Good point (the latter half of your post). I like to make the people who invented "Big Oil" and "Big Pharma" regret it by slapping "Big" onto the front of ANYTHING. E.g. Big Corn, Big Lawyers, Big Teachers, Big Unions, Big Immigrants, Big Government, Big Banks, Big Casinos, Big Burgers, Big Beer, Big Tobacco...

Who makes more profit from a gallon of gasoline? ExxonMobil or the Government?

Hint: It isn't even close.
Another hint: They REALLY don't give a crap about the consumer or this would change.

-Bob C.

I hate Big Grocery. Have you seen the prices on artichokes, red bell peppers, and asparagus lately? :-)

Exxon is going away in a few months, it will be all mobil.
Mobil pretty much controls all the oil base stocks, they sell to almost all the major oil companies, every thing from group I to group V. they even sell basestocks to smaller companies like amsoil.
I am not sure how much of the gas market they control, but it is safe to assume that it is impossible not to buy from them, more than likely they supply many smaller no name brands with gas, not to mention if no one bought there gas they would just sell it to shell or some other big company.

Oh, that's an easy one. Here in Wisconsin, Governor Doyle is proposing a budget which has $1.7 billion in new taxes and fees -- including ANOTHER gas tax hike (all in the name of not raising income taxes). The dirty little secret is that if gas consumption drops off suddenly, the government loses a ton of revenue...so if FE is going to improve, it's going to happen SLOWLY.

Why should the state control prices in a free market? It almost always leads to long-term problems. If you don't like the price of gas, you can a) use less or b) explore, drill, and refine your own oil.

Citgo people, Citgo. I'd much rather support a government-owned company that invests in social programs both at home and abroad than a greedy multinational corporation.

found this thread looking over the archives. it's a good one, not for the boycott of exxon, but for the different views on oil profits. BTW, i believe it foolish for anyone to overlook mobile especially if there's is the lowest price. i've lifted my boycott for that reason.

i challenge anyone to search, then compare and contrast profit MARGINS of different industries. i believe the "rough necks" extracting and refining oil should be well compensated. as far as the execs, they're overpaid just as many(most?) large companies of ANY business are!

and yes, oil is a huge money maker, for the US govt! and whose fault is it that the gov't and big oil are gettin' paid? the ones burning the fuel like there's no tomorrow, we the consumer.

i particularly like the opening post(thread starter), which states, "it's always someone else's fault." for the most part, we cannot control the speculators, price of crude, and taxes; but we can control(limit) our usage!

Damn, man, exactly one year bump. Nice old bump.
https://www.oucampusministry.com/phot...isa%20BUMP.jpg

i just buy gas from FS or BP, sometimes shell but thier always 2-3 cents higher...

Lately I've been filling up at a Pilot Station and its been the cheapest I've seen anywhere. Right now its like 3.85 for 87. Woot, what a bargain [sarcam]