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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsOil companies are keeping gas prices inflated to help Republicans get elected
Oil companies are keeping gas prices inflated to help Republicans get elected in exchange for maintaining ongoing tax breaks.
They are taking advantage of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine to price gouge the entire country on gas prices. It helps get Republicans elected, and in a vicious circle, the oil companies make a bunch of money, some of which they kick back to Republican candidates who enact favorable tax laws for the energy companies.
Link to tweet
Response to StrictlyRockers (Original post)
Chin music This message was self-deleted by its author.
malaise
(268,670 posts)Last edited Tue Jun 21, 2022, 01:43 PM - Edit history (1)
Gas price and food price riots brought to you by ....
Rinse and repeat - that is all
StrictlyRockers
(3,855 posts)There had to be.
Dustlawyer
(10,494 posts)This is the cause of most of our problems. It is why we cannot pass gun control, climate change, immigration
The other root cause is propaganda. We need to fight these two root causes head on and force the issue. The media will fight along side Republicans to stop both because they are the beneficiaries of the campaign money and because their big advertisers leverage them to do it.
LymphocyteLover
(5,636 posts)malaise
(268,670 posts)LymphocyteLover
(5,636 posts)Roisin Ni Fiachra
(2,574 posts)ck4829
(35,037 posts)Emile
(22,461 posts)Predatory Capitalists favor republicans.
iemanja
(53,012 posts)and companies charge that price. Obviously when prices are higher, so are their profits.
spoiler
kelly1mm
(4,732 posts)Tell me again who has 'excessive profits' on the backs of the American consumer?
ProfessorGAC
(64,827 posts)While very unpopular here, Walmart had $570 billion in revenues and $13.5 billion in net income. Roughly 2.4%.
This notion that the refiners have direct control of the wholesale price of gas is silly, but persistent.
We will never figure out what's causing this unprecedented disconnect between gas and crude pricing if we keep looking in the wrong places.
Farmer-Rick
(10,134 posts)Just kidding.
But apple is smaller than the oil corporations. But don't worry, here's another example of them profiteering:
"ExxonMobil reported a net profit of $5.5 billion, more than doubling its earnings from the year-ago period. Shell notched its strongest quarterly profit ever, and Chevron posted its best earnings quarter in nearly a decade."
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.businessinsider.com/gas-prices-oil-company-profits-skyrocketing-energy-sector-earnings-charts-2022-5%3famp
According to the link ExxonMobil's profits alone went up 100%.
BannonsLiver
(16,288 posts)Hiawatha Pete
(1,794 posts)uponit7771
(90,301 posts)Response to kelly1mm (Reply #9)
MichMan This message was self-deleted by its author.
IronLionZion
(45,380 posts)they shut down refineries for many reasons and don't want to invest a lot of money to get them back up and running.
BumRushDaShow
(128,388 posts)in July 2008, the price hit a high of $128.08/bbl - https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=pet&s=f000000__3&f=m
Yet the average price of gasoline at the time was $4.11/gal - https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=pet&s=emm_epm0_pte_nus_dpg&f=m
jimfields33
(15,669 posts)Indiana goes to 61 cents a gallon state tax on July 1st. That will bring the average price up across the country especially if other states have tax hikes in July which is a typical month for tax hikes.
BumRushDaShow
(128,388 posts)(which had been floated before) about having a federal gas tax holiday and I expect that will happen at some point (which is ~18 cents/gal) if there's little or no movement.
Here in PA, we have been paying at least 58 cents/gal state tax since 2017 - https://www.revenue.pa.gov/Tax%20Rates/Pages/MFT%20Rates.aspx
There has been talk here as well about lowering that and/or a having a state "tax holiday".
My view is that there was a HUGE "Infrastructure" bill that was passed that included money for "roads and bridges" and one of the original points of the gasoline tax was to "fund roads and bridges". So until that federal money is expended, why not use up those federal funds for the time being?
Regardless, the oil companies are still gouging in cahoots with the speculators trying to make up for the Saudi/Russia price war that sent oil to almost -$40/bbl during the early part of the pandemic.
I post this often -
Response to BumRushDaShow (Reply #38)
MichMan This message was self-deleted by its author.
