Why does no one ever bring up the oil company profits during this economical crisis?

[graywarrior]

Why is it swept under the rug? How much are oil company CEO's making in bonuses? And why are food prices so damn high and not going down while thousands of people a day a losing their jobs?

Seriously....why do the oil companies never have to take accountability for their gouging? WHY?

Call me naive, but everytime I have to fill my gas tank, I wonder who's getting my $25.

[terisan]

1. Farm Bill (billions) was passed by Dems last summer-it causes high food prices.

lots of Repubs voted for it too I am sure, but my disappoint with the Dems is profound. They give billions to agribusiness and then give relative pittance to poor in form of food stamps, and middle class just gets high priced food.

I agree food too high and gas too high considering price of barrel.

[Ikonoklast]

11. Food is high because of commodity speculation.

Same reason crude oil was run up; look at the commodity markets and where the price of bulk food commodities are now in relation to crude. Massive run-ups due to speculation followed by a crash as investors fled the market trying to raise cash or lock in profits.

The farm bill had relatively little to do with that.

The problem with food is that processors are tied into contracts for raw materials purchased at the height of the market in order to hedge against even higher prices in the future. Works well when prices are increasing, but when commodities collapse you are left holding the bag on say, a million bushels of wheat that can suddenly be purchased on the open market for a dollar a bushel less than what you contracted for.

You either keep the prices of your finished product high and hope your competitors got caught in the same squeeze, or you eat the loss to stay price competitive.

[RB TexLa]

2. I get part of it as a provider of the raw product that becomes your gas.

Thank you.

[taterguy]

4. Calling it your job old hoss sure don't make it right

[RB TexLa]

9. It's not my occupation.

[begin_within]

3. Oil companies should bail out the auto makers

in my opinion. They need each other to survive so they should take care of each other.

[hughee99]

5. Looking at this list, it looks like the Oil Company CEO's weren't that bad

At least they were getting big bonuses while making big profits (the bit profits being another issue).

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/12/lead_bestbosses08_CEO-Compensation_Rank.html

Some highlights (this is compensation, not necessarily "bonuses")...

#21 Ray Irani - Occidental Petroleum $54 million
#25 John Hess - Hess $46 million
#33 Mike Watford - Ultra Petroleum $40 million
#44 David O'Reilly - Chevron $31 mil
#134 Rex Tillerson - ExxonMobil $13 million

But here's the best (or worst) part...
#8 Lloyd Blandfien - Goldman Sachs $73 million
#11 Richard Fuld - Lehman Bros. $71 million
#82 James Dimon - JPMorgan $20 mil

The oil company's CEOs are screwing the public but are bringing in profits.
The financial company's CEOs are screwing the public and the shareholders, and are being better compensated for it.

At least according to the Forbes numbers.

[david13]

6. Or GM & Ford

top people. Sure they talk about that $1 business, oh, I have agreed to work for $1.
Yeah, this week. But what do they get next week and last year. Wagner that GM chief got 20 million. And then he goes to WDC to beg for money.
dc

[graywarrior]

8. How much is enough?

[david13]

7. Just a few things.

The oil companies are not in business for their health, nor because they like flowers, etc.
They are in business to make money and your criticism is that they are doing that? What is the American way, to only lose money, like GM and Ford and Chrysler?
But let's look at a more simple example.
Your house is for sale. You think you should get about $100,000. So you list it and immediately someone comes along and says I'll give you $775,000.00. (Common house price here in Los Angeles).
Most anyone would grab that additional $675,000 so fast it would make your head spin.
Because you're not selling your house for your health, you are selling it to get the money. So tell me who the american is who would say "oh no, I could not possibly accept one penny more than $100k?
dc

[taterguy]

10. Some people choose to earn money in a way that's constructive and beneficial to society

If unfettered pursuit of money with no regard for the consequences was the way that everyone behaved then our society would have collapsed a long time ago.

[ThomWV]

12. Wait until mid March when their 1st Quarter Earnings Reports come out with this Congress in place

By March the Democratic Congress and President will have had their fill of failed attempts at bipartisanship and when the oil company reports come out they will be just the ammunition needed to bash the hell out of Republicans.

However beware of one thing you can be sure of. If the profits are enormous, but even slightly lower than either the preceding quarter or some other comparable quarter, they will Headline it as a loss.