WE CAN BRING THE PRICE OF GAS DOWN IF WE BOYCOTT EXXON/MOBIL
Posted June 10th, 2008 by eilif
output
If we boycott Exxon/Mobil. WE need gas so we can't boycott them all.
But boycotting Exxon/Mobil will bring prices down pretty fast.
We can do this folks if we simply unite in this effort.
Tell everyone you know, Email everyone you know, make signs, bumper stickers etc...Let's start a movement.
We have the power if we use it. So for me I am boycotting Exxon/Mobil
starting now.
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Is this an intelligence test for DailyPaul readers?
As in... did the web master create this alias and article on purpose, to see if we are all awake and pointing out that such a boycott would not do any good? Maybe it's to gather the biggest collection of arguments against it... Who knows the OP is actually working for Exxon/Mobile, to give it a nice conspiracy theory twist! ;-)
Anyway my extra 2c:
Your gas at $4/gallon is still more then twice as cheap as ours (yeah Netherlands here). So stop complaining and buy a car that has better fuel economy, or maybe even a bicycle!
BF
Do you have a handle at BF?
"Know what you know, know what you don't know, and understand and appreciate the distinction."
Advocating for minarchical libertarianism since 1984...
Buy seeds. Buy a horse. Buy a Hoe.
THE HYPOCRITICAL SONG (Rob Maxtone Graham, to the tune of "The Hippopotamus Song", by Flanders & Swann)
A pair hypocritical,
They got out their guns,
Down by the old Khyber Pass.
On a pretext political,
Their web it was spun,
An' they rally us all to "kick ass".
So when we've got 'Bin' and our puppets are in,
Our mighty new pipeline we'll lay.
We'll teach 'em & tax 'em, an' sell them Big Macs,
an' Then, once again we can say..........
Chorus
Oil, Oil, glorious Oil,
Nothing quite like it a war to embroil.
"So follow me, follow, let's cause some more sorrow,
An' then we can wallow, whilst Earth we despoil".
Our motive acritical,
To save 'ghanistan;
"Let's rid the world of these guys".
But the reason's soritical,
To sell heaps of cans;
That's Global Trading's disguise.
And back in the west, we'll cop our invest- ments --
all the way to the bank......
We never forget to cause third world debt,
'Cos we've got Mammon to thank.....for.....
Chorus
Our aims parasitical,
How easy we're led
To back an unholy crusade.
But blessed by Leviticals,
It's gone to our head;
We'll not stop till Osama's been laid
To rest as a martyr, so then we can barter
Cheap lives against what we purvey.
We move in like vultures, & trample on cultures,
Just looking for ways to make pay........
Chorus.
Thomas E Woods is live now
Thomas E Woods is live now talking about peak OIL come listen now 2pm eastern
www.revolutionbroadcastin...
www.revolutionmarch.com
Dr. Steve Parent
lol i just laugh and leave
lol i just laugh and leave when i see these ... dr. paul would be surprised one of you advocates this too ... read some economics ... and check out ludwig von mises ... and then you will understand
Good grief
Posts like this make it more and more embarrassing to be associated with the R3VOLUTION, which is beginning to look more and more like the MSM is right about us mostly being a bunch of idiot nutjobs who can't distinguish fact from fantasy, much less even understand free market basics.
If you think Ron Paul would call for an Exxon/Mobil boycott, think again. Better yet, READ. Read some books, preferably written by authors with names like von Mises, Hayek, Rand, and Paul.
(shaking my head in disbelief)
"Know what you know, know what you don't know, and understand and appreciate the distinction."
Advocating for minarchical libertarianism since 1984...
These giant oil companies are into much more then just oil...
To be effective in boycott ... we'll need to do some homework.
Discover Costa Rica
people are doing it!
America Fights Back Against the Attack of High Gas Prices.
truemediaconcepts.com — Boycott of Exxon Mobil begins on July 1st, 2008.
http://digg.com/business_...