BumRushDaShow
(128,388 posts)It's breathtaking. I don't know how you are doing your raw "profit" calculations but that's not how it is determined.
The oil companies make money from their crude sales, not the finished product as gasoline.
They "win" when the global prices are up and "lose" (like they did in April 2020) when the global prices crash.
Exxon posts biggest profit in seven years on high oil prices
HOUSTON, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) on Tuesday reported a fourth-quarter profit of $8.87 billion, its largest in seven years, as the top U.S. oil producer benefited from strong energy prices.
The company slashed spending after fuel demand cratered two years ago. Since then, earnings have topped pre-pandemic levels, helped by the rise in oil prices, with the global oil benchmark Brentalso at a seven-year high.
On Monday, Exxon disclosed a business shakeup to accelerate a $6-billion cut to operating expenses set in motion last year. The revamping will "position us to lead in cash flow and earnings growth, operating performance, and the energy transition, Chief Executive Darren Woods said in a statement.
A continuation of high oil prices would "cause us to increase the pace of the share repurchase program," Chief Financial Officer Kathryn Mikells said. Exxon restarted buybacks last month after a long suspension, with pledge to buy $10 billion by the end of 2023.
(snip)
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/exxon-post-best-results-seven-years-oil-prices-2022-02-01//
And they took those handy dandy subsidies that we provide them and used them to back fill so they could do stock buy-backs. This is why the House Energy & Commerce Committee held a hearing hauling the big wigs in to discuss it back this past April that you didn't watch - https://www.democraticunderground.com/1017727081
May 7, 20225:01 AM ET
The surge in profits comes despite the writedowns tied to Russia, and they speak to how good the quarter was for Big Oil, according to analysts.
"The bottom line is that the industry is generating the highest free cash flow certainly in the 25 years that I've looked at this business," says Doug Leggate, who runs the oil and gas equity research team for Bank of America, referring to a key metric for companies.
(snip)
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/exxon-post-best-results-seven-years-oil-prices-2022-02-01/
Since ExxonMobil had reported an approximate "break even" price point ~$41/bbl, then you do the math for percent "profits" when WTI is sitting at $121/bbl.
They were able to handle the crash in April 2020 better than the start up frackers due to those newer entities requiring ~mid-$50s//bbl to "break even". Thus with prices down to near -$40/bbl at that time, several went out of business and others had to halt operations due to the glut that Saudi and Russia had created in their oil production/price war.
Response to BumRushDaShow (Reply #79)
MichMan This message was self-deleted by its author.
BumRushDaShow
(128,388 posts)that again show that "gasoline profits" are NOT the same as "oil profits". The wholesalers and retailer realize those profits/losses, NOT the oil companies. And there is nothing at that link that says anything about ExxonMobil only having "6% profit", let alone some calculation looking at the price per gallon and then trying to compare that to the gasoline taxes.
That link does say this -
Response to BumRushDaShow (Reply #84)
MichMan This message was self-deleted by its author.
BumRushDaShow
(128,388 posts)And what is being described in this thread conflates what are "gasoline" prices vs "oil prices", which is mixing two different price points. That is going to lead to skewed results because what the "consumer" deals with is what their local retailer is selling the gasoline for, not what the oil companies are charging.
The revenues, including that "$90 billion" that you are citing is the gross revenue for one quarter, NOT yearly. The quarters are going to vary through the year but their total revenue for the year of 2021 was $286 billion and that was double the revenue from 2020 when they were caught having to PAY people to store the excess oil.
By Chris Isidore, CNN Business
Updated 9:26 AM ET, Tue February 1, 2022
(snip)
Prices for oil, natural gas and petrochemicals all soared in 2021, allowing ExxonMobil to report revenue of $285.6 billion, up from $181.5 billion in 2020. Revenue in the fourth quarter of $85 billion was up 83% from a year earlier and up 15% from the third quarter of 2021.
(snip)
https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/01/business/exxonmobil-earnings/index.html
So when you cherry-pick "$4.5 billion", keep in mind that in all of 2021 (their "recovery" year), they had $23 billion in yearly "net revenue", which averages what? Almost $6 billion per quarter. And they even indicated this for 2021 -
Right now, it's guaranteed (and this has happened way back in the past) if one gas station owner (franchise or indie) decides to sell their gas at 99 cents/gal, and they experience long lines of people buying it for that price, it will have no impact whatsoever on the oil company profits or losses because the oil contracts were determined on the futures markets some time ago.
