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Originally posted by jeffj13.....I read where the US uses about 140 billion gallons of gasoline each year. That amounts to 46 billion gallons a quarter. If my math is correct that means that oil companies profit is 8 cents per gallon......
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You can make math prove just about anything you desire so who knows how much profit the oil companies are really making? There was a oil guy on a TV show the other night and he offered that the oil company profit on gasoline is about 4¢ per gallon.

The issue of gasoline prices is a very complicated one that cannot just be simplistically be laid off on greedy oil companies. There are short term issues that affect the price of oil daily, weekly, monthly and even over a span of a year or two. We have a certain amount of control over these short term issues and can exert some influence on the price of gas. Sadly, there is a long term issue that we have essentially no control over and is the ultimate determinant of petroleum prices. The supply of peterolium is essentially fixed and will decrease in the future and, at the same time, the demand for petroleum is increasing significantly. China, India and, to a lesser extent, Russia are becoming more industrialized and their demand for oil, along with our own, is growing much faster than it can be supplied so more people are trying to share a fixed size or soon to be shrinking pie.

In 1956 a professor at Columbia University, M. King Hubert, who had previously been a geologist for Shell Oil Co, came up with the idea of global peak oil production and now known as the Hubbert Peak Theory. He predicted that max. production of oil in the US would occur between 1965 and 1970. Most people in the field thought his predictions were wildly incorrect; but he turned out to be correct within half a decade. Subsequent work using his theory predicted that max. oil production for the entire world would peak in the 1990's. That prediction turned out to be a little pessimistic and many experts think that we have essentially reached that point right now.

The modern oil industry started in 1859 when oil was discovered in in a pasture in Titusville, Pennsylvania. Since that day in August, the world has not been the same and the demand for and use of petroleum has gone crazy. And this is the scary point. In 107 years ± a little, we voracious humans (and primarily we Americans) have consumed about half of all of the oil that has ever existed on the planet. In another 147 years (and probably significantly less) there will be no petroleum left!!! Think about that, folks. Some of the grandchildren of people on this board will probably have to live in a worlds where there is absolutely "NO" petroleum.

Put your imagination to work for a few minutes and think about what your life would be like if you had no petroleum, no products made with petroleum and no products who's manufacture depended upon petroleum. And if your imagination is not geed, simply think what it would be like to live in 1859, when [petroleum was not available. In the next couple of generations, the human population is going to be subject to the most severe cultural shock that it has perhaps ever faced!!!

If you are interested in looking at this transition to an existence without petroleum in more detail, well-known author James H. Kunstler wrote short book in 2005 that looks into what life might be like in America without any oil. The book is called THE LONG EMERGENCY.</u> I guarantee that it will make you stop and think. And if you were looking at a landscape that you, personally, going to be exposed to, it would give you nightmares!!!
 
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It is rather interesting to see people in America that worked up about the cost of petrol or gas as you call it. On every visit to your country I have been amazed at the low cost of petrol compared to other countries I visit. This is in large part due to low taxes put on petrol by your Federal and State governments, as I understand it.
This low cost, although great for the recipient, has fostered a rather easy going attitude as to how much you use, hence your very large cars, SUVs and the like. Now that the cost of oil is going through the roof, Americans are finding out that driving a F250 or F350 mega V8 is hurting the back pocket, people in Europe and other places learned this years (decades?) ago, so they drive little 4 cylinder cars but still get to the store and go on holidays.
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Fred, you're quite right about us Americans and our big vehicles. We tend to, and I'm thinking I'm going to get flamed for this, do two things... 1) We like to show our wealth whether it's designer clothes, expensive cars or just being in the "right places". 2) We have the "it's not my fault/problem" syndrome. Let someone else fix this mess and they better do it in a hurry.
I know those two items are generalities but even looking at my kids I see the need to go to the right clubs, drink the right drinks, etc.

Yes, some of us are waking up to the fact that as fuel prices go up, everything else goes up. I had mentioned in another post that my wife bought her self a Honda scooter to commute to work. Her $50-60 fill up on her fuel efficient Kia Spectra 5 has now become $3.90 on the scooter with the same amount of time and mileage.

