Just as every other cunsumer in America, every aspect of my life is being affected by soaring fuel prices. I've often wondered where all of my hard earned money was being siphoned off to, and then several months ago, I learned that Exxon earned $40 billion in profits last year.
Needless to say, I'm not happy about this. Couldn't they get by with just a $30 billion profit, and keep gas prices in a range that doesn't make the average wage earner have to choose between eating lunch, and getting home from work?
Well, I found the following peice in Parade Magazine about who gets what from every gallon of gas sold. How does this make you feel?
(Reprinted from Parade.com)
With Gas at $4 a gallon... Who Is Getting Your Money?
You might think gas-station owners are getting rich off record oil prices, but in fact most independently owned stations make just pennies per gallon. Big oil companies claim they’re not big winners, either. Although Exxon Mobil netted $40 billion in 2007, the average profit margin for oil companies is just 7.6%, compared with 9.2% for most manufacturers. If demand for fuel continues to exceed supply, gasoline prices will continue to rise as oil companies are forced to turn to more expensive sources of crude.
Oil producers: $2.96
Refiners: 36 cents
Distributors and marketers: 28 cents
State government: 22 cents
Federal government: 18 cents
Source: All figures are estimates based on information from the U.S. Department of Energy. Actual state tax rates vary.
It seems that everyone is making out, except the consumer.
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5 comments:
Great post. I have felt the affects of gas price increases really hard in my ever shrinking wallet.
I may need to relocate, and find a new mode of transportation. The cost to commute into work is just to high ... my first 1/2 hour of each day is all gone to the oil companies, and out of the country as well.
I saw you at the Living With A Chronic Illness ~ "Aw-inspiring People Who Are Helping the Chronically Ill Through Blogging" post.
Hello from Speedcat Hollydale!!
Imagine all the things you've said,
But in another voice instead.
In another accent too,
One that might sound strange to you.
Here, in Australia, the argument rages,
Much is written, pages and pages!
Who gets the money? Are we being tricked?
What odd boxes are being ticked?
Is the Consumer (and that means us)
Really making too much fuss?
Could it be, with the car's demise
That a bright clean future may arise?
When they write our history and scan it,
Will they say 'Well, this lot saved the planet!'?
AS YOU CAN SEE MY COMMENTS ARE IN RHYME!
I hope the 'living with a chronic illness' doesn't apply to you!!!!
Brenda
It isn't the size of the profit but the profit margin. Oil should be able to make a reasonable profit. Their margin seems to be in line with other industries, it is just that oil is so big.
I'm hoping that this price scare is going to have real long term effects in how people use oil and in the investment in oil alternatives. I think oil is going to face a very different world within 10 years from now.
that doesn't help today as my car is near empty though.
I hate what the high prices have done to the economy, but I love that people are finally thinking about how much fuel they use! I can only speak about the people in my own area, but it seems that until it hit them in the wallet, they did not care how many gallons they burned, how much air they polluted, etc. With people driving less, fewer people are losing their lives on the highways. Will we also get thinner from walking to errands? Er...maybe not. :-)
Honestly, it's a crock, what can I say. When Katrina happened gas prices in Charlotte, NC soared. The reason, "oh, because there is a major pipeline that runs through this area"
Really? Then why was SC's gas so much cheaper?
The oil companies (and their "spokesmen") will have us believe that those aren't really "profits" that the money goes back into the company for new oil exploration, new refining methods. Profits are profits, less the "expenses." That's the definition of "profit."
All I know is I worked for a "non-profit" hospital...their "non-profit" earnings were $11 million dollars (back in the early 90's). After they paid their bills, their employees, their overhead, paid everything...a non-profit made a profit of $11 million dollars in one year.
I'm not buying the oil companies' rhetoric.
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