And that goes back to the "tax holiday", which is causing all sorts of heartburn for some reason and the Biden Administration posted a Fact Sheet this morning about it - https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/06/22/fact-sheet-president-biden-calls-for-a-three-month-federal-gas-tax-holiday/
June 22, 2022 Statements and Releases
The price of gas is up dramatically around the world, and by almost $2 per gallon in America, since Putin began amassing troops on the border of Ukraine. President Biden understands that high gas prices pose a significant challenge for working families. Thats why he has taken action in recent months to boost the supply of oil and gas, including an historic release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and encouraging oil companies and refiners to boost capacity and output to get more supply on the market.
Today, he is calling on Congress and states to take additional legislative action to provide direct relief to American consumers who have been hit with Putins Price Hike. Specifically, he is calling on Congress to suspend the federal gas tax for three months, through September, without taking any money away from the Highway Trust Fund. And he is calling on states to take similar action to provide some direct relief, whether suspending their own gas taxes or helping consumers in other ways.
Federal Gas Tax Holiday
Right now, the federal government charges an 18 cent tax per gallon of gasoline and a 24 cent tax per gallon of diesel. Those taxes fund critical highways and public transportation, through the Highway Trust Fund. But in this unique moment, with gas prices near $5 a gallon on average across the country, President Biden is calling on Congress to suspend the gas tax for three months until the end of September to give Americans a little extra breathing room as they deal with the effects of Putins war in Ukraine.
The President is also calling on Congress to make sure that a gas tax holiday has no negative effect on the Highway Trust Fund. With our deficit already down by a historic $1.6 trillion this year, the President believes that we can afford to suspend the gas tax to help consumers while using other revenues to make the Highway Trust Fund whole for the roughly $10 billion cost. This is consistent with legislation proposed in the Senate and the House to advance a responsible gas tax holiday.
President Biden understands that a gas tax holiday alone will not, on its own, relieve the run up in costs that weve seen. But the President believes that at this unique moment when the war in Ukraine is imposing costs on American families, Congress should do what it can to provide working families breathing room.
State and Local Action
In addition to federal gas tax relief, the President is calling on state and local governments to provide additional consumer relief. Already, some states and local governments have acted: for example, in Connecticut and New York, governors temporarily suspended their gas taxes, and in Illinois and Colorado, governors delayed planned tax and fee increases. And, around the country, in states like Michigan and Minnesota, states and local leaders are considering a number of forms of consumer relief from temporary suspensions and pauses on state sales tax on gas to consumer rebates and relief payments. The President believes more states and local governments should do so.
Ongoing Actions to Blunt the Impact of the Putin Price Hike
Todays announcements follow a series of actions the President has taken to lower gas prices for American families.
The President announced the release of a record 1 million barrels per day from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which just last week a leading oil market analyst confirmed has been critical to keeping prices from rising even more. He rallied international partners to join us, releasing a combined 240 million barrels of oil on the market. He expanded access to biofuels like E15gasoline that uses a 15 percent ethanol blendto increase supply and lower prices at thousands of gas stations across the country. He and his Administration are engaging with oil and refining companies to ask them to work with the Administration to bring forward concrete solutions that increase refinery capacity and output. Secretary Granholm is meeting with these CEOs this week.
Already, the United States produced more oil under the first year of this Administration than it did under the first two years of the prior Administration, and is on track to set new records next year. At the same time, the President understands that our efforts to increase energy production in the near-term must be coupled with medium- and long-term efforts to transition our economy away from fossil fuels produced by autocrats and to clean energy.
###
The above attempt is to cajole the retailer, who has to pay those excise taxes to the states/federal government (and that is what is passed onto the consumer) to drop the "price at the pump", with the assumption that they will still need some "profit" themselves to operate but that shouldn't have to be from pocketing the taxes that they wouldn't have to pay, at least for that short amount of time.
Response to BumRushDaShow (Reply #88)
MichMan This message was self-deleted by its author.
