is pretty small when you compare it to Gazprom, Petrobas, Aramco, PEMEX, etc...

[gulliver]

13. Channeling anger toward the oil companies and speculators is vital, imo.

Put the blame where it lies. People are getting more sophisticated now, and it is getting harder and harder to fool them. The Internet is doing its job.

I'm glad Obama isn't forgetting the Republicans. Whose side are they on? It is mighty fishy that they haven't breathed a word of criticism against oil companies and speculators. Mighty fishy.

[just1voice]

19. Many people are, such as the CFTC commissioner

Still, who is then responsible for regulating and enforcing regulations? The Obama admin is.

http://www.heatingoil.com/blog/cftc-commissioner-chilton-takes-support-for-position-limits-public0315/

[FogerRox]

21. Channeling energy to get more renewables is more vital

Articulating cogent policy to make nukes, coal and oil obsolete as soon as possible is vital.

[Zalatix]

25. Blame our refusal to phase out our dependence on oil.

Which is something the Repigs forced us to continue despite Jimmy Carter's warnings 30+ years ago.

In addition to their defense of oil companies and speculators.

[libodem]

14. Astonishing

Go figure? Who'd a thunk if? What genius?


I'm sure I don't need the sarcasm icon.

[DallasNE]

16. That Profit Chart Is 1Qtr 2011

In roughly another month we should have 1qtr 2012 available so it will be handy to compare the two. My guess is that profits will be up sharply for 2012 over 2011. I would propose that the Senate stall a vote on oil subsidies until after the earnings reports are released by big oil.

[DallasNE]

17. One Other Point

This winter was so mild that heating oil usage in the northeast will be down substantially, cutting into profits based on the sharply lower usage. This should have impacted 4th qtr 2011 as well and profits were still high for that period.

[cherokeeprogressive]

20. I think exporting 117,000,000 gallons per day of refined product has a bearing on profit. n/t

[bhikkhu]

22. Those companies together are only a sliver of world oil production

...80% of the world's oil is nationalized, and controlled by governments, not corporations. They don't control the prices, but hey do reap the benefits of a tight world market.

I'd say the president is on the right track as far as limiting tax breaks, and in the long-term asking for a bigger percentage of the profits of oil leases would be a good idea.