If nothing said can be believed, that seems a bit of a problem for the human race.
I believed what SJ said above, or at least that’s an accurate account of his opinion. Does that count?
I removed all fossil fuel investments from my portfolio a while ago.
Sure. Having opinions doesn’t make it fact though or saying “it’s science” doesn’t mean it actually is. That’s what open discussion and debate is about. Comforting at Easter time though thinking we are breathing the same air that Christ did.
I gotta go before someone gets hurt.
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How often can we kick ourself in the ass? Wanted to buy 100 bitcoins at $5 each in 2019, wife said no, I listened, unfortunately. But then I would have to figure out how to spend them 
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One of the funds I have in my 401k invests in a variety of crypto: Bitcoin, Dogecoin, etc. It’s performance over the past six months has been running at an annualized rate of 6%.
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Prices of barrel of oil has NOTHING to do with oil company profits. In all other businesses when the cost of wholesale goods goes up profits go DOWN…Oil companies wholesale goods are barrels of oil…their retail goods is the refined oil (gas, diesel…etc).
We buy gas because there is no other alternative.
Except for the 14.7 BILLION in oil subsidies every year. Exxon is a world company. Their profits are not just made in the US so the US isn’t benefiting from increased taxes on increased profits. Only profits made in the US. The oil industry is the only industry that I’ve ever seen that sees increase in profits when their wholesale goods goes up and their retail sales decline.
It’s Easter. All bets are off this year but last year in normal mutual funds with no strings attached as to the type of investments that are acceptable, the total return was 27%. Of course minus expenses at about 2%. Of course I expect ups and downs as in the past. Anything that can’t be explained in a paragraph like crypto though, I just as soon stay away from.
Right. So it’s kind of good that oil companies produce it.
This info is probably neutral on the subject.
You can find all kinds of figures for what those subsidies are and what they even entail exactly. I don’t believe it’s as cut and dried as the government is just letting oil companies off the hook when it comes to paying taxes. From the article linked:
On average, the (oil) industry pays a 45% tax rate when all state, federal, and foreign taxes are totaled up. By comparison the Healthcare Industry pays a total rate of 35% and the Pharmaceuticals pay an estimated rate of 21%.
This info is probably neutral on the subject, but shows renewables get way more subsidies than fossil fuels, even though fossil fuels provide a much higher percentage of energy when compared to renewables:
Many industries have ‘subsidies’. The property industry is built on subsidies, the reason many in that industry pay zero taxes. The profit margin in the computer/IT industry put energy companies to shame.
+1
I willing admit that I don’t fully comprehend cryptocurrencies, and as a result, I wont currently invest in them. But, we should all be susceptible to a change in strategies.
One of my heroes–Warren Buffett–was notoriously averse to investing in tech stocks, but a year or two ago, he decided to invest–big time–in Apple stock, and Berkshire Hathaway reaped a couple of billion $ in dividends as a result. Very recently, he bought a lot of shares of HP, and that stock gained ~15% in share price shortly afterward. If and when Warren decides to invest in cryptocurrencies, I might follow his lead.
You missed the point AGAIN. Oil companies are making record profits and are still getting subsidies.
I also noticed how you didn’t address how oil companies make profits when their wholesale product (crude oil) goes up. That doesn’t happen in any other industry that I know of.
Farmers make more money when crop prices are high, right? Same thing.
That’s not the same. The crop prices are their retail product. Not the product they are buying and turning into a retail product.
Major oil companies make much or most of their money from crude oil and natural gas production. Of Exxon’s $23 billion 2021 profits, $16 billion came from oil and gas production. Refining and marketing oil and gas was $2 billion, the rest chemicals. Of their $22 billion loss in 2030, $20 billion came from losses on oil and gas production. So it’s very similar to a farmer.
No, you missed the point AGAIN. All businesses are in it to make a profit, and they will make a profit over the long run or they will go out of business. And oil companies don’t receive the largest percentage of subsidies, although “oil subsidies” is always a great talking point for politicians. What about other industries that receive more subsidies and still make a profit? No mention of them, because politicians always want to make “big oil” the villain, although they use more of their product than I do.
I didn’t address it because it’s really not worth addressing. When the price of a barrel of crude goes up, oil companies receive a higher profit per barrel of crude that they produce. The price of gasoline is raised because the price of the oil used to make it is up. Price of crude goes down, price of a quart of oil at the store or a gallon of gasoline drops as well. Oil companies make less. This is not really big news to me.
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Of course they’re in it to make a profit. Gee never realized that. No one ever said they weren’t. Never said they got the largest subsidies. They are making record profits so why are they getting ANY SUBSIDIES?
It’s funny how the oil companies split their profits that way. And their profits from gas sales ALSO INCREASED. And lets not forget how companies like Exxon and others are doing buy-backs to boost stock prices for their executives.
Why are any businesses that are making profits getting any subsidies? Did you read any of the articles I linked to? Some of these “oil subsidies” don’t appear to directly benefit the oil company. And some appear to be just standard tax breaks that every industry gets.
Not really. If the price of the raw material goes up (in this case crude), what industry wouldn’t raise the price of the products made (motor oil, gasoline)? Oil companies just happen to be lucky enough to make more than one product that’s derived from the same base. If the price of corn goes up, the price of corn meal will go up too. If you grow corn and also make corn meal…well, good for you. If the price of corn goes down, too bad for you.
That, I don’t know enough about to comment on. No idea if that’s common with other companies or not. I’d wager a guess that Exxon isn’t the only company to do this, but I have no idea.
So what? Your are GREAT at strawman arguments (arguing against something I never said) and what-about-ism. So what there’s other subsidies? This is a forum on cars. If this was a dairy forum then great…lets talk about milk subsidies.
When one part of the business feeds the other business - yes it’s not usual. In fact in my business (telecom) we’re regulated by the FCC and FTC and would be fined if we did that.
You are NOT GREAT at general discussion or giving any merit to information that doesn’t support your narrative. I didn’t argue at all. I pointed out the fact that other industries that make a profit get subsidies, some more than oil companies. But that doesn’t support your narrative about the big bad oil companies, so you’ll ignore that information and keep repeating that political narrative of “oil subsidies” and refuse to look into the true information yourself. That’s fine. OIL BAD. I get it.
Like you said, so what? This is a forum about cars. If this was an IT forum, great…let’s talk about the fines you’d get from the FCC and FTC.