THINK
People really need to think this stuff through before they start promoting it. Gas is derived from oil which is a fungible commodity traded around the planet and the price of gas is not pulled out of someone's ass in the Exxon executive suite. It is the result of thousands of prices reflecting countless supply and demand relationships all over the world.
Even if you COULD organize a meaningful boycott of Exxon's RETAIL sales (which you can't for reasons I won't go into), Exxon would just turn around and sell its gas to another retailer. Get it? That is what fungible means. The MOST you could EVER do with the most complete boycott would be to put Exxon out of the retail business, cause a bunch of innocent guys working in gas stations to lose their jobs, and probably drive up retail prices because there would be LESS competition at the retail level.
If you are angry about gas prices, find out WHY gas prices are high before you start thrashing around wildly trying to hit the messenger. Do some research. Study economics. It isn't Exxon's fault that gas prices are high. It is because of the Federal Reserve devaluing the dollar, our government standing in the way of oil development, soaring demand in developing parts of the world, leveling off of supply, and probably some speculation as well. NONE of those factors will be influenced by a boycott.
Even a massive and permanent conservation effort is not going to change the oil market much. As soon as weak demand in the US causes prices to go down, the lower prices will draw up demand elsewhere and the price will climb again. This is one of the great fallacies of the hysterical anti-SUV crowd. If we stop burning the oil, they aren't going to leave it in the ground. Somebody else will burn it - and probably in an engine that is less efficient and more polluting than the one in the SUV.
You are a Ron Paul supporter! That proves that you are smarter than the average guy. So ACT like it! Don't fall for the lies the press and politicians feed the ignorant masses. Business is not evil. Profit is not evil. Rising prices are not arbitrary. Always look for the hand of government on the scale. You will almost always find it.
.
Just some misc. info in .pdf format
http://www.aflcio.org/iss...
============================================
But Big Oil execs are raking it in. Take a look at some of their 2007 pay packages: Exxon Mobil's CEO Rex Tillerson got $21.7 million. Occidental Petroleum Corp. CEO Ray Irani got $34.2 million. Anadarko Petroleum Corp. CEO James Hackett got $26.7 million. And ConocoPhillips CEO Jim Mulva got $15.1 million.
Since President Bush took office, gas prices have risen from $1.47 a gallon to more than $4. Bush's administration has done all it can to protect Big Oil's profits—in fact, the top five oil companies have made $525 billion in profits under Bush. Last year alone, Exxon Mobil made $40 billion in profits—the largest single-year profits ever made by a U.S. company.
# McCain’s tax plan would give $3.8 billion in tax cuts to the five largest American oil companies.
# Like Bush, McCain protects Big Oil’s profits. Last year, McCain was the only senator to miss a vote on the energy bill repealing tax subsidies for oil companies. In 2005, he voted against a temporary windfall profits tax on oil companies to fund tax credits for working families. Previously, he opposed ending tax breaks for oil and natural gas companies related to depletion and drilling costs.
# McCain has received $723,777 in campaign contributions from oil and gas industry PACs and employees.
What you believe too be true, is true too you...
Do the math
How many barrels were produced to make that profit, and then how mich profit per barrel of oil was there?
No, I don't have the numbers. But the math should be done to put it in proper perspective instead of those billions.
Class envy politics makes people look at those profits and get pissed, but they rarely analyze the numbers.
Let me give you a real (and much simpler!) example, albeit from 1995. I had a summer job then at the local tourist trap making and selling cotton candy.
The cotton candy cost 75 cents for a half-gallon carton of colored and flavored sugar mix. It took 30 minutes to use all of that carton, and it made 30 bags of CC, which sold at $1.35 each, not including sales tax.
Doing the math, that means that one carton produced $40.50 profit on those supplies.
I was paid $3.85/hr back then (no benefits for a seasonal job for a high-school kid!) to make this, so the labor cost was half that plus another 7% for SSA, or $2.07.
That drops the profit to $38.43.
That's only $2.83 in costs, not counting the electricity nor the one-time expenses like the machine, the cash register, the building, and the uniforms I wore, which are recouped rather quickly at that rate. It also doesn't figure in the selling time, which by itself is minimal considering the product, nor the built-in advertsing of the product and the fact it was sold in a tourist trap.
