Stephen Colbert looks at the miraculous profits realized by oil companies despite their claim of the high cost of providing the oil.
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Download | Play (h/t Bill W)
As you can see here, 72% goes to the price of crude oil. Another 16% is eaten up by refining, distribution and service stations, and the last 12% is taken away by taxes. That is a total of 100%. That is right, Nation. Oil is a zero-profit business. [..]
And yet somehow, in 2007, Exxon/Mobil earned $1,300 a second. $1,300. Yes, that’s a lot of money, but it is an unlucky number of 100s. Nation, that means even though 100% of gasoline prices are canceled out by costs, these companies are somehow able to wring mind-bending revenue out of their not-for-profit venture. I think it’s pretty impressive.
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Foist?
Colbert rocks.
Fuzzy math?
I’m amazed that Big Oil can afford to stay in business!!!
Maybe they should try producing alternative fuels. Or maybe they should just stop telling lies.
only in america!!!!!
BOYCOTT OIL!!!!
i am now biking and metrolinking to work.
the car is parked. i can walk to the grocery store.
i know metrolink is coal fired electricity, but i’m 15 miles from work!!
Boycott cable news and oil for a better America.
http://www.youtube.com/results.....arch_type=
im doing my bit also, i have a genuine rickshaw that i use to get to the store for food , but my wifes a whiner ! she complains the handals hurt her hands when she pulls it fast!
They may be right. Gasoline may be selling at cost.
So welfare queen subsidies are up to $40 billion now?
That’s Republican Capitalism at work! Free money, billed to the taxpayer, so long as you sell at cost!
We’ll probably have to increase corporate welfare queen subsidy program as November nears. As oil prices rise, we’ll have to bribe the oil industry with increasing quantities of cash, to encourage them not to sell gasoline at a profit, until the election is decided.
then after November, they can safely run gasoline prices past $5 / gallon.
tyree @ 7:
Geeezz tyree, breakdown already.
buy her some gloves.
tyree @ 7:
I had the same problem with my wife…tell her to push.
The rich get bigger yachts…the poor get less food
http://cannibalplanet.blogspot.....eaten.html
It’s about frickin’ time!!! I’ve been waiting for someone of Stephen’s magnitude… yep magnitude… to speak out about these obscene profits the oil cartel are making while consumers are being held hostage. WTF!!!! Boycott and boycott those ba$tards some more!
StevePam @ 10:
well i thought about that but whos going to stear it! and mudshark id buy her some gloves but shed complain even if i stoped cracking the whip over her head!
So basically what the oil companies are saying is that:
Taxes + Production and Distribution Costs + Other Costs + All Profit = 100% of the total cost of the consumer?
Words fail me.
Shan @ 14:
That should read “to the consumer”.
So that word failure aside …
It’s mathematically impossible to report high profits and high costs. The classic business equation is revenue-costs=profits. Even if more units are being sold, then more costs will be involved and and percentage of profit virtually unchanged.
tyree @ 13:
hahahaha! Tyree, your wife is so lucky to have a good man who treats her right!
By the way the math is thus: $1300 a second for year in profits does equal the 41 Billion they reported as profit last year. Profits that have doubled since Bosh & Co. took office.
Clinton. (Oil Per Barrel) 1998 11.61
So the poor poor put upon oil corporations just can’t make a real cent off this endeavor… Makes ya wonder why they even try given it’s such a crappy way to make a buck….(Yawn…) riiight, tell me another fairy tale….JD
How I feel today:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0oALRL7uyY
And those Snorg Tees Ads don’t help.
Why not more ads for Ann Coulter?
miss_kitty @ 17:
yes she certainly is ,i keep telling her that hell i even finally let her wear shorts while she pulls for more ventilation , and she still wasnt happy, we all have to sacrifice she just needs more time to come around !
LOL! Just like those “not for profit” mega churches. They don’t make a penny either.
tyree @ 7:
Tyree! That’s awful!
By her some gloves!
