Are Oil Companies to blame for high fuel prices?

[Platapus]

Let me take a stab at this

Originally Posted by Aniuk

But are we not forgetting the original point: fuel prices going up and there is no logical relation between the price consumers pay and the production costs....

In business there is no requirement for any relationship between what the consumers pay and the production costs as long as the selling price is larger than the production costs. If I have something that costs me $1.00 to make, I can sell it for $100,000 if that is what the market can bear. In capitalism there is no such thing as "too much profit". There is nothing in business methodology that requires any limitation on selling price based on production price.

Originally Posted by Aniuk

, in this day and age when prices are going up, and they keep announcing record breaking profits, thats f'ing bullschitt, and the smell is coming from big oil.

That smell is called success. Successful businesses make profits. Very successful businesses make huge profits. Any oil executive that is not motivated for larger and larger profits would be fired by the stockholders and for good reason.

Originally Posted by Aniuk

Common sense, record making profits means overpriced product, because its obviously not costing you alot to produce that product!

Not common sense but emotions. It sucks paying more profit to some company!!!

Oil companies (and pretty much every other company) are not non-profit organizations nor are they providing a public service for the betterment of the citizens. The oil companies only reason for existence is to make profit. As long as they are not breaking any laws or anti-trust regulations, they can make as much profit as the market can bear.

It is unfortunate that for the past 100 years we have chosen to become dependent on one single product for our energy needs -- oil. In a capitalistic society, which American has also chosen to abide by, one can not blame a company from taking advantage of our self dependance.

It is a businessman's dream -- a product where your customers are so used to it that they simply have to buy more. This is money in the bank.

Now it sure would be swell if the oil companies would be nice, considerate, and caring about the people who want the oil but don't want to pay high prices. Unfortunately nice, considerate, and caring are not successful business models when you have a product where the demand is higher than the supply.

For every regular joe who can't afford to buy oil products there are plenty of industries/corporations/countries waiting in line to pick up any surplus. No oil will be going unsold.

I think the oil companies are charging too much for oil.

But as a capitalistic consumer, I think that all merchants charge me too much.

The market is defined by the conflict of two dichotomous desires

The customer wants to buy the product at the lowest price.
The provider wants to sell the product at the highest price.

Perhaps the solution is to find another product we can buy instead of oil for our energy needs? This will take a long long time I am afraid. For 100 years we have never seriously considered any other energy source but oil. We are now paying for that laziness.

"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings."
Julius Caesar (act I scene II)