That's a 13.6:1 profit-to-cost ratio. Of, if you prefer, a 1356% profit.
And that's on colored spun sugar!
My point is that this exercise is something neither the oil companies nor the public do to illustrate where the costs and profits come from, and it causes a lot of misconceptions.
I'm also not saying whether or not those profits are morally justified. What I am saying is that they are not analyzed or explained.
I do not boycott companies
Only Governments.
I'm all for a boycott. Worth
I'm all for a boycott. Worth a try and it won't hurt me at all. I will pass this information on.
Oil economics 101
T. Boone Pickins was on TV Sunday saying that its all supply /demand. For every 4 gallons that we save in the US through conservation, China buys five additional gallons to meet its own demand. More demand causes higher prices. About 85% of the oil in the world is owned by governments. Exxon is a relatively small fish. Exxon's 11% profit is roughly what a regulated utility is allowed to make. Obama wants to use the discontent to create carbon and excess profit taxes - all of which will be passed on to consumers. Exxon's profit is less than existing government taxes on fuel.
I suggest that you instead try to get people to buy Geo Metros and bicycles until battery cars are sold. Boycott Exxon and they will sell their oil to China or elsewhere for the same price.
Do you hear your self
If no one in the world bought gas from Exxon they would not lower their price? R U NUTS?
I will tell you almost any business of any type any where anytime will lower their prices when sales slow down. That includes Exxon!
"If no one in the world"
That's the key. You would have to convince everyone in the world not to buy gas from Exxon, and that's a practical impossibility. If you were able to convince half of the people in the world, then the other half would rush to buy all their gas at Exxon to take advantage of the lower prices due to your boycott. That would send the prices right back up at Exxon. And, by the way, you would be increasing the prices of the gas you were buying at other stations, so there would be no point. You would just be increasing the prices of gas for yourselves more than you had to pay before.
You would not have to convince everyone in the world
Most gas stations in the US are owned or leased to individuals who would complain bitterly to Exxon or Mobil if their sales dropped. A percentage drop in sales = a drop in market share. It does not have to be everyone.
Boycotts have worked in the past. In fact just a word about a boycott sometimes is enough...
You should be in congress then you could propose study to see if the boycott would work. then you could propose a study to see if the study worked.
The fact is that the proof is in the pudding lo let us have some pudding...
Why would you want
to hurt the company anyway? They're doing you a service. Bringing gas to market. Why would you want them to lose profits? Lots of Americans own stock in these companies. You would be hurting people's retirement savings, etc. The more profit that businesses make, the better for our economy.
If you decrease their profits, you just decrease their incentive to supply gas. If you put them out of business, you would just be decreasing the number of suppliers, decreasing competition, and therefore increasing the prices of gas.
Your anti-capitalist attitude is unhealthy and not smart at all.
A free market ecomony is
A free market economy is self policing no??? I think true anti-capitalist sentiment is asking the government to make them give you gas.
Paul or NOTA2008 - Ventura/Paul or NOTA2008
Voters for none of the above - http://nota.org/
National Ballot Access - http://www.directdemocrac...
Oh good grief
If no one in the world bought a gallon of gasoline from Exxon/Mobil for the next year, it would not bring prices down a penny. Indeed, other suppliers would have less competition, so prices might rise a little.
Many of the comments are way off the mark too. May I suggest that you all listen to the Financial Sense News Hour? There was a good segment on oil in the May 31 show. I started listening around July 2007, and it has saved my financial life!
http://www.financialsense...
RealPlayer: http://www.netcastdaily.c...
MP3: http://www.netcastdaily.c...
your right Jive! conoco or
your right Jive! conoco or someother company would buy up the gas that exxon didn't buy.. the only way you do this thing is not buy any gas from ANY station for a 2 week period of time! the MAYBE the price might come down a little, but then again china would take all we don't want! don't blame exxon.. it has nothing to do with them.. it has everything to do with a corrupt US government printing to many dollars to pay for things the government can't afford... PERIOD!
as for me and my home, we shall worship the LORD
I see how negative you all are
So I suppose we do nothing
I wonder, have the bad guys taken control of dailypaul?
