U.S. Busines leaving the U.S.

I am referring the oil companies that hire and pay well above average wages to Tens of thousands of people.  These employees receive outstanding retirement and medical benefit packages and other fringe benefits (I know because I used to work for one) the same oil companies whose profits made the backbone of millions of Americans 401K’s 403b’s and other retirement funds. The oil companies that provide the energy needs to 300 million Americans but are not allowed to expand production in the U.S. Those are the Oil companies I am referring to.  As far as price gouging what in the world are you talking about?  These companies’s do not set world oil price supply, demand and market speculation sets oil price.  Or perhaps you are referring togas prices well no gouging there the price at the pump is a direct reflection of the limited supply of gasoline do to limited refining capacity and the increased demand for gas.  If you believe the price is too high as I do perhaps you should join me in demanding our government allow increased refining capacity so we will have more fuel at lower prices. 

All of which actually bolsters my case that they think of NOTHING beyond profit, profit at all costs as it were. Taxes did not cause the market collapse, greed did. After all the greatest expense in any business is employees.

How about if you are an American based company that goes overseas to avoid taxes, you cannot provide your service or sell your goods inside the USA.

I'll kick in here...I have a friend in the business....current plans call for removal of several tax exemptions that make drilling viable...his response...shut in..not produce and lay off the folks he subs out to.....adding to jobless figures etc....and he is a small operator.

Also - if we are to reduce reliance on foreign oil - per the new regime - isnt it counter productive to make it harder on the domestic oil producers? - where will you get your oil?

And before the "renewable " word gets thrown in - lets debate rationally - it will take decades for a new source to replace what we consume in fossil fuels today...

Seeing as how we continue to use more oil every year, wouldn't it make sense that they continue to make a larger profit. Say for example if they make $1 off each barrel of oil, if we use more oil, they make larger profits. Its like saying the government is taxing everyone more just because GDP went up so they collected a larger number of dollers.

By the way, I love the way you managed to connect the oil industry to the economic collapse, as if their greed managed to cause the market to crash.

When you are talking about record profits for the oil companies though (some probably have Exxon in mind) ... you are looking at the WRONG numbers.

Sure, their profit was something like 10 Billion ... but their profit margin was razor thin....

The total profit number is just so high because they are such a huge company and hace so much volume ... but the actual profit margin for these oil companies are slimmer than almost any other business out there.

Fred's Hardware chain - has 100 stores acorss the USA, they spent 1 million dollars on inventory last year, their revenues were 3 million, their operating and other expenses were 1 million, so net profits were 2 million dollars.  Their profit margin was  50%.  No one is going to scream about a company making 2 million dollars.

Exxon refines and sells billions and billions of gallons of gas.  Their revenues were 50 Billion dollars, but their operating and other expenses were 40 Billion dollars, so net profit is 10 Billion and a 20% profit margin.

So their profit margin is more than half of what the hardware store was ... but everyone screams about the "gouging" and large sums of profit that Exxon makes .... but on a cost to revenue percentage ... they are making way less money.

People only hear the net profit amount and don't think about the other numbers in the equation ... and just assume that the oil company is making a killing and gouging everyone.

And like the OP stated ... why don't we want American companies to make a decent profit?  Most people's 401k's, IRA, and Mutual Funds are full of these types of stocks ... so if these companies and their stocks do well ... so do the retirement funds and investment funds of a lot of Americans.

Plus, we are all complaining about sales tax, bike tax, etc ... if we can keep successful American companies here and doing business ... they pay a lot of taxes and a good chunk of the Government revenue comes fro these companies.

But, like the OP stated, we need to be careful we don't tax them TOO much or else that company leaves, we lose jobs, we lose tax revenue, we lose peosperity and wealth building in the USA, we lose our independence ... and become enslaved to other countries.

I don't know that I said all that you said I said but I ment all you said I said.. The BIG OIL makes about 8 cents yes that is right .08 per gal on gas Big Government makes about 42 cents, .42 per gal you tell me who is jacking up the price.

I wonder how much Borden or Maola makes on a gallon of milk?

Or how much Pepsi or Coke makes on a 2 liter bottle of soda?

And these are food items, and grocery stores are another business that runs on very slim margins.

Wonder what Nike makes on a pair of shoes, or what the Gap makes on a pair of jeans,  etc ... it's just that Borden might sell 30 million gallons of milk per year and Exxon sells 30 Billion gallons of gas ... so it appears they are making a killing .. but really ... their margin is way thin.

Why in the world would an Oil company (producer) want to be in the US?  The product they provide is a commodity.  After it is pumped, it's mixed with the oil from all over the world and sold to the refinery willing to pay the best price.  The US is threatening higher and higher taxes and more and more rules.  The door has been closed to new US drilling in promising areas so any new oil is going to have to be bought overseas.

Relocate the company in a tax friendly nation and thumb your nose at your former home.  That's smart business.

Face it, we can blast our corporations and drive them away or make the US the best place to start and locate a business.  It would appear that the former is the new plan for the US.

In my case, a manufacturer, it's raw materials. Labor is a distant third, but ya can't cut materials and still sell product....

Manufacturing can be vastly different from company to company.  We have many customers who have labor as #1 and materials as a distant third.  Of course my company makes automation machinery so we tend to do business with those who have high labor costs.

Just some statistics

Exxon revenues (2008) - $372.8 billion

Exxon Profit (2008) - $40.6 Billion

Profit Margin 10.9%

Not huge but not what I would call razor thin either.

I checked on Google Finance and they have for 2008 the Exxon had a profit margin of 9.47%, Pepsi an 11.89%, and American Dairy Farmers a 16.21%

.... while not maybe razor thin ... where is the outcry over the outrageous profits that Pepsi and the Milk companies are making?

Last I checked a gallon of milk or gallon of Pepsi costs more than a gallon of gas and has a lot less taxes on them.

Probably because Pepsi and the ADF are not getting billions in tax breaks. and Pepsi's profits while huge (5 bil) are still 1/8 of Exxon

And the taxes on a gallon of gas,pepsi or milk have nothing to do with their profits

The tax breaks may be because they are trying to keep these companies in the U.S., but more to the point, like you say, Pepsu made 5 Billion in profits, but that is still only 1/8 of Exxon.

Yet the profit margin of Pepsi is more ... so why not the outcry of them making so much money off the American consumer.

It is simply because it isn't the 400 and some Billion that Exxon made ... but the reason is because Exxon is such a much larger company.  It's common sense .... if a company is 100 times larger than another ... then of course their total net revenue or profit is going to me more ... but that doesn't mean it is because they are way overcharging and screwing over the consumer.

It just simply means they are a bigger company, sell more, therefore have bigger numbers.  But if people only would look at the profit margins of companies instead ... they would realize that they are just makng a modest profit like any other company ... and like the OP stated, many people have Exxon in their portfolios .... as well as Pepsi and others ... so why wouldn't they want these companies to make a profit?

I'd rather see Exxon making a killing on profits than the Chinese company selling all those widgets here in the U.S, or the Japanese car manufactures, etc ....