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576 Comments
- inactive, on 04/22/2008, -17/+135We need to investigate the Government's windfall profits on oil. Such naked greed is unacceptable. Never before has Government made so much money on oil.
- prashantpawar, on 04/22/2008, -25/+81The Profit margins of various industries.
Damn Water utility supplies has a better profit margin than major oil and gas firms.
Periodical Publishing 24.9%
Shipping 18.8%
Application Software 22.5%
Tobacco 19%
Water Utilities 10.2%
Major Integrated Oil and Gas 9.5%
Hospitals 1.4%
Drugstores 2.8%
Clearly, greedy corporate profits are not the issue.
"First, we need to take into account inflation. The result of the Federal Reserve printing too much money is a loss of purchasing power of the dollar: something that cost $1.00 in 1950 would cost about $8.78 today. As for gas prices, in 1950 the price of gas was approximately 30 cents per gallon. Adjusted for inflation, a gallon of gas today should cost right at $2.64, assuming taxes are the same."
So adjusting for inflation, and taxes, a gallon of Gas which cost 30 cents in 1950, should cost $3.16 today, and the average price of gas in US today is $3.25.
Gas prices are NOT high. - inactive, on 04/22/2008, -8/+63Obama wants to add a windfall profits tax as well. Then the Government can make even more.
- Quick2822, on 04/22/2008, -9/+61I'll admit, I did enjoy seeing the Ludwig von Mises Institute website on the front page of Digg.
Ron Paul bases his economics on Ludwig. - wenomspitta, on 04/22/2008, -9/+60wow... an economically justified article on digg... I was looking forward to the usual *****...
- stanleyford, on 04/22/2008, -4/+45Corporations and generic, non-specific "greed" are easy targets for the ire of the public when prices increase. The truth is, the government is usually more to blame for the price increases than private industry is. Ironically, many people think the "solution" to high prices is to increase--rather than decrease--the role of government in private industry.
- inactive, on 04/22/2008, -9/+45Tell that to the "Free Healthcare" crowd.
- ShempRider, on 04/22/2008, -14/+45That's one of the better submissions I've read in a while.
- Sinai, on 04/22/2008, -10/+40Good article, this always pisses me off when people blame the oil companies. The corporate oil companies don't control either supply or demand, they're middlemen. In oil, government is always at the top, sometimes by taxes, and sometimes by government run oil companies. All the corporate oil company giants put together don't match up to a single major national oil company.
- mountvale, on 04/22/2008, -5/+34If environmentalists really wanted to save the earth, they'd let the price of oil sky-rocket.
Increased price = reduced consumption.
That's what led to the purchase of fuel-efficient cars in the early 80's. - SpaceMonkeyZero, on 04/22/2008, -33/+62McCain wanted to repeal the Federal sales tax on gasoline for the summer...
How's that progressing through Congress? I bet the Dems are blocking it to help Obama. - petebot, on 04/22/2008, -12/+41You mean the tax that goes towards rmaintaining roads? During construction season?
- wefarrell, on 04/22/2008, -3/+32Economics takes too much thinking, lynch mobs are way easier.
- inactive, on 04/22/2008, -6/+31Finally not a liberally slanted article on Digg's frontpage. Sometimes it is hard to swallow (that's what she said) the truth, and much easier to have a knee-jerk reaction and blame the big mean oil companies for stealing all of our money. Fact of the matter is, we're starting to see the consequences of decades of deficit spending, pointless wars, and greed.
- Sinai, on 04/22/2008, -4/+25The fact that so many oil companies have merged is a strong indicator that things are not all well for them. Of course, if they all merge, then you end up with one giant monopoly with the ability to dictate it's will on people. Like, oh, I don't know, the government.
- cheesejaguar, on 04/22/2008, -4/+24Gasoline is used by shipping companies to move food. Higher gas prices mean higher cost of food. Higher food cost means that poor people won't be able to feed their family.
