Today’s economics lesson

 

1. Indeed. 

   Posted by cmblake6       06/05/2008  at  07:48 AM  



2. I think that’s a bit misleading though. Yeah, the oil companies are making 9 cents a gallon. But the independent storage yards are making some profit. And the distributors are making some profit. And so is the guy running the gas station. I bet that all profits and taxes add up to $1 a gallon. Which is not really unreasonable, even at $1.25 a gallon.

   Try buying anything other than food at retail. The profit margin their is usually 300-400%. Or more. Eyeglasses are about the worst: those designer frames cost the glasses shop about $17, and they sell them to you for over $350. And the glasses shop is buying from a distributor!! The factory actually only gets about $8 per pair.

   Posted by Drew458       06/05/2008  at  09:17 AM  



3. Yeah but Drew, I’d be surprised if any single *private sector* entity were making as much as 42 cents a gallon. Sure, everyone gets their bit in the long trail from the wellhead to the gas pump. Even before the wellhead, companies like Schlumberger charge to do seismic testing to determine *where to put* said wellhead. But the only group that gets to make 10-15% of the total retail price at one swoop is the ONE group that produces NOTHING to actually *earn* what they charge. And they are likewise the only group that you cannot refuse to pay. If you simply stopped buying gas, they’d shift that demand for money somewhere else where you didn’t have the option not to buy.

   Posted by GrumpyOldFart       06/06/2008  at  08:50 AM  



4. Don’t forget our friends at the commodities exchange, who make a living out of jacking up the prices of things and dancing all the way to the bank. These are the real winners.. Where are their windfall taxes? What happened to boost oil up almost 100%? Did the supplies dwindle? NO.. Did Katrina destroy all available refineries? NO.. Did the supplies disappear ?? I think not. It’s a bunch of people who have control of the prices, and a bunch of table cloth wearing price gougers in OPEC, who decided that 20 diamond encrusted Bentleys weren’t enough.
   This is the entity of the private sector who are getting wealthy on us..
   Bah, I just spent almost $40 to fill my ‘87 Civic with gas..
   Bill

   Posted by Doctor DETH       06/08/2008  at  01:02 AM  

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