Monday, March 28, 2011
Context Statement
Gasoline could manage to exceed $100 a barrel which would put a gallon of gas at about $4. This has more of an affect than most individuals would think about because with the rising costs of energy the price for a lot of other things will increase as well. The businesses that produce goods and products will have to increase their price to the consumer in order to keep the same amount of profit. If gasoline rises jsut $1 a gallon it will cost an average of about $750 a year for most individuals. this has more of a psychological effect on individuals when they see $4 a gallon prices. The main issue at hand is why are gas prices continuing to rise? Why are some of the larger corporations given tax cuts? Why have these same oil corporations been reporting all time highs in profits when most Americans are struggling to pay for gas? Should these larger oil corporations be given tax cuts while they are reporting record highs in profit while most Americans can barely get by?
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These are great questions, Dave! I am interested in learning the answers you find. Where will you search? I think the oil companies will have very different answers than those offered by environmental and consumer advocates. I hope you check out all the interest groups relevant to this topic.
ReplyDeleteI'm right there with Linda--and I'm curious to know what your stance is. What are the differing arguments these differnt sides throw out, and where do you fit in? You may not want to look at the biggest distributors in the US (ExxonMobil and BP come to mind), but also the lesser known distributors to see more of the impact of the cost of refinement and distribution in relationship to crude cost.
ReplyDeleteHi Dave, my name is Tim Lewin and I am a student from URI. I am researching the URI sailing teams recent decline.
ReplyDeleteGreat topic to discuss at this point in the economy Dave! I really like where you are heading as far discussing tax cuts and record high profits for the oil companies. However, to make this realization stronger, you could focus on a more individual approach to looking at these company’s profits. For instance, Rex Tillerson, who is the CEO of ExxonMobil made $27.2 million in 2009, DOWN from $32.3 million in 2008--at a time when the economy was crashing! Now I know that our capitalist business structure allows for individuals to make as much money as they please with a bit of taxing, but how does one man have the power to make $60 million dollars over the course of two of the worst economic years in U.S. history (as of late)?
This approach narrows down such a massive company to an individual who is behind the major decisions that ExxonMobil makes. Giving such a specific example could help your research inquiry as big time bosses such as CEO’s of these companies could reviewed for how much they are giving back (or not) to society as they have TONS of money to do so.
Heres my citing for the salary. Check it out: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/exxon-mobil-ceo-tilleson-pay-falls-16-2010-04-13
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