Down with the evil Gas lords. (yes, i am brave enough to post another from myspace)

[Kontiki]

We've been correcting you the whole thread. Want to bring up your dad's raise again?

[Kaak]

well, the point there that it wasn't just my dad. Everyone in the department got a 33% raise.

and john, why would they start charging for phone books when they just raise advertising prices?

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Kaak
well, the point there that it wasn't just my dad. Everyone in the department got a 33% raise.

and john, why would they start charging for phone books when they just raise advertising prices?

Employees gotta get their share. Why should all of it go to the share holders?

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Kontiki
Have you taken a single economics class in your life?

Does every one of your posts have to be a sarcastic put down?

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Kaak
well, the point there that it wasn't just my dad. Everyone in the department got a 33% raise.

I totally don't see your point about the raises. If a company pays out raises or bonuses, the comapnay no longer has that moneyso its a real, actual cost to them.

Whether you think the raises are warranted is irrelevant. Oil companies know that they have to bump the pay of their people or they will lose them to the companies that have bumped the pay.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Kidicious


Employees gotta get their share. Why should all of it go to the share holders?

Companies have profit sharing and stock options.In most cases where the company does very well , the employees do very well also.

[Kaak]

Flubber, I understand that. But 33% raise for an entire department? And I realize it is an actual cost. My point is that it makes one wonder where all of the extra money is coming from???

[KrazyHorse]

From the increase in the price of oil.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Kaak
nope that's why i said correct me if i'm wrong.

and I have done so on pretty much every point within my area. I work the upstream production side . Once we get it aboard a tanker or into a pipeline, its outside my expertise.


Does the fact that you were wrong on pretty much everything you thought about the upstream business change any of your perceptions/ assumptions about the downstream business.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Kaak
Flubber, I understand that. But 33% raise for an entire department? And I realize it is an actual cost. My point is that it makes one wonder where all of the extra money is coming from???

From higher oil prices--

I'll go slow

Higher oil prices means more profit which means there is a much greater incentive to produce NOW. This means that everyone is scrambling to jack up production as high as possible, rejuvenate older wells, even restart some older abandoned ones. All of this takes people and skilled people are scarce.

When you consider that some rigs cost hundreds of thousands a day, a 30K raise for even 50 key people doesn't seem like that much. They can recoup that cost if those folks can find a way to reduce drilling time by just a few days

[Kaak]

Flubber, not really. You see, whether it comes from your side or not, there is a lot of extra money. Record profits, unprecedented raises and retirement package, etc. For people to sit here and tell me that I'm wrong about this or that doesn't really change this fact. I guess all i'm really trying to say is that we are paying A LOT at the pump, and it isn't lost in increased costs or raises or whatever, it is still evident in earnings on top of all of that. Therefore, I still think that it is possible that Exxon could lower prices at the pump if millions of people just stopped using them. Would it mean less profits for them? Well sure, but what else would they do if no one was buying their gas?

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Kaak
My point is that it makes one wonder where all of the extra money is coming from???

Is that question intended to be rhetorical since if a company produces 500,000 barrells a day its pretty easy to assess what a $10 increase in oil prices mean

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Zkribbler
Does every one of your posts have to be a sarcastic put down?

In this case, it is need. Oh Lord is it needed.

[Kaak]

try a 75k raise and it could be a lot more than fifty people, I just don't know about that. And 400,000,000 for a retirement package? It's not going to break the bank, but it is non-trivial.

[Kaak]

No flubber, since if costs were raised to a level equivalent to what was being paid at the pump, there would only be extra profits if more was sold.