- gleongelpi, on 04/22/2008, -9/+27There are several things wrong with this article. First, the inflation adjustment. A dollar in 1950 is not the equivalent of $8.78 today. The real inflation rate would peg a 1950 dollar at around $20 today. Don't believe the false government statistics on inflation. Let me give you some examples. In the early 1960's, I could buy a Coke on a machine for a nickle, and when I took the glass bottle back, I got two cents in return. In the mid-sixties, my father rented a four-bedroom house for $85. When in college, a few years later, friends and I rented a big apartment near the university for $75. As late as 1977, I was able to rent a place for as cheap as $55 a month--a nice one too. In the sixties one could buy a new car for under $1,000. My college tuition in 1967 was $120 a semerter. In the 80's, I was able to find health insurance for under $100 on a six-month plan. Breakfast at a diner was about 25 cents in the late sixties. Oh, by the way, in 1970 one could buy a gallon of gas for as low as 19.9 cents when they had the gas war. The house that I wanted to buy in 1976 for 30K but could not afford sold in the late 90's for just under half a milllion.
- inactive, on 04/22/2008, -3/+20As somebody who works for a hospital, I can tell you that sounds about right. I work at a for profit hospital, and after it's all said and done our profit margin was about 3% last fiscal year. They give us the full financial statements to encourage penny pinching and saving money when we can (as long as doing so does not effect the quality of care our patients get). Remember, we have to treat anybody who comes in our ER, even if it's not an emergency. Over 50% of our ER patients get treated without paying us a dime. Most come in, get treated, and leave never to be heard from again. Not pointing fingers or laying blame, but illegal immigrants account for a nice percentage of patients we will never collect money from.
- dhughes, on 04/22/2008, -3/+19 You also have to account for wages, what does the average family make in 2008 compared to 1950 when adjusted for inflation, and inflation doesn't include the price of fuel that's not part of it.
I bet the average wage such as the minimum wage is not even close to what it was in the example year of 1950.
What percentage of a person's weekly take home pay went to pay for fuel in 1950 and 2008?
- jkahrs595, on 04/22/2008, -8/+24High or not, gas sure is hard to pay for as a college student.
- ShempRider, on 04/22/2008, -1/+17My taxes are paid with theoretical dollars.
- evilbob333, on 04/22/2008, -2/+18I got no problem paying taxes for roads, police and military. Its the entitlement spending, social security and Medicaid that I don't want to pay for. Why do people always bring up legitimate government services as examples of things that are going to have to be cut, when the bulk of stuff that money is spent is illegitimate money transfers?
- TomK88, on 04/22/2008, -18/+33All taxes are bad! Government shouldn't take any money at all. Stuff like roads, police, military, etc. should just be paid for magically.
- Sinai, on 04/22/2008, -6/+21Regressing 50 years is usually considered a bad thing. The price of wheat is positively tiny compared to in 1079, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be concerned that it's tripled in the past few years.
- cheesejaguar, on 04/22/2008, -5/+20As someone with family that works in the Pharmaceutical industry, yes. Think about it, you spend 10-15 years and billions of dollars researching a product and begging the FDA to let you sell it on the market before you even start to sell the drug.
- awm4, on 04/22/2008, -1/+15The Federal Gas Tax is roughly 18 cents a gallon, this tax is a flat tax on every gallon sold. However were things start getting interesting is when state and local taxes get added. Most of these taxes are in the form of sales tax which is on a percentage basis. In these cases as the price of gas climbs the local income from the taxes also goes up. A flat tax is one thing but make a larger profit based solely on demand is sketchy at best.
This website breaks up the gas taxes by State. See how bad it is where you live.
http://www.gaspricewatch.com/usgastaxes.asp - inactive, on 04/22/2008, -1/+15Which will further drive up gas prices. One way or another, oil companies will continue to bring in 9% profit. If we tax them to try to decrease profits, they'll just increase prices. Then all we've done is increased taxes you and I pay, we've just hidden it better than saying "Hey I'm going to raise your taxes!". Who'll suffer the most? Poor people.
- Ne007, on 04/22/2008, -2/+16How about they spend the money that I already give them....CORRECTLY!
It doesn't take the government to make the world go around! - dericko, on 04/22/2008, -1/+15The government doesn't "make" money.. it spends it all.