Ed Brown asked "WHY did we not see this coming and DO something before now???" I'm 52 years old and I remember being in high school and learning that petroleum was going to be in short supply by the end of the century. I guess we forgot or felt that someone else would do something about it.

The Europeans have a much longer history than Americans. Maybe, just maybe, we can learn to make some changes in our attitudes and habits by looking at what the rest of the world has done.

Sorry for the rambling...... soapbox has been stowed.
 
I find the attitudes of those from an oil rich country interesting. Not picking on one person, but it seems that the attitude is one of entitlement and superiority. So you have an abundance of a commodity that the rest of the world needs. As children were we not taught that it is good to share out toys with other children in the sandbox? You don't have to give the oil away and by all means if someone is willing to pay $135/barrel, than sell it to them for $135/barrel. If someone offered to buy a $50 pen for $135 who of us would refuse? What I find insulting about that attitude is that no one is entitled to anything. We all have to live on this planet and we all need the resources in it. The US is dependent on the rest of the world's oil because WE DON'T HAVE ANY. Sure, we have some, but even that is miniscule. Canada is right next door and is rich in oil, so it makes alot of sense that it should be our largest "customer". It shows cooperation and goodwill between our two countries, not entitlement. Canada benefits from our country's resources in many other ways so it works out in the end.

The price of oil and the subsequent price of gasoline isn't the issue. The issue is the fact that it has increased faster than our economy can compensate for that increase. Since the price of oil has been suppressed for so long and our government has lost it's strangle hold, it's uncoiling like a spring and our economy can't just shift from 1st to 4th gear instantaneously. It takes time to change and that change comes at a price of its own. If I use oil to heat my home and the price of heating oil doubles in two years, that doesn't really give me enough time to change what needs to be changed to accomodate that added expense. I still have to heat my home and if I can't afford the added thousands to do that, than I sure can't afford the added thousands to replace the current heating system with either electric or natural gas just so I can afford the cost of heating my home in the winter. Also, like someone else mentioned, the price of food goes up too. I still have to eat and I don't even go out to eat very often. Maybe...maybe...once a month. So if someone is already doing everything they can to stretch their money as far as they can what the heck are they supposed to do? It's all well and good that the oil companies are making money and that the oil producing countries are making money and that our government is taking money, but that is no comfort to people who are genuinely struggling financially because of this. We're complaining because that's what people do when they're worried.

Plus, the disasterous implosion of the subprime housing market came at a really really bad time. I wonder if the oil industry isn't heading toward a similar fate. My theory, and this is just my theory, is that the oil industry knows it's days are numbered. They're going to inflate the bubble as far as they can and ride the wave as long as they can. I understand the whole concept of profit margin, I work in corporate finance and I hear it ad nauseam. But when you artificially inflate the SALES PRICE you're also artificially inflating your profit. That's dirty. The assumption has been made that oil companies are making the same profit margin that they have always made. That's not true. Their cost isn't entirely the cost of crude oil. That's only the cost of goods sold. We're not talking $11B of GROSS profit in Q1 of 2008, we're talking $11B of EARNINGS in Q1 of 2008. That's gross profit less operating expenses, taxes and depreciation. Gross profit is going to increase almost directly in proportion to the sales price. Not operating expenses. There's a concept called "economies of scale". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economies_of_scale A large company like Exxon can increase it's scale of business without proportionally increasing it's expense. The demand for oil in the US has flatlined in the past couple of years, so you know that Exxon Mobile isn't refining more gasoline than it was 2 or 3 years ago. The amount of work to be done hasn't increased. They're not selling more gallons of gasoline than they were 2 or 3 years ago, yet they are making record profits AND profit margins. Passing added expense on to cunsumers is one thing, but passing on HUGE profits to consumers is just plain wrong. Sure, our capitalistic economy supports making increased profits at any cost, but does it really have to come to that.

All that being said, we'll adjust, it just takes some time.
 
