Obama Tries to End Oil Subsidies

[imaposer]

And republicans shoot it down:

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama called on Congress to stop taxpayer-funded subsidies for oil companies, and the Senate promptly ignored him Thursday.

Senators voted 51 to 47 to end debate on a bill that would do what Obama asked, thus failing to reach the 60 votes needed to end a filibuster.

The rebuff came just an hour after the president took to the Rose Garden to make his appeal, arguing that with oil prices hovering at around $100 a barrel and oil companies netting billions of dollars each financial quarter, there's little reason to give taxpayer-funded aid to the U.S. petroleum industry.

"On top of these record profits, oil companies are also getting billions a year in taxpayer subsidies," Obama said. "Think about that. It's like hitting the American people twice. You're already paying a premium at the pump right now. And on top of that, Congress thinks it's a good idea to send billions more of your tax dollars to the oil industry?"

LINK

Just trying to be fair and balanced.....

[Islander_212]

The other thing is they are actually tax breaks as incentives to explore for more oil and to keep jobs. These same incentives go to all employers who make things. The money is actually their own money, they just get to keep more of it and is not "our" money as the liar-in-chief keeps spouting. It is a sad time when this clown gets up and continuously lies to the public and the mainstream media says nothing! Now do you think the price of gas will go up or down with this move? On average the oil companies make about 6% profit. The government takes about 15% in taxes on every gallon sold at the current price. Even more when the price drops. It amounts to about $.50 / gallon depending on the state... Some are higher and some are lower...

[Nervous Wreck]

On average the oil companies make about 6% profit.

Hate to disagree with you Islander, but last year Exxon/Mobile posted 10 billion plus profits! (and that was one quarter)
If that's only 6%....Daayummm!

[Lock5]

So should the oil industry not get the same tax system as the rest of America? Just because they make goobs of money doesn't change the fact that they are American companies playing by the same rules as others.

[Islander_212]

On average the oil companies make about 6% profit.

Hate to disagree with you Islander, but last year Exxon/Mobile posted 10 billion plus profits! (and that was one quarter)
If that's only 6%....Daayummm!

For the quarter you are referring to, their profit was 9.4% overall on all their products. Revenue was $114 Billion and profit was $10.65 Billion. They sell a lot of products besides gasoline. They then take a whole lot of that profit and put it back into the system hiring people and exploring for new oil and the like. Now don't get me wrong... I hate gas prices as much the next person. Put $100 in my truck last week, $160 in the boat and the wife put in $90 in her truck and $20 in the lawn mower. I also gave Walmart $1,200 last month for groceries! It is out of control and mostly because of our worthless dollar... For 2010 it looks like EM only made about $.02 / gallon on fuel. Here is a link to read a little more about it. There are a lot of other sites out there as well.

http://www.dailymarkets.com/economy/201 ... er-gallon/

[Nervous Wreck]

So how about this article?

ExxonMobil profits soar 69 percent in first quarter

ExxonMobil Corp., the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, said first quarter earnings jumped 69 percent on higher oil prices, improved performance at its refining and chemical units and increased oil and natural gas production.

Net income rose to $10.7 billion, or 2.14 per share, from $6.3 billion, or $1.33 a share, in the same period a year ago, the Irving-based oil giant said in a statement this morning. Revenues climbed to $114 billion, from $90 billion in the January-to-March period in 2010.

The quarterly earnings were the company’s best since it reported $14.8 billion in profits in the third quarter of 2008, when oil prices spiked to a record $147 a barrel.

link:
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2011/04/28/exxo ... ent-in-q1/

[Islander_212]

Nervous

You are correct that is a lot of money, but they also risked a lot to earn a meager 10% return. I don't think any of us think that a profit of 10% on anything is doing all that special. The government made a whole lot more when you consider their "profit" from each gallon sold is on average around $.50 / gallon for little to no investment... If EM sold us the gas at their cost, it would still be too expensive!

[kdfwr911]

Nervous

You are correct that is a lot of money, but they also risked a lot to earn a meager 10% return. I don't think any of us think that a profit of 10% on anything is doing all that special. The government made a whole lot more when you consider their "profit" from each gallon sold is on average around $.50 / gallon for little to no investment... If EM sold us the gas at their cost, it would still be too expensive!

Not disagreeing with you here. But when oil companies make a profit at $40 a barrel, and then oil prices run up to $100 a barrel over night and stays simply because some rag head in Iran farts, how does their profit margin stay at 10%?

[E_]

Yep, I'd like to know that too. CW I worry some of what you read is propaganda put out there by some people raping us. I think there is their story, the story others want told and somewhere in between is the truf.

[Islander_212]

Yep, I'd like to know that too. CW I worry some of what you read is propaganda put out there by some people raping us. I think there is their story, the story others want told and somewhere in between is the truf.

I just pull their annual report that is submitted to the SEC, so I doubt it is propoganda... The government is raping us for sure!

[E_]

So you think that is not doctored. lol