paddlenbike's daily attempt to make your life a bit more sucky

[paddlenbike]

inflation is through the roof
your house has lost value
your high yield savings account is no longer high-yield thanks to declining interest rates

I know, I'm an :asshat:

[Seanz0rz]

geee thanks, i was having a not so bad day, now i want to step out in front of a bus now.

[paddlenbike]

ah, come on now, it's all in good fun!

[YotaFun]

Aw come on Sean, that made me laugh!

[scottiac]

and your department at work is trying to do twice as much work with half as many people...

[gilby4runner]

1.Paid off the runner and locked in a good interest rate on my home.
2.Built my house so its worth a lot more than i have in it...a little decrease in value wont hurt me to much.
3.Got smart and switched things around before the market slowed.

Sorry you didnt mess with my day... please just dont say that gas is going any higher.. then i will have to get another job to pay for it... but wait how will i pay for the gas to get to that job? ok never mind... day is ruined lol

[Seanz0rz]

ah dont worry too much, the buses around here travel far too slowly to do any real damage.

luckily the only debt i do have is student loans, which isnt technically bad (although i do have ALOT)

[paddlenbike]

Sorry you didnt mess with my day... please just dont say that gas is going any higher.. then i will have to get another job to pay for it... but wait how will i pay for the gas to get to that job? ok never mind... day is ruined lol


4. gas is going up higher (that was going to be tomorrow's installment)
5. J. Simon, V.P. of Exxon Mobile personally made a $12,500,000 salary (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24757944) last year
6. ConocoPhillips' Mulva earned $50.5 million last year (http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/CompanyFocus/BigOilsBigProblem.aspx?page=2)
7. The top seven execs at ExxonMobil got $93.7 million last year (http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/CompanyFocus/BigOilsBigProblem.aspx?page=2) including $16.7 million for chief Rex Tillerson.

How's your day now? LOL--joking.

[Seanz0rz]

http://money.cnn.com/2008/05/21/news/economy/oil_hearing/index.htm?cnn=yes

i call schennagains. if they gave up their million dollar salaries, and accepted a more modest 6 figure salary, then maybe oil wouldnt be 132 bucks a barrel?

[gilby4runner]

ok you win!!!! lol

[oly884]

http://money.cnn.com/2008/05/21/news/economy/oil_hearing/index.htm?cnn=yes

i call schennagains. if they gave up their million dollar salaries, and accepted a more modest 6 figure salary, then maybe oil wouldnt be 132 bucks a barrel?


You do know that their salary has no effect on the price of CRUDE oil, right?

[paddlenbike]

ok you win!!!! lol


:lol: I'm certainly not winning, I am getting beat-down by the aforementioned as well. I find joking about it eases the pain a little.

[gilby4runner]

ok you win!!!! lol


:lol: I'm certainly not winning, I am getting beat-down by the aforementioned as well. I find joking about it eases the pain a little.


Amen to that... just moved jobs and the price of gas was one of the reasons. All we can do is laugh at it. Its not like we are going to stop buying it.

[Seanz0rz]

very true.

but why is the price of crude rising? its more than doubled in the last two years. in 05 it was trading right around 60 a barrel, now its 130+.

ExxonMobil: $158.5 billion
Shell: $108.5 billion
BP: $89.2 billion
ChevronTexaco: $60.9 billion
ConocoPhillips: $46.9 billion

those are profit figures from 1st Q. 07. very little of this money is being put back into capital here in the US or even abroad. the money is mostly going to pay shareholders and into the pockets of the execs. instead of lining execs profits, why not lower the price of gas in this country, convince us to buy gas guzzling automobiles, and then jack up the prices later... oh wait they already did that, nevermind.

[Bob98SR5]

very true.

but why is the price of crude rising?


Greater demand from china and india and other developing nations
OPEC keeping things in balance (in their favor as usual)
instability in the oil regions (iraq, iran, etc)
crude oil speculators
China snapping up lucrative contracts in Africa
and on and on and on...