BumRushDaShow
(128,388 posts)Except you made this remarkable leap -
Revenue was $90.5 billion
Profit in % is therefore 4.5 billion/90.5 billion (x 100) = 5 % (Upstream operations profit )
If the average price of gasoline is $5 per gallon, a 5% net profit on crude oil would equate to 25 cents per gallon.
This is actually overstated since the retail price of a gallon includes other profits from refining, distribution and retail pus state and federal taxes. It should actually be based on the wholesale price of a gallon, so they are actually earning less than 25 cents a gallon from the crude oil portion of the business
You do know that a barrel of crude, which is what those "oil" prices are based on, is for the standard barrel of 42 gallons. And that 42 gallons is not "gasoline". The gasoline is refined from that at at a rate of about 20 gal/bbl crude.
So right there, you did a calculation fail, including conflating "upstream" with "downstream".
The question would be, after ExxonMobil sold their crude to some buyer - whether an investor/speculator or an actual 3rd party refiner (or they refined it themselves and spent some amount of money to do it) - then what was the price of that refined product to the wholesalers/distributors? And then how much did those wholesalers/distributors charge the individual retail stations?
The state of California really did a nice job defining all the complexities of this here - https://www.energy.ca.gov/data-reports/energy-almanac/transportation-energy/estimated-gasoline-price-breakdown-and-margins
This page details the estimated gross margins for both refiners and distributors. The term "margin" includes both costs and profits. The margin data is based on the statewide average retail and wholesale price of gasoline for a single day of the week. It is not a seven-day average. The margin provided here is an indicator for the California market as a whole and not for any particular refiner or retailer of gasoline.
The Energy Commission cannot estimate profit margins based on average retail prices and observed wholesale market prices. This is because detailed data on refining and distribution costs, costs paid by approximately 10,000 retail locations, hundreds of wholesale marketers, jobbers, and distributors is not available.
Refiner Margin
Refiner Margin (costs and profits) is calculated by subtracting the market price for crude oil from the wholesale price of gasoline. The result is a gross refining margin which includes the cost of operating the refinery as well as the profits for the refining company.
The price of crude oil is based on the daily market price for crude oil from the Alaska North Slope published in the Wall Street Journal©. The market price of crude oil also includes its own share of costs and profits. In the case of a vertically integrated oil company, the same company that owns and operates the oil field also owns and operates the refinery. Several vertically integrated oil companies operate in California including BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Shell. For simplicity, the refining margins shown are based on producing one barrel of gasoline from one barrel of crude oil. No adjustments are made for other refined products.
In fact, they had a nice little table to show the breakdown -
June 13, 2022
Branded | Unbranded
Distribution Costs, Marketing Costs and Profits | $0.56 | $0.56
Crude Oil Costs | $3.00 | $3.00
Refinery Cost and Profit | $1.85 | $1.85
State Underground Storage Tank Fee | $0.02 | $0.02
State and Local Tax | $0.14 | $0.14
State Excise Tax | $0.511 | $0.511
Federal Excise Tax| $0.184 | $0.184
Retail Prices| $6.27 | $6.27
So no you can't make a direct comparison of "profits" from "oil" and then try to back-of-envelope calculate what that comes out to based on the price per gallon of gasoline.
The taxing of corporations is under the purview of Congress, but in this case, you are now broad-brushing different industries for such a tax without any type of analysis of how much that industry has an impact on the average consumer.
There was an article (and I think it was even linked to in this thread) that compares the oil company profits to Apple's profits, which was ridiculous, and is itself is a deflection from the fact that a corp. like Apple and its products, would be a discretionary purchase vs an energy company, would be a near-compulsory purchase (whether actively for heat/cooking/transportation or passively, through electricity from non-nuclear/solar/hydro sources) for an average consumer.
Yeah, the "most recent data" has nothing to do with the price of gasoline.
Yes that is exactly what needs to be looked at.
But then you fell down the rabbit hole of conflating gallons of gasoline and that price with barrels of oil and that price, and attempting to assign the "profit" across what are 2 different products.
It's just like me buying a silo of wheat at some cost and then trying to assign the profit to the grower because the processors (the flour company and then the bread company) are charging an exorbitant amount for a loaf of bread.