Oh, please
No, the "bad guys" (by which you mean people who understand economics) haven't taken over. I just hope the ignoramuses don't.
You can do something. You can get your government to lift restrictions on new supply. You can get your government to abolish its gas taxes at all levels. You can abolish the capital gains tax, making investment (which we need) more profitable.
Or you can pretend this is a wicked plot by the oil companies! Wicked, wicked! (Was it a wicked plot by consumers when gas was 60 cents a gallon?) Who are you, Barack Obama?
it's not that we dp posters are negative...
just realistic, as others have mentioned in this thread a boycott is simply ineffective (for many reasons), and Americans won't really get any relief at the pump until we have: sound money, regulatory reform (to allow environmentally responsible domestic extraction & refinement), and protection for small producers in the form of a price floor (so they aren't all driven out of business again by the exxon/mobils). seems to me that Americans have allowed themselves to be financially raped by these mega-corporations for almost 40 years, if the prices come down for a while people will just continue to complain and carry on business as usual, if they continue to rise maybe the sheeple will wake up and put a stop to it... (think of all the good things that would come of that, no more wars or empire building to protect our foreign oil interests, gas at under $1 a gallon and all that money both spent and saved going back into our own economy)
LOL
That won't work. If you boycott Exxon, then you're going to buy your gas from someone else. When you buy gas from someone else you decrease supplies of their gas and/or they see increased demand coming in, and therefore they raise their prices. In the meantime, other people seeing that that company's prices are going up, switch to Exxon because the prices are lower because you're boycotting them. This decreases Exxon's supplies and/or increases demand which causes them to increase their prices. Due to the law of supply and demand, prices go right back to where they were.
The only way you could decrease gas prices would be to boycott all gasoline companies at once. That is, you'd have to drive less. And you'd have to have a few million people to do this with you. But this happens anyway without having to organize it. Just let the market work. You don't even have to think about it.
the supplies are in over abundance right now and what you
said makes no sense at all. We use no more gas today than we did back in the 70's. The other gas companies have plenty of supplies that they replenish
there will be no decrease in supplies. In fact they had to cut back on refinery production because we use less. We can affect a change if we do what i suggested but you are all either fools or you have a vested interest in doing nothing.
You remind me of the relatives who warned me not start a business. Be careful don't do this, don't do that. get a secure job with benefits.
become trained flee.
WHIMPS of little foresight...
WE use no more now then in
WE use no more now then in the 70's?? are you sure about that? with millions more cars and trucks on the road.. with millions m,ore in population not to mention china and india! I think your wrong on that 1!
as for me and my home, we shall worship the LORD
Eilif, you are not only wrong...
... You are LOUD wrong. Calling people who disagree with you fools and whimps does not persuade.
Go to college and take an economics class
We use ALOT more gas than we did in the 1970's. "We" being the whole world. Economies are developing around the world, increasing the demand for fuel.
Here are some more facts
http://money.cnn.com/2008...
I can'r believe some of these comments
one guy saying gas companies don't make much profit.
Here are some facts:
http://money.cnn.com/2008...
Duh
We WANT them to make profits. Profits are what entice new suppliers to enter the market. Hello? If you tax or cripple their profits, fewer people will enter and you will have solved nothing, though your envious little self might get some jollies.
Oil companies are not making big profits
The most profitable US producers, like Exxon/Mobil, are making about 11% margin. That is nothing to write home about. It's why their stock, XOM, has not risen in almost a year. But it's a lot better than the pure refiners like VLO are doing. They are struggling to survive.
I like companies that are engaged in exploration, and in natural gas. In addition to oil and gas futures, I have DVN, OXY, and RIG. I do not own XOM because they do not make enough profit.
None of the above constitutes advice. Just "disclosure" as the pundits say.
What's wrong with making a profit?
If there is not a profit to be made, then it wouldn't be supplied.
