umm, yes, in teh basic model of capitalism, corporations ARE beholden to society. corps were not ALLOWED to exist in the good olde days of capitalism like they do now, becuase it was KNOWN they would wrok this way. a large corps ability to influence the market destroys the essence of pure capitalism and competition more than any government interference could.
btw, when they drill on public land, recieve taxe benifits from the government, bailouts, loan money, contracts, pollute public skys, use publicly funded highways... yeah, they are beholden to the public. On 8/16/05, Steve Krivit <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > This, I was asked by someone today, when discussing the apparent shortage of > oil and price escalation that appears to be related to supply/demand. He > referred to this snip: > > 1) Oil > Big Oil's obscene profits - Exxon Mobil, the world's largest > publicly traded oil company, announced a 32 percent boost in second-quarter > profits, the third-largest increase in company history. Royal Dutch Shell, > the world's third-largest oil company, reported second-quarter profits up 34 > percent. British Petroleum's were up 29 percent. ConocoPhillips, America's > third-largest, reported profits that skyrocketed by 51 percent. (Cincinnati > Post; Aug. 4) (Thanks Al Burns) > [Gouging us in the name of Peak Oil] > > This was my response. What say you, wise Vorts, to my comments? > > Maybe the oil companies are making huge profits because .... > > a)...they can > b)...they are in it for the money, and not public welfare > c) ... a simple economic factor: Supply low, demand high. But this variable > is independent of the actual cost. Again, simple economics. Make (or build) > a product for 1x cost, sell it for 2x cost. This is simple capitalism, and > how we all dream of obtaining personal financial wealth. My guess is that > their actual costs of raw materials and production have not increased a > whole lot in recent years, and they have not inserted massive capital into > development and exploration, so their costs have stayed somewhat flat. > Alternatively, sales prices have gone up. Result: net profit increases. > That's my theory. > > The attribution of "obscene" is not objective. People seem to think that the > oil companies are beholden to society. This is senseless to me. They are > beholden to their owners and shareholders. On the other hand, those of us > who have somewhat of a utopian view, may feel strongly that energy should be > a God-given resource, available as freely as the air, and perhaps, as freely > as clean water should, ideally, be available. But, that too, is another > matter. Independent of oil company profits, independent of peak oil. A does > not equal B, B does not equal C, and neither does A equal C. > > That's my $.04 (inflation, you know) > > What I REALLY want to know is if ANYBODY in mainstream American press is > saying ANYTHING about the concept of peak oil, not just production > maximization, which is a smaller, tertiary aspect of peak oil. > > Steve > > -- "Monsieur l'abbé, I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write" Voltaire
