Biden threated windfall profits tax.
While it is true that oil companies have had high profits over the last 4 quarters, Biden ignores that those profitable quarters follow 5 quarters of record pandemic losses. The current high profits are necessary to pay debts incurred in the pandemic and to restore depleted cash reserves.
Remember that when Trump wanted to buy crude at $24/bbl for the strategic reserves while those losses accumulated, Democrats refused claiming it was a bailout for big oil. We’re paying for that now in higher profit margins and will pay for it again when we refill the reserve at $80-100/bbl/
Tidewater News and Opinion Forum 
Joe Biden apparently believes that oil company profits belong to him. I would tell him that oil company profits belong — at least in part — to stockholders like me, and I need them to pay my bills.
Also, I am glad when there are “windfall” periods. They help to ensure that the company I rely on will keep its dividend rate stable through less profitable times.
The rhetoric of government officials seems increasingly to express a proprietary interest in things it shouldn’t. I don’t like it.
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It’s worse than that
Biden(actually, the man behind the curtain, whoever that is) doesn’t want a long term reduction in gas prices. His goal is to price the poor and middle class out of the petroleum market. He only wants to lower the price for 13 more days, or to appear to be doing something to that purpose.
High petroleum prices are the price he is paying for the support of the radical environmental lobby. They are not that many in number, but they are a major part of the Democrat Party donor base.
So, however the election goes, you can expect Biden to do everything he can to raise petroleum prices two weeks from today.
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You hypocritical buffoon. It doesn’t matter what party is siting in the Oval Office; they ALL do the same damned thing every damned time.
Get over your hatred for Democrats and start considering our democratic republic.
And your piss poor record on predictions is going to shoot yourself in the foot…AGAIN!
The price per barrel of oil has been pretty steady over the past several weeks, in the $85-90 range. Yet prices go up to line the pockets of oil company c-suite denizens and shareholders. The can make a very nice profit, pay shareholders a very nice dividend and cut their bonuses to $500 Million instead $1 Billion, without STEALING from the public in the manner they are.
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So, after 5 quarters of horrendous losses, the oil companies should not pay their debts and rebuild their cash reserves to be ready for the next bust cycle?
You do expect to be able to get fuel when you need it, don’t you?
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Hyperbole much? Horrendous losses? hahaha.
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Over $20 billion in a single quarter is a historic loss. Those losses have to be repaid if you want to be able to get fuel.
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Historic or horrendous? Which is it? And wrt to “historical”, how is inflation taken into the equation?
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“Over $20 billion in a single quarter is a historic loss. Those losses have to be repaid if you want to be able to get fuel.”
Yes, that was bad. For ONE Quarter. And they have been “repaid” many times over. This chart makes it clear that your argument is baloney.
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RE: “It’s worse than that.”
Yes, it is. Imagine the hubris it takes to believe that it is within the legitimate authority of government to stop and start whole industries. Only a megalomaniac could believe he has the right to shepard the fate of humanity.
Or, a psychopath.
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Considering that pursuing Net Zero requires writing off the lives of a billion or more people, I’ll go with psychopath in the case of those who are cold bloodedly committed to it, and colossal gullibility for those who follow them without understanding.
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NOT pursuing reductions in fossil fuel emissions will cost just as many, if not more lives.
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Evidence?
Not even the IPCC predicts major loss of life.
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When climate refugees start flooding inland areas or attempt to move to more fertile areas due to losses incurred through climate change, what will you say then?
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I wish the story could stay straight. First Biden demonizes oil and gas companies and shuts down production infrastructure, then he blames high prices on the world market, then he blames high prices on Russia, then he blames Saudi Arabia production cuts, then he comes full circle and blames oil and gas for not enough production. Oil and gas are a boom or bust business but Biden is doing everything he can to keep prices high.
Exactly how does a windfall tax equate to lower gas prices anyway? We all know cost increases are passed on to the customer and it’s not like the government will pass out Biden Bucks to “gas” consumers. In fact, tax windfalls are rarely used on anything remotely related to their source but squandered on some liberal social welfare experiment instead of returning it to taxpayers. An example is Alexandria having excess covid stimulus money it just couldn’t spend on covid related business losses but instead now will pass out $500 a month for 2 years to 170 “lottery winners” for just breathing and they don’t even have to work or be a US citizen. Liberals are so stupid.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wusa9.com/amp/article/news/local/virginia/alexandria-guaranteed-income-program-will-provide-people-500-every-month-2-years/65-873b1433-2a9c-4cb9-a38f-ce2b3ab4d0a1
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1) He did NOT shut down production infrastructure. Keystone was more than 2 years form completion.
2) The market, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Saudi cuts are all legitimate causes for market prices to rise. Even though the market price has been well below $100/bbl for quite a while.
Your lies show how misinformed you are about things. No president ever gets credit when prices go down but no matter who it is. Yet, they ALL get blamed, WRONGLY so, when prices go up.
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1) Keystone was one of scores of pipelines stopped, permits cancelled or postponed, and leases revoked or held back, many after the oil companies had spent millions on studies and engineering.
2)Prices were already well on their way up before Russia threatened Ukraine.
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Yet they STILL made massive profits. Profits come AFTER investment in studies and engineering.
And prices were going up before Russia’s invasion (they did just a tad more than “threaten”.) due the lower production incurred by lowere demand.
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Liberals = Muy Estupido
Correct you are Mr. Smith. And at times they are surprisingly so…
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A cunning linguist in our midst.
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I was think more of a corpus de feltao.
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…”follow 5 quarters of record pandemic losses”
Lower profits are NOT the same as record losses. Talk about using malfeasance to get a point across.
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No. they aren’t but the oil companies did operate at a loss for 5 quarters.
Graph
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No graph, just a word.
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Try again. To post a link that doesn’t display the whole URL requires posting and then editing the post. Takes me a few seconds sometimes.
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Five quarters out of how many? Oil companies are getting VERY VERY rich off of our pocketbooks, and you think it is just fine.
I call it price gouging.
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Then open your own oil company and sell cheaper gas, if they are truly price gouging, you should quickly capture the market.
Of course, if that were possible, one of the current suppliers would already have done it. Market share always trumps profit margin.
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Collusion is not just a Russian political tool.
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So, your theory is that greedy capitalists are passing up billions in profits just to be part of the club?
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“Market share always trumps profit margin.”
Like most of your categorical a priori statements that is simply NOT TRUE. And it is doubly NOT TRUE in an industry which no longer has never ending growth in its future.
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How many BP gas stations were in the US 20 years ago? Now they are everywhere. because there was a market they saw they could penetrate.
If the hand of government were not so heavy, there would be even more competition,
You just don’t believe in the power of the market.
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The same could be said of airlines. Bigger companies ATE the smaller ones. And it has ZIP to do with government. It has to do with the food chain you lovingly call “the market”.
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Well, there’s a lot to love about the market.
Just because you don’t have control over it does not mean it doesn’t work.
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It works fine for those running it. For the rest of us, not so much.
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We run the market, that is what you cannot conceptualize.
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“How many BP gas stations . . .”
Your categorical statement is still NOT TRUE.
Some industries fall into what we at General Electric back in the day called the “Harvest-Divest” category which means – among other things – that pursuing immediate profits over increasing market share is the strategic approach to be followed. Providing gasoline to automobiles is – arguably – in that category. It does not have much future left in it and that is why you do not see these oil giants showing much interest in price competition.
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