| REVIEWER | RATING & REVIEW |
 | DrEntropy (38)
06/14/2008 | 80% of current oil reserves are controled by state-run oil companies (OPEC, Russia, China, Brazil). The old Anglo-American oil companies had their faults, but their replacements are likely to be far worse-at least as far as the American consumer is concerned...Now whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions....
(1 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree) |
 | jamestkirk (22)
06/13/2008 | Their profit margins are higher than ever. They do not need to be charging what they are now. When oil fell by $8/per barrell a week and a half ago, the prices at the pump were not altered. When the price per barrel rose by $3, it was relected at the pump.
(4 voted this helpful, 1 funny and 1 agree) |
 | Wiseguy (30)
05/24/2008 |  Update: We The People are playing the victim once again. "Its Big Bad
Oil" The decision to buy a behemoth SUV? Did Big Oil put a gun to your
head? You blame Big Oil for your not-yet-paid-for 52" LCD TV. Not
making the kind of money you hoped to?... its not your fault, blame Big
Oil.
A quick comment pug's post: You made some good points but that would be asking way too much, we're too used to complaining and not doing anything.
5/22/08: If high oil industry profits coincide with high pump prices,
the logic goes, then reducing those profits via taxes/caps on profits
will somehow lower prices at the pump. I've got bad news for you...it
doesn't work that way. It would only disrupt the balance, by way of
increased oil imports. Oil companies invest their profits in foreign
countries with the
intension to increase capacity. The idea is to get MORE oil in
the market, that will help bring down prices. In the free markets, if
something cant be produced for a profit then soon it will no longer be
produced. You won't like the result of that either.
(7 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree) |
 | pugwash01 (15)
05/21/2008 | Oil companies and the average consumer!!! Oil companies are making billons of dollars using the excuse that they need to fix their oil refineries; Even though they made BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN THE LAST QUARTER!! Hey that's what your profit margin from the last quarter is supposed cover, not us!!!! How can they use that excuse, as we are not responsible for their running costs!!! THEY ARE!!! We as the consumer are just as responsible because we will not fight them!!! In the UK when the prices rose we the consumer refused to use the pumps and after 2 days the prices went down, GO FIGURE!!!! We the average person is pushed into a corner because we are afraid of big wigs!!!! If the consumer sticks up for itself then the RICH can't bully us: REMBER THEY NEED US TO PURCHASE, FOR THEM TO REMAIN RICH!!!! We also must remember that there are now alternatives that we can use!! We dont need oil like we did and we could certainly do without the pollutant we call oil!!! ; )
(4 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree) |
 | X Factor Z (13)
05/19/2008 | To an extent, especially if they are making high profits. I think the oil companies see the end coming of fossil fuels and are just trying to make as much money now before the end comes.
(1 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree) |
 | DynaSword11252 (19)
05/17/2008 | For love of money...................
(2 voted this helpful, 2 funny and 0 agree) |
 | lmorovan (10)
05/17/2008 | Yeah, let's declare them eminent domain and confiscate their businesses. Stoopid!!!
(3 voted this helpful, 2 funny and 0 agree) |
 | louiethe20th (71)
05/17/2008 | *Update*
The only thing I can find wrong with what the oil companies are doing is their lack of interest in building more refineries and the fact that they are not drilling and exploring at 100% compacity of the designated areas already availible here in the States.
(OM)The oil companies are in business to make money just like any other business. I find it funny how it is brought up that Exxon made record high earnings last year. Exxon makes between 6 and 8 cents per gallon profit. The Federal Government collects 18.4 cents per gallon!!! My state of Ohio collects 46.4 cents!!! You tell me who is getting rich?
(11 voted this helpful, 2 funny and 1 agree) |
 | fitman (36)
05/17/2008 | Corporations are your friends. Monopoly capitalism is the best system we could ever hope to have. When government and capital are merged we all gain.*
Don't forget to vote for 4 MORE YEARS!
