Posted by AuntieMel on August 11, 2006, at 16:59:54
In reply to Re: only in the oil business » AuntieMel, posted by Bobby on August 10, 2006, at 19:12:42
Well, I doubt if I'm your only ally.
Yes, there are huge profits, but it's more a scale thing than an obscene profits thing.
The business are so big, that the numbers look big.
The return on investment, though, is not that great. Percentage wise, coca-cola does much better. I believe that when the headlines came out about Exxon's billions one quarter, it was actally only about 10-12% ROI - and the stock dropped.
It costs millions to drill one well. They only get drilled when the price looks to stay up over 20-30bbl (which sounds low now, but that's recent news.)
And worse than that, it's not a stable business. I love working in it, but I wouldn't advise my kids to go into it.
I know there are people who suffer from the price of gas (BTW - check out how much of that is taxes) but, you know, back in the 80s when half a million of us lost jobs no one cared. Those jobs are lost forever, too. My hubby and I were both out of work at the same time just hoping to make the house payments.
Also look at how much your current gallon of gas is ethanol related. Talk about a boondoggle - there's tariffs on ethanol and the farmers get subsidies. Imagine if anyone in the oil biz suggested a subsidy when the price was below 10bbl?
There was a bumber sticker - Please, God, give me one more boom. I promise not to "f" it up this time.
Sorry for the jumbledness of this - my cut and paste isn't working...
poster:AuntieMel
thread:675260
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20060809/msgs/675679.html