This is why we pay so much for gas...

[PeterMan]

It is a crime that one person can have this much money...

Occidental Petroleum Corp.'s chairman and chief executive took in more than $400 million in compensation last year, the company said in a filing, one of the biggest single-year payouts in U.S. corporate history.

http://money.cnn.com/2007/04/09/news/newsmakers/occidental.reut/index.htm?cnn=yes

 

[GAMEFINEST]

because he has stock options...

 

[Duckinla]

Truth is, we don't really pay that much for gas. We pay more for bottled water or milk. We just use a lot of it so it adds up.

100 years ago you might have spent 2 whole days traveling 60 miles. And require lodging half way. Now you can do it in less than an hour. So it costs 10 dollars in gas. I think that's a pretty darn fair trade.

 

[Steen]

That is a very large amount of compensation/options for one person to own however the costs of compensating the executive teams at oil companies are likely less than 1% of your gas bill.

This is the real reason:
http://tinyurl.com/29xbxu

 

[Duckinla]

Strangely, I am very much in favor of gas taxes even though I consider myself to be a reasonable conservative. Gas taxes are very fair...the people who use the most gas (trucking companies for example) pay the most for the maintenance and improvement of the roads. I wish all taxes were this fair. With property tax in California a new home buyer pays maybe 10 times as much as their neighbor who bought 20 years ago. They both receive the same services.

 

[GoPC]

Be careful what you wish for... if you demand that Oil Companies can only earn so much profit by limiting them to percentages or growth caps...

You cannot by a domain for reg fee and sell it for 6 Figures.

Are you for limiting profit?

Or... is it okay because OIL is BAD.

Or... is it because it isn't YOU with the $400M last year?

GoPC

 

[Duckinla]

Be careful what you wish for... if you demand that Oil Companies can only earn so much profit by limiting them to percentages or growth caps...

Well, even as a conservative and capitalist, I can't totally agree. The US is very good to oil companies and we should recieve some level of consideration in return. Our strong military helps to ensure their flow of oil. Just think about that point alone and how much of their ongoing success is owed to it.

However, most people don't understand the difference between Profit and Cash Flow. A company can be hugely profitable and not have great cash to show for it at the end of the year. Particularly if they have to continually reinvest or buy new inventory at higher prices. The owner of a gold coin store will show big profits in a year that gold prices went up. Doesn't mean he made a lot of money, because he has to buy more gold at the new high prices.

 

[GoPC]

Also consider the Billions of Dollars invested into finding, developing, extracting, staffing, etc that were spent BEFORE even one drop was realized.

Some regulation and accountability is enherant... I didn't mean to let them run unabated, obviously.

GoPC

 

[DomainMagnate]

oil will run out in 40 years, so we'll be reading stories about domainers who cashed $400M selling another premium 3 letter .com

 

[hugegrowth]

oil will run out in 40 years

... or less from what I've read.

 

[Duckinla]

20 years, 40 years, 200 years, what does it matter? We have the capacity to change and we will do it when market conditions require it. The sooner the better as far as I'm concerned.