UPDATE:
*Stalinist regimes merge 'em from the left, whilst fascist regimes merge 'em from the right. In either case, we get squeezed and apparently some of us like it.
http://tinyurl.com/6pd3cd
UPDATE:
Rush explains why we should blame Democrats for high gas prices!
http://tinyurl.com/5kb2dl
(1 voted this helpful, 5 funny and 0 agree) |
 | James76255 (17)
05/17/2008 |  Oil companies only do bad. They aren't like environmental groups that only look out for your best interest by blocking attempts to drill oil domestically so we can step closer to becoming energy independent, or by blocking the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from going forward with a project to prevent a Category 5 hurricane from flooding New Orleans. It's not like that would ever happen anyway, right?
As a great man once said, all seriousness aside... When gas prices keep getting higher and the oil companies are making record profits, there's obviously something funny going on. However, nobody seems to want to do anything about it. We can produce our own oil for far less per barrel than we can get it from the Middle East, but for the last 30 years or so we've either been unwilling to do it or have had attempts blocked. Rigs in Texas sit silent, and states like Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado are sitting on vast reserves of oil. If we want the price of gas to go down, we need to become energy independent.
Oh, and don't forget to keep Democrats in Congress. The price of gas hasn't quite doubled since they took control in 2006.
(4 voted this helpful, 4 funny and 1 agree) |
 | Loerke (46)
05/16/2008 | It's easy to blame the oil company CEOs, but the shareholders are even worse. I hate to say that, because I hate the CEOs, but it's true. The shareholders demand that every last penny get wrung out of the king of world commodities so that the latest quarter's earnings-per-share beats expectations. It's an absurdly short-sighted way of making money that is ultimately ripping off American consumers. I am beginning to think that companies dealing in essential commodities should be either privately held or state-owned. Those seem like two extremes, but both private equity and the state have a more generous consciousness of value than impatient public investors and their brokerage firms do.
(3 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree) |
 | frogio (47)
05/16/2008 | Hmmm..oil companies making money off of oil. Sorta like pimps making money off of whores...So, what are ya all doin' sittin' around readin' this when you should be out there on the corner fillin' up you're SUV's....DON'T MAKE ME SLAP YA, BIATCH!!!
(4 voted this helpful, 2 funny and 0 agree) |
 | numbah16tdhaha (144)
05/16/2008 | Exxon made 10 billion dollars last QUARTER. Not last year, notice, last QUARTER.
(5 voted this helpful, 1 funny and 0 agree) |
 | oscargamblesfro (75)
05/16/2008 | I blame a dude called Hal E. Burton...when I'm not blaming Franks, or creating a 'Ridgegoat' to pin all of this on...
(4 voted this helpful, 1 funny and 0 agree) |
 | supremecritic (2)
09/12/2006 | there are loads of big oil companies making billions of dollars every year, however they need to make a lot of money to fund reseach so that they can survive after oil has run out. althougth goverments are responsible for a large part of the prices
(0 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree) |
 | doobiesNhof (21)
03/24/2006 | The oil companies create artificial shortages and in turn gives them an excuse for raising prices. Notice when they have these spikes? Just before major holidays and just before summer. This is when people travel the most and this is the oil companies biggest opportunity to raise prices. Chi-ching...$$$$$!!
(2 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree) |
 | Sundiszno (30)
11/23/2004 | The oil companies are to blame for high (but not sky high priices because they keep their profit margins as high as they can without upsetting the apple cart. You want to talk about sky high prices? Look to Europe, where a gallon of gas costs at least four or five dollars. Just had a neighbor come back from a trip to Germany and he said that gas goes for about eight bucks a gallon (if his math was correct). Cost him 76 dollars to fill the tank on his rental car.
(2 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree) |
 | eraser1997 (1)
06/28/2004 | I suppose we could blame them for not adding refining capacity, but let's face it, they've been somewhat tied up by various restrictions. Where they can take real blame, though, is in trying to protect their profit margins through rising crude prices. They could stand to learn that a slightly lower profit margin would still be ok, as they could still make the same profit per gallon (margin is being measured vs. total production cost per gallon)
(3 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree) |
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