[oly884]

very true.

but why is the price of crude rising? its more than doubled in the last two years. in 05 it was trading right around 60 a barrel, now its 130+.

ExxonMobil: $158.5 billion
Shell: $108.5 billion
BP: $89.2 billion
ChevronTexaco: $60.9 billion
ConocoPhillips: $46.9 billion

those are profit figures from 1st Q. 07. very little of this money is being put back into capital here in the US or even abroad. the money is mostly going to pay shareholders and into the pockets of the execs. instead of lining execs profits, why not lower the price of gas in this country, convince us to buy gas guzzling automobiles, and then jack up the prices later... oh wait they already did that, nevermind.




First off, do you have a link where you got those figures? Their net income in 2006 was 39.5 billion, so something isn't right here.

Remember, when someone starts a business, they are entitled to make money, right? Well, when you consider that in 2006, Exxon-Mobil made 377.6 BILLION dollars, and their NET income was 39.5 billion, that's only a 10% profit margin (news flash, 10% profit margin is NOT high) Also, for shits and giggles, take a look at how much tax they paid last year. Seriously, look it up.

What, because they make more money the shouldn't take such a "high" :roll: profit margin? Also, the money isn't put back into capital? Please show me where you found that. The operational costs and upgrades to refineries is astounding. Plenty is going back into capital. As a matter of fact, if we didn't have such a stupid government who stops these companies from searching and drilling in our own country, I bet that even more would go back into capital.

But noooooo. We all bitch about them destroying the environment and put stupid laws and regulations in place that restrict their potential to obtain, process, and distribute gas.

AND THEN WE BITCH ABOUT THE PRICE OF GAS!!!!

When will people realize that profits, no matter the company, are relative to their total revenue. If they had those profits with a 50% profit margin, things would be different.

(This is not to detract from the importance of keeping the environment clean, it IS important, but a dozen or so acres of arctic tundra is NOT that important)

Edit: So you know, I'm not 'on the oil company's side, I'm just tired of people using these arguments that simply don't stand up to the facts.

[paddlenbike]

Hence the reason Bob will be doing his own oil refining.

http://home.off-road.com/~kemanuel/forum/bob_fuel.jpg

[Seanz0rz]

worst photoshop ever.

[paddlenbike]

no kidding. it's the best i could do with ms paint and 20 seconds of time to spare.

[paddlenbike]

Hey gilby4runner, gas went up again. Oil is $135/barrel :chair:

[TDiddy]

You could be having a bad day, but his might be worse:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/Lynniebint/Catz/funny-pictures-brushed-seal-leg-pan.jpg

[Henrythewound]

First off, do you have a link where you got those figures? Their net income in 2006 was 39.5 billion, so something isn't right here.

Remember, when someone starts a business, they are entitled to make money, right? Well, when you consider that in 2006, Exxon-Mobil made 377.6 BILLION dollars, and their NET income was 39.5 billion, that's only a 10% profit margin (news flash, 10% profit margin is NOT high) Also, for shits and giggles, take a look at how much tax they paid last year. Seriously, look it up.

What, because they make more money the shouldn't take such a "high" :roll: profit margin? Also, the money isn't put back into capital? Please show me where you found that. The operational costs and upgrades to refineries is astounding. Plenty is going back into capital. As a matter of fact, if we didn't have such a stupid government who stops these companies from searching and drilling in our own country, I bet that even more would go back into capital.

But noooooo. We all ******* about them destroying the environment and put stupid laws and regulations in place that restrict their potential to obtain, process, and distribute gas.

AND THEN WE ******* ABOUT THE PRICE OF GAS!!!!

When will people realize that profits, no matter the company, are relative to their total revenue. If they had those profits with a 50% profit margin, things would be different.

(This is not to detract from the importance of keeping the environment clean, it IS important, but a dozen or so acres of arctic tundra is NOT that important)

Edit: So you know, I'm not 'on the oil company's side, I'm just tired of people using these arguments that simply don't stand up to the facts.