I have discovered that there is no convincing someone that doesn't want to be convinced...so I'm not going to bother...

But, this thread certainly shows the difference between attitudes on each side of the fence...

For years, we've complained about the US taking our water, and taking our jobs through free trade, and taking our lumber companies and destroying them through tarrifs...

But apprently 'we' should be sharing at a lower rate than the market demands...when in reality Canada has NO say over the price of oil...it's dictated by OPEC, and Canada's but a token member of that...Can I come and get a new car down there for $500 bucks? Shouldnt' car companies share their toys?

And our fuel companies - Petro, Shell, etc...are all American fuel companies...so all Canada really gets out of hte deal is taxes...which is something that we Canadians know about!

But beyond all this, I find it absolutely crazy that people don't seem to realize that oil is a LUXURY...we have become dependent on it, but that's our own fault. There are other options available, and we must now scramble to impliment them - mostly because we didnt' see this coming, or were unwilling to change...

The rest of the world has one thing that the West needs, and we're complaining....we have money that much of the world does not. We have food that the rest of the world wants.

I honestly don't like the idea of superpowers. I think it's time that the entire world equalize and harmonize...perhaps I'm an idealist, but I think that much of hte world's problems come from teh fact that there are 'have' and 'have not' areas...most of our money for oil is going to the traditional 'have not' areas...it's their due!

Global marketplace is the solution.

Now, since I'm outnumbered and don't want to ruffle any feathers, I'll cease and decist! Again, hope I'm not offending anyone!
 
I decided to delete my reply due to my belief that 'stirring the pot' by expressing an opinion vastly different from the consensus will do no good...

However, apparently replies cannot be deleted after a few minutes, so I cannot delete it myself.

So if it's possible, can a moderator please delete my reply to this topic? Not because it's offensive to anyone, but rather because this discussion has the potential to become incendiary (much like Petrol! :)), and I don't want to cause that...
 
Originally posted by maxwell_smart007

I have discovered that there is no convincing someone that doesn't want to be convinced...so I'm not going to bother...

But, this thread certainly shows the difference between attitudes on each side of the fence...

For years, we've complained about the US taking our water, and taking our jobs through free trade, and taking our lumber companies and destroying them through tarrifs...

But apprently 'we' should be sharing at a lower rate than the market demands...when in reality Canada has NO say over the price of oil...it's dictated by OPEC, and Canada's but a token member of that...Can I come and get a new car down there for $500 bucks? Shouldnt' car companies share their toys?

And our fuel companies - Petro, Shell, etc...are all American fuel companies...so all Canada really gets out of hte deal is taxes...which is something that we Canadians know about!

But beyond all this, I find it absolutely crazy that people don't seem to realize that oil is a LUXURY...we have become dependent on it, but that's our own fault. There are other options available, and we must now scramble to impliment them - mostly because we didnt' see this coming, or were unwilling to change...

The rest of the world has one thing that the West needs, and we're complaining....we have money that much of the world does not. We have food that the rest of the world wants.

I honestly don't like the idea of superpowers. I think it's time that the entire world equalize and harmonize...perhaps I'm an idealist, but I think that much of hte world's problems come from teh fact that there are 'have' and 'have not' areas...most of our money for oil is going to the traditional 'have not' areas...it's their due!

Global marketplace is the solution.

Now, since I'm outnumbered and don't want to ruffle any feathers, I'll cease and decist! Again, hope I'm not offending anyone!
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Andrew don't delete your posting and no need to apologize for offending. We're Canucks and as such offend NOone ;) Glad that you have spoken.
 
And if we can't TAKE criticism, we have the option of LEAVING.

No one is attacking anyone personally, this is GOOD DEBATE. You will NEVER learn if you are only exposed to ONE side of an argument!!!

BTW, attempting to "offend no one" on the world stage will not work. Hitler was not offended by his neighbors, he just wanted more power. IF you cannot defend yourself against "power hungry dictators" you will soon be nationalized by Venezuela. Neutrality means abandoning all your principles and I don't see Canadians as willing to do that (I hope!!!!).