And in the case of the wheat grower and the oil producer - both products are "commodities" that get subsidized, but one manages to generate huge profits at the supplier side where the other often doesn't thanks to the "middle" industries.
And in the case of some of the oil companies you DO have the business jargon of "vertically-integrated" meaning they pump, refine, and even retail product, whereas in other industries (like grain), you don't generally have that as they stay in their own lanes (although it does happen for some of the boutique companies where they grow, process, and then create a finished product for sale and thus keep all the profits "in-house" ).
Response to BumRushDaShow (Reply #96)
MichMan This message was self-deleted by its author.
BumRushDaShow
(128,388 posts)I suggest you watch this -
But I know you won't.
Response to BumRushDaShow (Reply #98)
MichMan This message was self-deleted by its author.
jimfields33
(15,669 posts)uponit7771
(90,301 posts)live love laugh
(13,074 posts)uponit7771
(90,301 posts)iemanja
(53,012 posts)uponit7771
(90,301 posts)... than oil prices that's a fact not in dispute
NoMoreRepugs
(9,366 posts)Any chance they are heavily involved in influencing the futures market as they may not have our best interests in mind??
Resistance1
(103 posts)If the oil companies limit or curtail their refining capacity of gasoline (supply), it will keep the price at the pump high and inflate their stock prices so they can buy them back. Pure capitalism
Response to Resistance1 (Reply #57)
MichMan This message was self-deleted by its author.
Resistance1
(103 posts)You are spreading the value of the company (numerator) over a smaller number of outstanding shares (denominator) so the value of each share goes up and the company is more attractive to investors
Response to Resistance1 (Reply #91)
MichMan This message was self-deleted by its author.
scipan
(2,336 posts)FCF= free cash flow
BUSINESS & FINANCE
May 9, 2022, by Melisa Cavcic
..snip..
Based on Rystads research, the main contributing factor to these glowing financials is sustained high oil and gas prices. The energy intelligence group predicts that total FCF for public upstream companies will reach $834 billion this year thanks to average Brent oil prices estimated at $111 per barrel in 2022, a Henry Hub gas price at $4.2 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf) and a European gas price of $25 per Mcf.
However, the research shows that record high FCF is not the only thing on the table for public upstream operators as cash from operations is also expected to rocket this year, breaking the $1 trillion threshold for the first time. The $1.1 trillion projected annual total is a 56 per cent jump from 2021 levels of $719 billion, which was the highest yearly total since 2014.
Rystad explains that cash from operations is typically used to fund new investments and financial costs, such as debt payments and dividends. In 2020, cash from operations dropped by almost $200 billion, or around 35 per cent, implying that companies had less money to finance new activity and issue payouts to their owners. As a result, investments also dropped in 2020, falling by almost $100 billion or around 30 per cent.
As elaborated by Rystad, despite the robust growth in cash from operations, investments are not expected to grow significantly this year, inching up to $286 billion from $258 billion in 2021. The investment ratio shows the disparity between record cash flow and profits, and the portion of those windfalls that are reinvested, as this ratio has fluctuated during the past decade, averaging around 72 per cent. However, the projected investment ratio this year is expected to plunge to 26 per cent, the lowest since the early 1980s.
Furthermore, the meager investment ratio and soaring FCF indicate that public E&P companies will have significant cash available to pay down debt or fork out dividends to shareholders, Rystad forecasts. As much of last years profit was spent on reducing debt, this has left upstream operators in a very healthy financial position and the upshot of this is that a significant portion of the vast profits anticipated this year will likely be paid out to shareholders.
https://www.offshore-energy.biz/oil-gas-firms-profits-set-to-smash-records-reaching-834-billion-in-2022-rystad-says/
Bluethroughu
(5,140 posts)sop
(10,091 posts)ground in Pennsylvania.
Bluethroughu
(5,140 posts)InAbLuEsTaTe
(24,121 posts)Midnight Writer
(21,694 posts)Meadowoak
(5,534 posts)Installing solar panels on my garage roof to charge the EV for free, how do you like that EXXON?
Evolve Dammit
(16,694 posts)OMGWTF
(3,939 posts)as the Porsche I drove for 12 years.