- JimSwarthow, on 04/22/2008, -7/+20in the vein of the old adage "a broken clock is right twice a day", NPR of all outlets has broken down the real-deal in regards to gas-prices. behold: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?story ...
- mbraynard, on 04/22/2008, -0/+13It is accurate; the Fed controls the M2 and M1 supply. As this increases, the dollar is worth relatively less. What is to disagree with?
- tsotha, on 04/22/2008, -2/+15Your perceived inflation is no more accurate than anyone elses. The inflation rate is the aggregate rate of price change on everything, so if you just pick out the things that have gone up the most, your calculations are just as wrong as people who only pick out the things that don't change at all.
Inflation is very hard to measure, because not everyone spends the same proportion of money on the same things - I myself only fill the tank about once every three weeks, so even though gas has gone up pretty dramatically recently, my perceived inflation rate is still quite low. - TomK88, on 04/22/2008, -20/+33Do you people not realize that your services have to paid for by something? There is no free lunch.
- inactive, on 04/22/2008, -3/+16Eeeeek! You mean to say that in order f/me to to lose weight, I must restrict intake and increase output? Isn't there anything easier?
The fed tax on a gal of gas remains 18.4¢—not much of a price decrease but a little relief. Of course, the Dem-controlled Congress must approve removing it; does one really believe the Left is gonna give up so much as a cent in taxes if it doesn't have to? The percentage that oil cos profit is far lower than other US businesses, but fuel-users cont to complain, not availing themselves of the facts: Bitching is so much easier, isn't it? The REAL gouge is the state taxes on fuel, which range fr/slightly less than the fed's to more than 30¢/gal {where does one suppose THAT is?} and are SUPPOSED to be used f/infrastructure but, of course, are not. - johnstar, on 04/22/2008, -0/+13income - cost of living = disposable income
want to guess witch number in the equation is shrinking? - Raider007, on 04/22/2008, -3/+15gas prices @ $3.25/gallon? where? I haven't seen those prices in 6-8 months...
- pitlord, on 04/23/2008, -6/+18Hey DUMBASSES!
o.o
You don't need to investigate anything. I'll tell you who is responsible for the gasoline taxes. Those gasoline taxes were all voted for by YOU!
>.>
And by voting for Senator Clinton or Obama you are voting for more of the same thing. - blitzman, on 04/22/2008, -0/+11My paper money has "Federal Reserve Note" prominently printed on it.
- ksmcafee, on 04/22/2008, -0/+11inelastic gasoline demand still throws a kink in this theory from a materiality point of view
- thechitowncubs, on 04/22/2008, -2/+13They deserve it, best think tank on the web!
- inactive, on 04/22/2008, -0/+10Best "back in my day" post ever.
- stevejobs, on 04/22/2008, -6/+16Hospital 1.4% and Pharmacy 2.8% profit margins? Is that really accurate?
- ShempRider, on 04/22/2008, -1/+11"Application Software 22.5%"
The Pirate Bay is making a fortune. - Elamen, on 04/22/2008, -2/+12Then starvation kills off thousand if not millions, reducing demand and strain on food and gas thus price goes down. The system works!
- diggduggDOOM, on 04/22/2008, -1/+11I like your theory of magic spending. Would you care to run for office in the good ol' US of A?
/we offer magic money kickbacks - cheesejaguar, on 04/22/2008, -4/+1450 years != 1000 years.
- inactive, on 04/22/2008, -0/+9This is all anyone really needs to know about the situation. http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,151 ...
- jakobmakob, on 04/22/2008, -4/+13Why not both?
- kuantan97, on 04/23/2008, -1/+10Wrong. Inflation is nothing but the printing of more money. Rising prices are a result of such extra printing. As an economy grows, that is, as it produces more, prices tend to drop. That is why goods often begin as luxuries for the rich; after mass production prices will tend to drop and the masses can more easily afford such goods.
- Mothrog, on 04/22/2008, -3/+12How the hell is that more reason for universal healthcare? The only thing it says to me is that the cost of healthcare would stay about the same should it be nationalized, until of course it becomes nationalized and every hypochondriac decides they need $50,000 worth of tests every month. I'll pass.
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