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"Jeff" <news@googlemail.com> wrote in message
news:h7dIh.10104$1g.5078@trndny05...[color=blue]
>
> "Hachiroku ????" <Trueno@AE86.gts> wrote in message
> news:gS7Ih.583$jf.459@trndny04...[color=green]
>> On Fri, 09 Mar 2007 00:51:32 +0000, Jeff wrote:[/color]
>
> <...>
>[color=green][color=darkred]
>>> If you think ExxonMobil's profit is too big please tell me how to
>>> determine the proper amount of money that they should be allowed to
>>> earn.[/color]
>>
>> Yes, this is an interesting question. I would propose a buffer on price
>> increases. As I said in the other thread, as soon as the price of a
>> barrel
>> increases, the distributors get the word to raise prices. However, when
>> there is a decrease, there is quite a lag before it hits the pumps, if at
>> all. Kinda like a diode. Goes one way, not the other.
>>
>> I think there should be a period of time before the price increase hits
>> the pump. like about the same time the barrels at the new price get to
>> the
>> refineries. That way, if the price goes down, we don't end up getting
>> boned at the pumps.
>>
>> Same for decreases. Which, btw, don't happen as often as increases, even
>> though rises and falls are almost a daily occurance.[/color]
>
> Regardless, ExxonMobil had sales of over $350 billion and made $40 billion
> in proifts, with a profit margin of around 11%. Is this an unfair profit
> margin, given the investment and income they had? It is certainly on par
> with a well-run utility.
>
> How do you determine what a fair profit is for such a company?
>
> And can you support your claim that price increases in an unfair manner?
>
> Jeff[/color]

If you don't mind my temporarily substituting "ridiculous" for "unfair", for
purposes of an analogy, here we go:

Two tables, two separate groups of people rolling dice. At the first table,
the dice represent percentage of price increase or decrease for oil. At the
second table, the dice represent a list of randomly shifting factors that
will be applied to the numbers determined at the other table. Examples from
the second table might be:

- Multiply by snake eyes.
- Divide by number of rabies vaccinations your dog has gotten, plus his
weight at birth.
- Add the number of days in the past year when you've been truly worried
about violence.

You go to the gas station and find a TV screen on the pump, showing this
dice routine. The price at the pump varies every 10 seconds or so, based on
rolls of the dice.

Would this method be acceptable to you? It's not that far from reality.