JCMach1
(27,553 posts)A PHEV gives you everything EV without any range anxiety or hassle
Bluethroughu
(5,140 posts)Dysfunctional
(452 posts)Individuals, other than corporate management, and mutual funds own 97% or more of oil companies.
TeamProg
(6,021 posts)Wounded Bear
(58,584 posts)Look at all the oil price spikes over the last 20 years or so. Seems to always happen when Dems are in charge.
I'm sure it's just a coincidence.
inthewind21
(4,616 posts)It happened when W was in the White House. But that doesn't fit the conspiracy narrative.
uponit7771
(90,301 posts)Deminpenn
(15,265 posts)Much more likely they are trying to recoup what they lost during the height of the pandemic when gas was retailing for less than $2/gal.
EX500rider
(10,798 posts)Yeah it's a lot more of that nobody wants to look back a year earlier when the same company's lost 20 billion in a year
certainot
(9,090 posts)as usual, media and political analysts have no clue that 'popular opinion' blaming biden, dems, flies in large part out of the blowholes of a few hundred assholes hiding behind call screeners
and endorsed by hundreds of schools (like these 87 universities) and dozens of sports teams until americans wake up
DENVERPOPS
(8,787 posts)that we are no longer the United States of America,
But the Fascist Corporations of America............
certainot
(9,090 posts)those corporations get a free speech free ride on 1500 radio stations licensed to operate in the public interest to create made-to-order constituencies to enable and intimidate these fucking republicans and dems like manchin and sinema.
when democrats stop ignoring rw radio and stop letting 100s of schools and dozens of pro teams support that unchallenged propaganda monopoly those advertisers will head for the hills and the only unique advantage the corporations have will fall apart.
corporate power can be regulated - i'm wouldn't give up while rw radio is still getting a free speech free ride
DENVERPOPS
(8,787 posts)and their "CITIZENS UNITED" in 2010...........
certainot
(9,090 posts)DENVERPOPS
(8,787 posts)how they always name it something benign that doesn't faintly resemble what the bill or act is truly about????????
It isn't by accident they called it "Citizens United".................
Maybe the title should have been: Overwhelming Corporate Interference in U.S. Democracy..........
certainot
(9,090 posts)DENVERPOPS
(8,787 posts)to the Iraq war and afterwards, a friend who knew someone who worked at one of those 1500 RW (Sinclair?) Radio Stations showed me a "do not play list" of songs that they were not allowed to play under any circumstances. Most were all the anti war songs from the 60's and early 70's!
I visited a guy I know on his ranch in Wyoming and he listened to Rush at 9:00 am in his tractor, after lunch at 3 in the afternoon, and then at 7 that night, then of course Fox News the rest of the time once he finished for the day. Unbelievable........
There are so many stories out there about this RW crowd of Trump and "W" followers............
Two psychiatrist friends of mine who I asked if these people were brainwashed or what, both replied that if for 5-10 years a person listened to only RW radio and watched only Fox news they would effectively be "brainwashed". They also said that it wasn't by accident that this happened, it was strategically planned and executed by some people somewhere who were familiar with what they called "Psy-ops....The choice of words, repetition of words and phrases, etc etc were all done on purpose because they knew those things would work for the maximum benefit.......
certainot
(9,090 posts)manafort /davis, already doing work for russians, pushed palin under mccain's nose.
limbaugh would not support mccain - a disaster on the eve of the GOP convention - until the just before the start of the friday limbaugh show. then limbaugh used the choice to say he could finally support mccain.
then there's "climategate" in 2009, started from a russian hack, which limbaugh used to derail obama at copenhagen and so saving russian oligarchs and putin many billions in lost fossil revenue. and there are other cases, such as trump himself.
here's from fakenewsradio.org quoting the army PSYOPS manual re radio:
THE US ARMY WOULD CALL IT PSYOPS
Here is what the US Army Psyops Manual says about using radio for propaganda (Psychological Operations Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures 12/2003 available online):
Repetition is necessary for oral learning: therefore, key themes, phrases, or slogans should be repeated to ensure the TA (target audience) gets the desired message.
(Talk radio is much better than TV, print, and internet for doing just that.)
According to the PSYOPS manual, advantages of radio include:
Emotional Power: A skilled radio announcer can exert tremendous influence on the listener simply with pitch, resonance, inflection, or timing. and The emotional tone conveyed by the voice may influence the listener more than the logic of arguments
(Or, as one famous host would call it, talent on loan from god.)
