(no subject)
I honestly want to hear a sensible explanation to this.
Oil companies are making gigantic profits right now. The oil companies and people in the know say "this is due to market forces. When commodities are priced high, that's just the way it is. There's nothing shady going on. No price fixing going on." and so on. Well, my question is, if there's really nothing shady going on then why are *all* the oil companies making such enormous profits? Profit is what's left over after you've made a lot of money and paid all your expenses. Profits normally don't get very big in commodities markets for a variety of reasons, except where there's something shady going on.
The only way oil companies can make enormous profits, that I can see, is if they're charging more than they need to in order to do business. The fact that all of them happen to be making these profits all at the same time seems to point to obvious questions about market manipulation.
So, I'm sure there's some other obvious thing I'm missing because no one seems to be asking my question. How can the oil companies say "we have to charge higher prices" when their well known profit margins tell us they obviously don't have to?
Oil companies are making gigantic profits right now. The oil companies and people in the know say "this is due to market forces. When commodities are priced high, that's just the way it is. There's nothing shady going on. No price fixing going on." and so on. Well, my question is, if there's really nothing shady going on then why are *all* the oil companies making such enormous profits? Profit is what's left over after you've made a lot of money and paid all your expenses. Profits normally don't get very big in commodities markets for a variety of reasons, except where there's something shady going on.
The only way oil companies can make enormous profits, that I can see, is if they're charging more than they need to in order to do business. The fact that all of them happen to be making these profits all at the same time seems to point to obvious questions about market manipulation.
So, I'm sure there's some other obvious thing I'm missing because no one seems to be asking my question. How can the oil companies say "we have to charge higher prices" when their well known profit margins tell us they obviously don't have to?