Drilling for more oil in Alaska will not solve any problems long term. We already have domestic exploration which does not seem to put too much of a damper on our dependence on foreign oil. Would you be in favor of tearing up a good chunk of utah to squeeze oil from the mass amounts of oil shales there? I think the answer lies in expanding tech for alt fuel vehicles. People will not seriously consider this option until it REALLY starts to hurt the pocketbook, that hurt is just starting to become apparent. Until people can't afford their recreation and commuting the demand for this tech is not strong enough. I do not support exploration on a "few acres" just because it might save me some coin. That being said, I really wish the industry would start developing alternative fuel vehicles at a more rapid rate than they are currently. Maybe the tide is beginning to turn

[04 Rocko Taco]

Alternative fuels are the only long term answer to this question. Perhaps I'll be back to elaborate on this later...perhaps not.

[Seanz0rz]

alternative fuels are where its at, my personal favorite is electric.

however, growing corn or other food crops to make fuel is... at least at this point, rather stupid. its driving the price of food higher, and making it more scarce, not to mention our fuel supply is subject to fluctuations in growing seasons, etc.

[Bob98SR5]

Hence the reason Bob will be doing his own oil refining.

http://home.off-road.com/~kemanuel/forum/bob_fuel.jpg


haha, i love it!!!

[Bob98SR5]

alternative fuels are where its at, my personal favorite is electric.

however, growing corn or other food crops to make fuel is... at least at this point, rather stupid. its driving the price of food higher, and making it more scarce, not to mention our fuel supply is subject to fluctuations in growing seasons, etc.


electric is not really the answer since some form of generation needs to produce that electricity. solar electricity would be a better form b/c it is a renewable source that is not dependent upon a fossil fuel generation source.

[Seanz0rz]

electric is not really the answer since some form of generation needs to produce that electricity. solar electricity would be a better form b/c it is a renewable source that is not dependent upon a fossil fuel generation source.



that was my unstated position. either solar, wind, hydroelectric (though this causes problems too) and geothermal are the best ways.

[Henrythewound]

it would be nice to see a bunch of these not-so-economic oil drilling operations converted into geothermal stations. Here in AZ I can't believe solar is not more prevalent. It's too expensive for most to consider at this point. We need a ton more R&D to get these means of generating power into place. It seems obvious we should harness solar in places like AZ. Some here have it and end up getting paid by the electric Co for the excess they generate and pipe to the power co.

[Seanz0rz]

it would be nice to see a bunch of these not-so-economic oil drilling operations converted into geothermal stations. Here in AZ I can't believe solar is not more prevalent. It's too expensive for most to consider at this point. We need a ton more R&D to get these means of generating power into place. It seems obvious we should harness solar in places like AZ. Some here have it and end up getting paid by the electric Co for the excess they generate and pipe to the power co.


we have the technology, and i see new stuff popping up every day here on the internets and in the scientific journals. however, its not at the point where it can be manufactured at a price point that is attractive. its not at the point where it even breaks even. give it another few years and another doubling in energy prices, and i think well start to see alot more solar.

why not just use the surface area of the roof to collect energy? takes up no extra room, etc.

[Henrythewound]

It seems the breaking point of ANY alt fuel/ebergy source is when it gets too expensive to run what we are used to. The environment is not people's primary concern, it's their wallets. I really wish it wasn't so, but it will take gas getting too expensive for middle class folks to afford to really stir up any change. Right now gas prices sting a bit, probably nothing compared to what they will be years from now.

Mental note: get those UT and CO road trips in the Runner in now before it's too late.

[Nick]

A LOT less people were out this Memorial day as opposed to last. I say this not as per newscast but rather because last Memorial day there were a ton of people here; there's a nice park a minute away from me and a pier; cars were parked everywhere, including fire hydrants and a few people decided to park on the side-walk all together. Today? I found parking by my house in a few minutes. Last year I wound up driving back to where I came from.

I agree with Henry. People will really care and notice once their wallets hurt enough, and not the environment. I'm also down with the fact that it's going to take alternative energy sources to solve this.

Two days ago, gas here was 4.09. Today it's 4.19 - this is the cheapest around here.