Wide coverage: Radio programs can reach members of large and varied audiences simultaneously. and Since radio can reach mass TAs quickly, radio is useful for all types of PSYOPs.
Speed: Radio programs can be quickly prepared for broadcast. Speed is important when attempting to capitalize on targets of opportunity.
(Perfect for spinning and distorting breaking news.)
Ease of perception: Radio requires little or no effort to visualize the radio message. Illiteracy does not prevent the listener from forming his individual image as he listens.
mn9driver
(4,417 posts)With democrats in power, some of that may never be drilled, sold and burned. The oil companies are ensuring a future hell so that they can profit more now.
They will do everything they can to elect GOPers.
onecaliberal
(32,775 posts)TAX THE RICH
Rebl2
(13,447 posts)what I have been telling my husband for weeks now.
Snackshack
(2,541 posts)They are. The Oil Cos are using their product to influence the upcoming elections in the GOPs favor. There is no valid reason for gas to be $5.59 a gallon where I am. Congress should come down very very hard on this.
I have been told all my life that Capitalism is the best system in the 🗺
that may be true but still there is a lot of room for improvement. Over the last few decades Capitalism has not been very kind to the world.
InAbLuEsTaTe
(24,121 posts)bringthePaine
(1,727 posts)Joinfortmill
(14,378 posts)momta
(4,078 posts)In the words of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Lil Liberal Laura
(228 posts)Mississippi River Flows South
Evolve Dammit
(16,694 posts)brooklynite
(94,303 posts)Evidence would be nice.
FWIW - This conspiracy theory requires EVERY SINGLE petroleum company to be part of the same conspiracy because ANY one company could make a short-term killing by under-pricing the others.
ArnoldLayne
(2,062 posts)dchill
(38,433 posts)...by the LIBERAL media.
New Breed Leader
(622 posts)So far, the American people haven't disappointed.
Kid Berwyn
(14,789 posts)PETER DALE SCOTT
WhoWhatWhy.Org, 11/02/14
The Safari Club was an alliance between national intelligence agencies that wished to compensate for the CIAs retrenchment in the wake of President Carters election and Senator Churchs post-Watergate reforms. As former Saudi intelligence chief Prince Turki bin Faisal once told Georgetown University alumni,
In 1976, after the Watergate matters took place here, your intelligence community was literally tied up by Congress. It could not do anything. It could not send spies, it could not write reports, and it could not pay money. In order to compensate for that, a group of countries got together in the hope of fighting Communism and established what was called the Safari Club. The Safari Club included France, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and Iran. (1)
After Carter was elected, the Safari Club allied itself with Richard Helms and Theodore Shackley against the more restrained intelligence policies of Jimmy Carter, according to Joseph Trento. In Trentos account, the dismissal by William Colby in 1974 of CIA counterintelligence chief James Angleton,
combined with Watergate, is what prompted the Safari Club to start working with [former DCI Richard] Helms [then U.S. Ambassador to Iran] and his most trusted operatives outside of Congressional and even Agency purview. James Angleton said before his death that Shackley and Helms began working with outsiders like Adham and Saudi Arabia. The traditional CIA answering to the president was an empty vessel having little more than technical capability.(2)
Trento adds that The Safari Club needed a network of banks to finance its intelligence operations. With the official blessing of George Bush as the head of the CIA, Adham transformed . . . the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), into a worldwide money-laundering machine.(3) Trento claims also that the Safari Club then was able to work with some of the controversial CIA operators who had been forced out of the CIA by Turner, and that this was coordinated by Theodore Shackley:
Shackley, who still had ambitions to become DCI, believed that without his many sources and operatives like [Edwin] Wilson, the Safari Cluboperating with [former DCI Richard] Helms in charge in Tehranwould be ineffective. . . . Unless Shackley took direct action to complete the privatization of intelligence operations soon, the Safari Club would not have a conduit to [CIA] resources. The solution: create a totally private intelligence network using CIA assets until President Carter could be replaced. (4)
Continues
https://whowhatwhy.org/politics/government-integrity/the-deep-state-plots-the-1980-defeat-of-jimmy-carter/
Saudi Roils, Petroligarchs and their toadies in greed absolutely loathe democracy.
burrowowl
(17,632 posts)budkin
(6,698 posts)People see high gas prices they blame Biden.
