Look at exon's profits over the years...they make a lot of fiscal responsibility.

A perfect example of Capitalism in action. And everyone who complains about it should either A) move to Russia or B) wise up and buy some stock!

We can all benefit from these companies profits - that's another thing that makes our countries great.

and the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.... it's a perfect system, really it is...Wait 'til they flex the other way...:cool:

Exxon Mobile's margins are right at or below 10% of revenue, pretty low actually compared to most Fortune 500 companies. Apple's margins are at 27%, are you mad at them?

Exxon also employs over 75,000 people at above average compensation levels.

Hating on "Big Oil" is pretty cliche, as others have stated best to join in the profits by purchasing their stock. You probably already have some if invested in mutual funds.

There is currently a 2 million plus barrels a day surplus in production, prices will likely continue to decline and stay low for the first half of '15.

For the accountant types:

Diving deeper

Yes, the rich get richer. Why? Because they are smart enough to use the system to their advantage. Anyone can do the same thing. It takes some guts, some smarts and yes, some luck, but it really doesn't take a lot of money to get started. So quit whining cause you aren't smart enough to do what so many others have.

+1

And - let's not forget how much money most big corporations give back to the communities. Exxon for example provided almost $270 million in contributions worldwide - $110 million for education alone. Yeah, corporations are bad, all bad.

I think a more accurate statement is that the rich are getting richer by leaps and bounds as the truly poor merely inch upwards over time.

The bottom line is that everyone, rich and poor alike, get richer each year (but by differing amounts).

I am not sure what this has to do with the price of gas? :confused:

1.87 here for reg.

That's all it is talk. Oil prices will be back up because lower prices globally will lift aggregate consumption. Some analysts project a half point increase in global GDP from ~$50 oil. The longer these low prices stick the more consumption of just about everything will pick up (the best stimulus there is for the U.S. consumer) which of course shifts the all important expectation of demand back in a bullish direction. Global production was exceeding actual demand even back when oil was pinned above $100. Yet the prices would not budge! Evidently the speculators expected demand in the faster growing economies to keep plowing ahead despite the excess production.
Obviously they don't expect that to be the case in the near term anymore but you can't stop countries with low debt, growing populations, easy access to capital, and improving infrastructures to just grind to a halt forever. The expectation of demand can turn on a dime. I remember in 2008 or there abouts when oil prices shot north in the middle of the trading day because some news site reported a gun boat battle in the Gulf... that happened two days prior.


I believe that the middle class are actually getting poorer when you factor in all their long-term commitments and their higher expected household contributions. For instance, the savings rate in America is still barely 1-2% but the cost of just about everything but oil is rising. Unless the typical American has some portion of their savings in aggressive investments, (that ends well) this math of what's coming in vs. what's going out doesn't really add up over the course of a working life. I'm not sure how any growth in net worth can be expected running a household deficit and the fact that people are no longer getting rich from owning their homes. Wage increases for the majority haven't been anything to write home about since we were putting people on the moon.
Agree on the wealthy. This is about the best time ever to be an investor. Low taxes relative to just about every other advanced economy, plenty of corporate global growth to see your LTCG rise indefinitely.

I read a ton of 'articles' relating to mutual funds and the stock market, and of course Oil is heavily mentioned. For every article I read saying oil is going up, I can find one that says it's going down. A lot of 'conspiracy theories' out there - the biggest being that oil is being forced down in price in an attempt to cripple Russia economically. Others think the mid east is pushing prices down to hurt US production. Many experts claim it's about China and how their growth has stabilized and therefore demand is down big time. At the end of the day, it's a whole bunch of speculation - and you might be very right and it'll shoot back up - or my gut might be right and it keeps going down. Either way, there is money to be made in the markets right now - just might be a bit longer term.

If you are talking about actively managed mutual funds, I would use their articles for bird cage liner. 99% of those guys missed the obvious as the Sun economic collapse in the first place. You didn't need to be a genius to see the lend-to-securitize frenzy of everything and the kitchen sink. When your investment firm misses something that big I no longer trust your ability to predict anything. The best articles are those that predict nothing and simply tell you what has changed. Armed with that, you'll be as good at predicting as they have ever been. And any conspiracy theorists that think they can assemble a group to move the price of a commodity like crude down 50% have to change the tin foil on their hats. The expectation of demand is a global soup that no one group or group of nations can manipulate. Those days are long gone.

do the doughnuts?
 

still wondering

Nothing is more pathetic than an intelligent person assuming they know me and what I've done and not done during my lifetime. BTW your angry attitude sucks and I'd like you better if you were a little more upbeat. You must be young or stupid because you lack humility severely.

I missed this part earlier. I would counter that the savings rate is irrelevant and history shows that the savings rate closely matches the inflation rate and therefore, you never actually 'make money' in a savings account-type investment. And then factor in taxes on that income, you actually have less buying power. Higher rates typically mean higher inflation and therefore nullify those high rates.
You definitely have a point on the house aspect. People are now carrying mortgages well into retirement - something that didn't happen even 10 years ago. Therefore people now have to work longer into what normally would be their retirement, which can have a huge impact on a person's stress levels and therefore overall health.
I still argue a portfolio filled with a variety of blue-chip, dividend paying stocks will provide you the best return over the long term, with a small portion in savings to cover those emergencies. (don't want to have to cash out if the markets are down) The key of course is not panicking and selling when the markets go down. That's when you buy!

You talk about upbeat opinions....but none of your opinions have been upbeat. I'm just responding in kind. I'm perfectly willing to have a nice debate, much like PL and I are having.

I don't think he's allowed to respond as it's 'off topic' for this thread....But I will add that I would never do a donut with my car as I'm convinced (based on 4.5 yrs. of ownership) it would break- a halfshaft would probably pull the case apart and then smash the aluminum suspension support to smitherings(that's a big word for genius Giller).

You should be careful about calling someone a genius when you have a typo in your own reply.

I screw up daily

Lucky you. There are days I screw up hourly.

Maybe if I wasn't on winter tires. Plus I think Gov. Christie made it death penalty if you're caught doing donuts in a gas station parking lot. Gubimint...