Ah dammit…a bit slow on the draw today I reckon.
liberalHUSSEINmoderation @ 24:
oh okay ill check the thrift stores and find some woth the cloth still on the palms ,dont want to go to wallmart ,dam chinese crap!
I’m sorry to burst your bubble. It doesn’t cost them any more to get the oil out of the ground than it did 10+ years ago.
Hey, folks. Just thought I’d point something out…
What the oil companies are saying is actually literally true. What they’re leaving //out// is that the “cost of production” includes their profit margin. Oil’s cost of production per barrel is still extremely low. It is the cost of //purchasing// oil that’s exhorbitantly high. So what you’re seeing is the oil being played on the commodities market, distributed to the refineries via said market, and then it’s all downhill from there.
So yes, //gasoline production// is a zero-profit game for the oil companies. But //oil production// is where the money is.
tyree @ 26:
LMAO!!!
Nah…man, get her some of those oversized boxing gloves! And send pictures for chrissakes!
Colbert needs to point out that most of the profits are being made in speculation (gambling) and futures.
And Exxon Mobil also has it’s own oil reserves it pumps crude from with an estimated 13.6 billion barrels in reserve.
His basic point is as always we’re getting screwed.
liberalHUSSEINmoderation @ 28:
jesus how long do you think it would be for me to lose a good thing after she found out i was doing that?
Oh I get it now.
This is why oil revenues are failing to cover 100% of the Iraq war/Occupation/rebuilding effort.
Can you imagine what the oil shills were thinking after this; “Perhaps we pushed this a bit — maybe we should have show a few percent profit.” Yeah, all the crooks have had it so good and they’ve gotten careless.
When are we going to put the military and all those embassies protecting the Oil routes on the Exxon bill?
L.A. Confidential @ 29:
I wish.
makes you wonder at wich gas station the revoluting thats comeing will start at!
Rassmussen begins focusing polling on Obama V. McCain. http://rasmussenreports.com/pu.....cking_poll
Drop out now with dignity Hillary for the good of the party and the country.
tyree @ 30:
Hahahahaaaa! Probably not very long Tyree…unless you’re real slick about it.
We have an oil man for president.
I wonder if we could’ve seen this coming?
This is what we need our candidate to throw support behind.
http://www.greenstrides.com/20.....t-biofuel/
http://www.popularmechanics.co.....17016.html
I know Obama would win by a LANDSLIDE if he would apply the technology we already have available.
He would get Dems,indies,repubs…hell he might even get Hillary supporters; )
It’s not like we need some new invention…this stuff has been around for a while,tested and proven…no more excuses!
Not that we need it,by the way, oil will drop soon…the surge is working pretty well.>snark<
tyree @ 35:
Does it matter? They’re all more crookeder’n hell!
Gasoline is basically a waste by-product on a barrel of oil, what do you think polyester and plastic are made out of. Oil companies make more money on asphalt than gasoline the bastards could give it away for nothing and make money.
Why is it I can get more actual, accurate information from a coupla comedy shows than I can get from all the “serious” news programs ever made?
Let us not forget that the 12% tax goes to Big Oil’s welfare subsidy anyway, therefore the McCain/Clinton gas tax holiday would result in Big Oil raising the price 12% to maintain their margin. And, of course, at the end of the holiday - shock and awe!!! - the tax is back on the now higher cost of fuel. Happy Holidays, y’all.
Gotta love election time gimmicks.
rickshaw…heheheh, funny. I wonder if I can build one from bicycle parts, my wife needs the exercise.
StevePam @ 39:
Oh SHIT! I’m gettin me one of them aircars!
wldj @ 41:
Diesel is a byproduct of gasoline….how the efword can it cost more at the pump?
StevePam @ 45:
Until last year it didn’t.
liberalHUSSEINmoderation @ 44:
Better move to France,Australia or India because our infinately wise government refuses to allow them here.They are no good for capitolism because of lack of demand….makes perfect sense to me….NOT!
Uh, Tyree? where’d you get the rickshaw?