DISAGREE with the USA to your content, we stand ready to fight to the death to DEFEND your right (and ABILITY) to disagree (even as we are debating!!). Fortunately, OUR presidents will NOT be suggesting we "nationalize" Canada for their oil. (which is actually about 10% of our daily use, where we produce about 45% in the USA).

So, "Bring it on", just be prepared to engage your brain to defend yourself!!:D:D:D
 
And our fuel companies - Petro, Shell, etc...are all American fuel companies...so all Canada really gets out of hte deal is taxes...which is something that we Canadians know about!
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Actually, Shell is Dutch, I have no idea what "Petro" is!
 
Originally posted by maxwell_smart007

But apprently 'we' should be sharing at a lower rate than the market demands...when in reality Canada has NO say over the price of oil...it's dictated by OPEC, and Canada's but a token member of that...Can I come and get a new car down there for $500 bucks? Shouldnt' car companies share their toys?

But beyond all this, I find it absolutely crazy that people don't seem to realize that oil is a LUXURY...we have become dependent on it, but that's our own fault. There are other options available, and we must now scramble to impliment them - mostly because we didnt' see this coming, or were unwilling to change...

The rest of the world has one thing that the West needs, and we're complaining....we have money that much of the world does not. We have food that the rest of the world wants.
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Just a couple of things...

Are you saying that Canada is getting screwed selling oil to the US? Canada certainly has money of its own, but without a wealthy USA to pay for the mining operations and to refine it what are you going to do with it, take a bath in it? paint your houses with it? Unless Canada wants to assume responsibility for the cost of extracting and refining, there really isn't any other viable alternative. Without the refining process, crude oil is useless.

If Canadians suddenly over a span of 2 or 3 years had to pay double for cars from the US, I think there would be nashing of teeth in Canada too. And cars are considered a luxury in this world we live in.

I would disagree that oil is a luxury. We depend on oil not just to fuel our cars, but to heat our homes, to manufacture plastics, to transport goods around the country to where they're needed and countless other applications that aren't as obvious. Transport of goods around the world would come a screeching hault without refined oil. Oil is a NECESSITY in today's world. Yes, we do need to addapt and change is inevitable as the world's supply of oil isn't infinite, but the citizens of this country were not the ones dictating the price of a gallon of gasoline. We didn't do this. And without the strength of the USA's economy, the world's economy would collapse. Just look how the housing slump in the USA has affected economies around the world.

Finally, yes, we have money and food that the rest of the world needs and we're trying our darndest to be the world's hero. Our countries enjoy the blessing of a government that at least pretends to have our best interests at heart. The government of Myanmar? Nope. They have been confiscating food and supplies for themselves while their people suffer. They hate their own people. The US is a generous country and we try to help wherever it is needed and/or allowed. We do alot more than the rest of the world will ever give us credit for.
 
One thing that seems to be left out in this discussion is that oil is traded as a commodity like soy beans or pork bellies. Traders bid on future contracts. The higher the bids go the higher the cost at the pump. The price of oil is not set by big oil or OPEC but by how high the traders are willing to bid. Most of the traders are companies that the average person has never heard of but a lot are big bank or brokerage groups like Morgan Stanley. The trading companies make millions buy moving the oil but have nothing to do with the production or refining of it. They have a more or less captive market as we need oil for our homes and cars so we keep on buying it no matter how high the price is. If you were EXXON or BP would you say no to someone who wants to pay you $100+ dollars a barrell when it only cost you $20 to produce it. The whole debate over nationalities and sharing really has nothing to do with the price at the pump. World demand has risen thus the price has risen. The supply is still there. I've worked in the oil transportation industry for over 20 years. I continously see tankers sitting at anchor waiting to discharge because there is no space in the shore tanks. The rent on the tanker can be $75,000 to $100,000 a day, who do you think is footing the bill for that? I see tankers offload gasoline from Europe while a couple docks away a tanker is loading gasoline to send to Europe. It's one big money game with the traders with the consumer paying the price. As long as the market will bear it the costs will continue to be high. When it reaches a point that the alternatives are less expensive then we will see the price level off and drop as demand goes down. New technologies will come on line when they become profitable. The trouble is like the chicken and egg question. Will you produce a car that burns alcohol before an alcohol source is available? Will you create a source of alcohol with out a market? on another note there are things we can do now on a personal level. next time you buy a car look at a diesel I get 45-50 miles a gallon. Even at todays prices I'm saving money compared to my last gas powered car. I bought a biodiesel setupand am creating my own fuel for my home heat and burning it in my car. It costs about $1.50 a gallon to produce. It takes me about 4 hours to produce enough to drive over 1800 miles, or about a total 0f 30 hours to make enough to heat my home for the year. All without using one drop of petroleum.
 