11% Profit
"Analysts were looking for the company to report quarterly profit of $10.36 billion on revenue of $114.9 billion, according to earnings tracker Thomson Financial."
What's the profit margin on other products/industries?
10% commission seems kind of "standard" these days.
They're a big company with lots of sales so they make lots of money.
from a different article...
http://www.usatoday.com/m...
"Most of Exxon's first-quarter earnings were from oil and natural gas, not from selling gasoline.
And Exxon's profit margins are below-average compared with others that have triggered no outcry. Exxon's first-quarter profit margin was 9.4%, meaning it kept 9.4 cents of every $1 in revenue. Microsoft kept 27.3 cents of every $1 in revenue in its most recent quarter; General Electric, 11.4 cents and McDonald's, 12.3 cents. In fact, Exxon is below the 11-cent average of Standard & Poor's 500 companies, says analyst Howard Silverblatt. "
Potash Corp of Saskatchewan
My best investment over the last year was POT. :-) Potash Corp, that is. Their net profit margin last quarter was just shy of 30%, but I believe that's going to be going way up.
Why complicate things?
The fast rise of gas prices is the result of betting on the commodities market.
They are what? Betting that the price of gas will go up!
They are buying and selling what? Exxon Mobil and others.
So what will they do when they see that EXXON and Mobil sales are down?
DUMP IT!
no ITS A CORRUPT GOVERNMENT
no ITS A CORRUPT GOVERNMENT PRINTING TO MANY DOLLARS.. GO TO
www.ronpaul2008.com
and read what our leader says about the high cost of gas.. YOUR WRONG... HINT!
as for me and my home, we shall worship the LORD
XOM is not a commodity
and it is traded on the NYSE, not the commodities market.
Go for the ultimate causes, not the proximate ones
It would just take too much effort and I don't think it would work anyways. The market isn't that simple. People should focus on changing the system on a fundamental level. Start a non-profit company and try to develop more efficient technologies or some such.
THAT WILL TAKE EONS!
WE NEED TO ACT NOW!
I know all this about the fed and all
but to do that will take forever and maybe never
but this is something we can do NOW!
Further the gas bubble will eventually burst.
we can help burst it a lot sooner.
At some point we will see the purchasing power increase as things start to devalue as Real Estate already has started doing
PLEASE read something other than a CNN article
If high gas prices were a bubble, suppliers would be holding supplies off the market in anticipation of rising prices in the future. That is not happening. Therefore, no bubble.
Seriously ,
This makes zero sense. Why don't we boycott wheat also ....because prices are so high. That will show those pesky farmers and AgroCorps. This is not the solution.
____ _____ _____ _____ ______ ______ _____ ___
"The time is near at hand which we must determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves."
George Washington
First President of the USA.
http://digitaldiesel.net/...
This would not change the price of gas ....
not even $.01. It will just make it harder for you to get gas. Just silly really. Go study. Point yourself in the direction of the REAL enemy.
____ _____ _____ _____ ______ ______ _____ ___
"The time is near at hand which we must determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves."
George Washington
First President of the USA.
http://digitaldiesel.net/...
Last time I heard
Exxon/Mobil is underperforming and losing clout to the international markets. Although it did come from one source who might of trying to sway his readers to a sell status as opposed to a buy or hold status.
LAST TIME I HEARD THEY HAD UNPRECEDENTED PROFITS
THEY STILL DO.
WHAT IS UP with ALL THESE TROLLS?
who cares... and much of
who cares... and much of that profit is used for drilling and locating new oil... you sound like a good communist
as for me and my home, we shall worship the LORD
R U KIDDING?
EXXON MOBIL is the largest gas producer in the US!
PEOPLE DO NOT LISTEN TO THESE NAY SAYERS. I SUSPECT THEY HAVE HIDDEN MOTIVES.
THE PRICE WILL COME DOWN IF WE BOYCOTT EXXON AND MOBIL
sorry but your resoning is
sorry but your resoning is idiotic!
as for me and my home, we shall worship the LORD