Why are rich oil companies charging $4.30 a gallon instead of $1.09 per gallon?

Don't they realize they are also hurting themselves by causing food prices to rise because of transportation expenses?





Why can't they lower it back to $1.09 per gallon where it was before?Why are rich oil companies charging $4.30 a gallon instead of $1.09 per gallon?
Because the board of directors of private oil companies sit together and decide they all deserve $ 300 million in salaries and a golden handshake on retirement! They are already travelling in private jets and couldn't care less about a few thousand dollar increase in their expenses coz that too will get written off as a business expense while it's the poor who feel the heat the most.Why are rich oil companies charging $4.30 a gallon instead of $1.09 per gallon?
The real problem is demand, and the greed of the world marketplace.





China and India are both buying oil futures. That is, they are gambling on what the future price of oil will be. It has become a game of speculation.





Even as the raw oil is in shipment, the contracts for it are sold and resold at record profits.





To end this, the end of oil futures has to be mandated by international law. No more gambling on primary energy supplies that drive the price of the raw resource out of sight.





You'll never see affordable gasoline or diesel fuel until then.
good question Eric. its called price gouging, and if you consult a law textbook, its actually illegal. how do they get away with it? according to charles lindblom, there's this little theory called ';markets as prisons';. Because corporations employ so many people, they automatically trigger punishment mechanisms when they don't get their way. for example, if the government imposed strict environment regulations on refineries, the costs might force them to compensate with mass layoffs. this in turn slows the economy. in addition, oil companies can't be FORCED to invest in the market. therefore, they government must INDUCE them to, thus all the tax breaks. oil and gas are intrinsic to the economy; everything runs on it from cars to boats to planes to machines. therefore, according to lindblom, they can get away with whatever they want. the only time the price of gas ever goes down is when gas is so expensive, people stop consuming fuel and quarterly earnings go down. so if it seems like the government can't do anything about it, its because they are indirectly blackmailed. but if everyone stopped driving for a day, prices would plummet. until then we're screwed.
Because they can't possibly be expected to tighten THEIR belts. Oh noes! Executives have to live in mansions, drive Mercedes, send the kids to fancy private schools, summer in Nantucket, etc.





Ask them to live a more modest lifestyle? Surely you jest! That's for the ';little people'; (i.e., you and me.)





U.S. corporations (especially oil companies) have got the middle class by the short hairs.
because that is capitalism. Supply and demand dictates the price of something. If YOU want the price to go down, do what YOU can to cause demand to go down. SIMPLE.





FYI, My oil stocks are doing well, makes up for the decades I lost $$ in them when oil was 13$$/ barrel.
The current price of oil is about $135/barrel - a barrel is 42 gallons. Thus, the oil companies are paying about $3.20 per gallon before they even begin to process or transport the end product. At that price, $1.09 per gallon is unfeasible.
Why ? Because oil isn`t $35.00 a barrel anymore ! Same reason dairy farmers aren`t charging $1.89 for a gallon of milk anymore ? Will you go back to your ';pay'; that is was in when gas was $1.09 a gallon ? I think not !!!!!
I know! I mean, like back in the 20th century they were only charging like a nickel a gallon! What gives!? Don't they know that making a profit is bad!? Let's investigate these obscene profit makers! Let's demand a nickel a gallon gas!
If they did, they would go out of business and the whole economy would collapse. The oil prices have risen because of taxes and Democrats cutting off oil reserves and refineries.
my friend I swear on my not yet dead mothers grave that I can answer your question if you simply follow my commands....get a dictonary and look up the word G R E E D and it will settle all of your questions about the oil company
We need a REVOLUTION NOW!!!