OK, let's continue to debate...I actually enjoy a good debate, but I've observed quite a few take a nasty turn, and I'm not a fan of those ones...

So...
Just a couple of things...

Are you saying that Canada is getting screwed selling oil to the US? Canada certainly has money of its own, but without a wealthy USA to pay for the mining operations and to refine it what are you going to do with it, take a bath in it? paint your houses with it? Unless Canada wants to assume responsibility for the cost of extracting and refining, there really isn't any other viable alternative. Without the refining process, crude oil is useless.
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we have our own refineries, I'm quite sure...

If Canadians suddenly over a span of 2 or 3 years had to pay double for cars from the US, I think there would be nashing of teeth in Canada too. And cars are considered a luxury in this world we live in.
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We certainly do pay much more for vehicles up here...about 10 grand more for a new truck than down there. I know this as I have a few friends who have saved 10-15 grand by driving to the states to buy their new car...books also cost about 40 percent more up here...and milk, about three hours north of me, costs more than beer...

And without the strength of the USA's economy, the world's economy would collapse. Just look how the housing slump in the USA has affected economies around the world.
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Yes, but the same is also true of other countries...if China were to enter a recession, many companies would go out of business, as they order their parts from China to stay competitive...

The US is a generous country and we try to help wherever it is needed and/or allowed. We do alot more than the rest of the world will ever give us credit for.
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Agreed...
However, we could all strive to do more...

We've had low prices for a long time now - to the point where we now consider it a RIGHT to have low prices for oil...when the prices go up, so to does the outrage begin...But it's not a RIGHT to have low prices for oil...bread, milk, electricity, I see as a right (and yes, we have cheap electricity up here)...
 
On Forbes 2000 List Name Country Category Sales($Bil) Profits($Bil) Assets($Bil) Market Value ($Bil)
4 ExxonMobil (nyse: XOM - news - people ) United States Oil & gas operations $222.88 $20.96 $166.99 $277.02
5 BP United Kingdom Oil & gas operations 232.57 10.27 177.57 173.54
13 Royal Dutch/Shell Group Netherlands/ United Kingdom Oil & gas operations 133.50 8.40 100.72 163.45
17 Total France Oil & gas operations 131.64 8.84 87.84 116.64
23 ChevronTexaco (nyse: CVX - news - people ) United States Oil & gas operations 112.94 7.43 82.36 92.49
37 ENI Italy Oil & gas operations 53.29 4.82 67.91 76.13
38 ConocoPhillips (nyse: COP - news - people ) United States Oil & gas operations 90.49 4.83 81.95 46.72
55 PetroChina China Oil & gas operations 29.53 5.67 58.36 90.49
81 China Petroleum & Chemical (nyse: SNP - news - people ) China Oil & gas operations 39.16 1.94 45.32 50.09
87 Gazprom Russia Oil & gas operations 19.21 3.81 77.15 36.28

Just a few FACTS. Always muddies up a good argument, can turn it into a DEBATE!!

Canada can refine 2 mil barrels per day, currently at 90% of that.

So MOST of the Canadian oil is refined outside the country. Canada's Prime Minister is negotiating with CHINA to make a pipeline to THEM for the oil. So, friendship is clearly secondary to economy on HIS scale. But, I guess he feels certain the CHINESE will also help defend him on the world stage, when necessary. (Yeah, right!!)

