Obama ditches widfall profits tax on the oil companys

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Originally Posted by M Remington

People want to rape the oil companies because they claim that gasoline costs are beyond their control, post the highest net profits ever, and receive government tax breaks.

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I don't know about you Remington, but I think the shareholders of the most in demand product in the world should be able to earn some money on their investment. And if they invest large sums of money, the return should proportional to amount invested. If the cost of a barrel of oil triples. Guess what your investing more. 10% of a billion is more then 10% of a million.

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Originally Posted by Marvin S

You may not have competition in Brookings, SD but out here in a Blue state we have plenty of competition. It is not unusual to find a 40 cent difference in a twenty mile trip. We have a string of stations that are consistently less expensive than others which get our business.

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I have not recently seen a single gas station with prices varied by even a penny. And I do get out of Brookings now and then... We did have a station west of Brookings that was consistently 10 cents below the rest, but that ended about a year ago. We also had a gas station at a casino just south of the ND border on I-29 that was always at least 20 cents cheaper than anywhere on this side of the state. I hear that the Indians don't have to pay the state tax, don't know if that's true or not. They have actually been higher than anyone else since last spring. If I drive to Sioux Falls I might save a nickel. The owner of Harms Oil lives right behind me. They distribute to most of East River. I'll have to have this conversation with him next time I see him out with his kids in the back yard... He did tell me that with the high prices, everyone thought he must be really making out. Actually the distributers and gas station owners were getting hosed, while big oil was raking it in.

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Originally Posted by M Remington

People want to rape the oil companies because they claim that gasoline costs are beyond their control, post the highest net profits ever, and receive government tax breaks.

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I think that the control of oil prices lies with hedge fund managers. I could be wrong. Seems that OPEC is trying to get a handle on them now.

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Originally Posted by M Remington

People want to rape the oil companies because they claim that gasoline costs are beyond their control, post the highest net profits ever, and receive government tax breaks.

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So no matter what they have to pay for the oil that they refine, which many of these large companies do, exploration costs, equipment, labor, research and development, compliance with a whole bunch of government regulations and sundry other things, that gasoline should remain at some fixed price that you deem acceptable? People want to rape the oil companies because it's what most people think that figure they are at the mercy of forces beyond their control.