Rising Gas Prices.
I have recently seen a lot of people talking about Protesting rising fuel costs. This has been my response over the last week of discussion with multiple groups.
Who Are you protesting? The profit margin on a gallon of gas for the company is $.07. The government has more in taxes on a gallon of gas than the manufacture has in profit and refining. Even with a protest the amount of gas you don't purchase will not affect the number of gallons pumped by any more than .5%. understand what price breakdown is before you complain so that you complain the right direction.
response from a reader: It would have to have some negative effect for sure...meaning positive for people hard working citizens!
my return response: If it had a negative effect, do you think that it will be the company that is hurt or do you think it will be those who work in the refineries that will hurt? Beyond that, my point is that Gas prices don't go up so that Exxon/Mobil will in...crease profits. They go up based on Taxes and Crude oil prices. They are highly regulated on how much profit that they can make by Government Regulatory Committees. Even if it did make much of a difference, you have to think; There are 249 Million cars on the road in just the US (oil companies are worldwide, not just in the US) so even if you get 10k people to protest, you are talking about less than 1/100 of a Percent of a effect just in the US, and you are probably still going to fill up on another day. So they will still get paid and not see any of it missing. Not to mention, if you have a office job or work at a set location, you aren’t driving much anyways. And who says your tank will be empty on that day. So really, the only people that lose out, is that of the people who runs out of gas on April 15th due to this protest. The oil companies produce a good that we all need. Until someone comes up with an alternative that is as efficient as gas (to date there is none yet) we will still be using gas. And since there are about 806 Million cars on the road worldwide that need gas to get to work to feed their families and put a roof over their heads, I would say that the oil companies do us a great service. My business could not operate without gas, I would bet if you looked at your job, yours couldn’t either.
Response again from another reader to my response: I copied and pasted the text from someone and I did what they asked me to do, "pass it on and let's protest" I was being optimistic and I'm probably ignorant of the facts and the small details that are involved in the whole "who gets rich f...rom high gas prices?" idea..yes gas is a truely God given resource that we all need but not at $4+ a gallon... lets just all walk or ride a bike to work then I suppose. too far? Get up earlier..? I don't know. Or DRILL AT HOME is the best option. F greenpeace, we won't 'destroy our invironment'
Again, My response: I understand the heart behind what you are saying, but you would have to understand that people have to work to insure that the resource gets to the consumer. Water is the most abundant renewable resource on the planet and we still pay wate...r bills. It takes man power to get it to the consumer safely. The same is true with gas. It takes large trucks to get my products to the consumer, that means lots of gas. Most Americans do not spend as much on fuel as I do in a given month. I have plenty of room to complain, however I know that to keep this country moving forward we all have to do our part. When I look at prices in the UK (about 12/ liter (which is smaller than a gallon)) I think it's not that bad. It costs me about 80 bucks to fill the tank on my truck, but I budget accordingly to make sure it is filled. It irritates me when people think that these companies are making huge profits and don't look at the profit margins. A 3% profit margin on a gallon of gas is very little. The high profits are bc they they move a lot of product ( not just gas, but all other product concerning). To that I say they earned every penny. I would never make it if I worked on those small margins. I am not afraid to say that my margins make those margins look minuscule, but so the margins of 90% of the other businesses in the country. It doesn't sit well when people do things to say that my wife works for companies that rip people off when she designs products so that you can drive to the movies for a good time or fly across country to see family or go on vacation.
feel free to respond as you see fit.
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