As Canada chooses to help China, does this continue their "neutrality"? As Canada supports China looking for changes in the structure of the UN, will Canada replace the food the USA sends around the world for disasters???
That will leave MORE food in the USA, hence OUR prices will, in the long run, go down. THANKS!!!!!!:D:D:D

Will Canada and China merge to replace the USA as the largest single DONOR to the UN?? This will help lower OUR national debt, thanks again!!!
 
I realize supply/demand is only a part of the price equation. But I suggest the days of willy-nilly, thoughtless consumption are coming to a close for many; at least for me they are. I make less trips and try to plan ahead more. Descretionary, spur-of-the-moment trips are being cut way down.

This debate is good because it challenges people to think outside the box on those little things we as consumers can do. Will this drive the price of oil down? Heck no, there are other forces at play and I suspect we might be in a long negative cycle. :( But it can't hurt to lower demand.

It seems hard times spur innovation; somewhere out there is a creative idea or two that could be a breakthrough. In the meantime, I'll keep doing the little things I can do.
 
BTW, notice BP's sales are 10 billion HIGHER, but there profit is 10 billion LOWER than Exxon. MAYBE Exxon is well-managed???????
 
There are two new refineries planned for Canada, One in Newfoundland and the other in New Brunswick. However the lions share of the oil refined in the Canadian refineries does not originate in Canada.
 
Originally posted by ed4copies

And our fuel companies - Petro, Shell, etc...are all American fuel companies...so all Canada really gets out of hte deal is taxes...which is something that we Canadians know about!
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Actually, Shell is Dutch, I have no idea what "Petro" is!
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Ed, your half right, Shell is Anglo-Dutch, ie half British half Dutch.

Your gas problems actually made our local news service, coincidentally also called ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commission).

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/24/2254490.htm
 
Originally posted by ed4copies

BTW, notice BP's sales are 10 billion HIGHER, but there profit is 10 billion LOWER than Exxon. MAYBE Exxon is well-managed???????
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Ed, that is one possible explanation, another explanation could be that Exxon has more "creative" accountants.

Multi-national companies like BP (British) and Exxon (US) have ways of hiding their profits from the taxman, and/or exporting those profits to other countries where tax regimes are kinder.

One favourite method used by the car industry is charging very high costs for parts imported from another subsidiary in, say, Mexico. The profit is then made in Mexico, not in the country the parts are imported in to.

Another method used by the chemical industry is to charge high licence costs, again the profit is exported.
 
I will agree that you have your own refineries. I believe and may be wrong that that is a total of 18 in canada. My company alone has 12 refineries some producing upwards of 300,000 bbls a day in the US alone. One of the refineries is setup to refine canadian oil sands only. It is shipped down what we call the O line into the refinery. We often refer to it as tar oil because we have to add stuff to it to even make it flow. One thing people don't look at when looking at the price at the pump is what did it take to get out of the ground, to pump it down the pipeline, refine it, store it and pump it back to where it is going which is usually a truck rack. Then we start adding on the costs of putting it on a truck and taking it to the station. Those are all costs that oil companies have as a basic only. We won't even get into exploration and all that. I will fill people in on diesel though. The cost at the pump is so high because of the refining process. We get approximately 10 gallons of product from a barrel the rest is other products. Then we have to put it through another processing unit to remove the high sulfur content to bring it below the 15 ppm standard. However most will be 5 ppm or lower. I can go on all day, but I have to work tomorrow so off to the shower I run. 3:45 a.m. comes early.
 
Originally posted by BigShed

Originally posted by ed4copies

BTW, notice BP's sales are 10 billion HIGHER, but there profit is 10 billion LOWER than Exxon. MAYBE Exxon is well-managed???????
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Ed, that is one possible explanation, another explanation could be that Exxon has more "creative" accountants.

Multi-national companies like BP (British) and Exxon (US) have ways of hiding their profits from the taxman, and/or exporting those profits to other countries where tax regimes are kinder.