Cha
(296,780 posts)Democracy or the Planet only their Me Me Me Me Fucking Tax Cuts.
💙💛
jaxexpat
(6,795 posts)Transparently factual.
SunSeeker
(51,504 posts)EX500rider
(10,798 posts)So 100% of the board of directors on all oil companies are Republicans? And 100% of their assistants, secretaries, stenographers etc present at board meetings are also Republicans?
The large oil company profits are due to an entirely different reason, in the old days profit margins were done by hand you would add 5 cents to every gallon let's say and that's what it was. Now it's all computerized and done by a percentage, say 10% markup.
So if gas is a dollar wholesale that sells for $1.10 they made 10 cents a gallon, 10% markup. Gas is say $5 wholesale a gallon they now add $0.50 a gallon to make it 5.50 a gallon still 10% markup but their profit has gone up considerably.
LetsGetSmartAboutIt
(19 posts)The state dropped gas tax above 2$ a gallon and there was a change to sales taxes in some counties ( Saratoga and Schenectady) the relative prices dropped for a week then somehow went up to par with surrounding counties....
And all gas retailers said thank you for the extra profits !
There is talk about doing this with federal gas tax, how can we make sure this doesn't happen there if that goes through ?
They need the windfall profit tax when a profit is made on a worldwide traded commodity at a greater percentage to the end customer than the underlying commodity price.
It'll never happen, but they should do it.
Bengus81
(6,927 posts)Yet a barrel of oil has dropped 12.00 since June 8th. Oh I know....when it gets cheaper it takes a longggggg time to drop at the pump. Yet if it would go up 10.00 per barrel tomorrow the price would skyrocket the next day.
These FUCKING Corporations are doing the same thing the Oil Companies are doing,keeping prices as high as possible and jacking prices almost daily. Get Republicans elected in the mid terms and prices on ALL this crap will drop like a rock.
They will gladly give up some profit when they know the tax raise on Corporations that most Americans want will never see the light of day for YEARS if ever.
AntiFascist
(12,792 posts)good luck oil industry because we won't be needing your oil for long.
shanti
(21,675 posts)Big Oil's last gasp attempt to squeeze as much out of us while they can, before the world switches to alternative fuels. They will not give up that $$$ easily.
Baked Potato
(7,733 posts)Dark n Stormy Knight
(9,760 posts)And are happy to blame Biden.
cstanleytech
(26,224 posts)live love laugh
(13,074 posts)zanana1
(6,102 posts)I dismissed it because it sounded too Qanon. I had no idea somebody else would think that, too. It's too bad there's no proof. I'd love that.
Stuart G
(38,410 posts)Cherokee100
(264 posts)How much longer can this country exist, with all the dark money 'campaign contributions/bribes', controlling every aspect of the system? It has to stop.
KY_EnviroGuy
(14,488 posts)in America and most developed nations. Corporations and the wealthy take profits from our purchases and mostly support right-wing anti-tax politicians, thereby stabbing us in the back with our own money.
If only capitalism was just, humanistic, rational and fair.....
KY....
DENVERPOPS
(8,787 posts)Look at all large Corporations profits the past six months and how they are continuing to climb!
Utility Natural Gas and Electricity, groceries, necessities, Public Water Systems water and sewage bills!
All of these corporations are recording RECORD massive profits and the Republican Politicians are blaming it on Biden.
Back in 76? they did the exact same thing to Jimmy Carter for those old enough to remember the gas prices/shortages and overall inflation!
roamer65
(36,744 posts)The GQP is the party of Big Oil.
Samrob
(4,298 posts)It's "owning the libs" that matter.
And there is no shortage of gasoline OR food. The grocery stores within 50 mile radius of where I live in MD all have stocked shelves full and hired workers to keep stocking them. I haven't been to a Giant Food store in the past week that doesn't stokers blocking almost every aisle as they try to make room on their shelves for new products. I think there is plenty of stuff because consumers are cutting back. Prices are high simply because they are getting away with it.