One favourite method used by the car industry is charging very high costs for parts imported from another subsidiary in, say, Mexico. The profit is then made in Mexico, not in the country the parts are imported in to.

Another method used by the chemical industry is to charge high licence costs, again the profit is exported.
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Exxon-Mobil is publicly traded in NY. Since Enron, Sarbannes-Oxley has made "creative accounting" a synonym for "jail time" for the CEO. BP is also traded on the NYSE, so I suspect it is subject to the same rules.

While their TAX records could be creative, their INVESTOR records (10Q) must conform. So, that's PROBABLY not the source of the difference.
 
I think what you guys should not lose sight of is that you have the highest per capita incomes in the world and the lowest gas prices. So the number of hours you have to work for a gallon of gas is therefore also the lowest in the world.

I appreciate it is going up pretty fast, but I can't see that stopping a a hurry.

Whilst we are all selling our soul to the company store (China) it will only get worse.

I am as guilty of this as anybody, as are other Australians. Have a look around your shops and look at the number of tools and machines made in China, we are selling our long term future for short term gain.

The most insidious form this takes is where iconic brands that used to be manufactured in Australia, and I'm sure the same applies in the US, are now manufactured in China. So our factories are shutting down and expertise and jobs lost.

The next generation is not going to remember is kindly.
 
As Canada chooses to help China, does this continue their "neutrality"? As Canada supports China looking for changes in the structure of the UN, will Canada replace the food the USA sends around the world for disasters???
That will leave MORE food in the USA, hence OUR prices will, in the long run, go down. THANKS!!!!!!:D:D:D

Will Canada and China merge to replace the USA as the largest single DONOR to the UN?? This will help lower OUR national debt, thanks again!!!
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Well, as I currently disagree with EVERYTHING that our current prime minister proposes, it's clear that I'm not for him on this note...he's the conservative influence in government right now...election won't be long coming...

And Canada donates a LOT of food and money for disaster relief, considering that we have less than ten percent of your population up here...

We'll take over your role at the UN, but you have to give up Veto powers! And then listen to what the UN says! :)
 
So, you would rather have JUST Russia, France, China and Britain???

Perhaps you missed the fact that these are the major VICTORS in WWII. So, now we should "negotiate away" the position we earned with significant casualties??

You are correct, YOUR population is much smaller than the US. The US population is much smaller than China. By that logic, I guess we SHOULD just "step aside". Hope you enjoy the results. Oil won't be necessary, as the Chinese are accustomed to carrying their needs on their shoulders as they WALK. RICH peasants have donkeys!!!!!

Yes, I have been there.
 
And that is why my van is settin in a church parking lot 3.5 miles from my house (and at the bottom of a very nasty hill)and I rode my bike the 8.2 miles this morning. That is the plan for the rest of the summer, until school starts. I come in early enought to miss most of the traffic, only the last half mile was hairy. It will be interesting to see how it goes on the way home tonight. Milage is not a problem--just cars! I figure that's about a gallon of gas a day, which means I can leat lunch.

Share the road!
 
Originally posted by ed4copies

On Forbes 2000 List Name Country Category Sales($Bil) Profits($Bil) Assets($Bil) Market Value ($Bil)
4 ExxonMobil (nyse: XOM - news - people ) United States Oil & gas operations $222.88 $20.96 $166.99 $277.02
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That certainly punches a hole in the suggestion that the oil companies only make a few cents profit per gallon. According to that data, they are profiting a bit less than 9.5%.
 
I haven't read this whole thing, don't have time right now. Here is something to think about, how would be a quick way to slow down Global Warming? Raise gas price a considable amount and a lot less fuel will be used.
 
Originally posted by loglugger

I haven't read this whole thing, don't have time right now. Here is something to think about, how would be a quick way to slow down Global Warming? Raise gas price a considable amount and a lot less fuel will be used.
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The problem is, the ripple effect would (and is) cause teh prices of many other commodity items to also shoot through the roof. This causes the economy to sink.

Also, it would result in greater use of other energy alternatives, some of which cause greater damage to the environment.
 
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