Excessive Profits: Oil Companies or Disney?

Many of the US Senators and House of Representatives are "up in arms" about the profits that oil companies are making. Makings profits is what any company does - but with oil you start to get into the "big numbers" due to VERY simple math.

If a company makes just 7% profit on a barrel of oil (55 gallons in a barrel) that means $4.20 out of $60 cost. But when you deal with MILLIONS of barrels a day being refined that sheer volume along with the price per barrel is what makes the profit large - not the exploitation of people.

For the companies that OWN their oil fields then yes they are going to earn even MORE than that 7%. One of the problems with the current rules that the US Government forces them to run by is that they tie their own well production prices to the "spot" prices of the world. So their oil producing company charges the refining company the market prices - even though they be wholly owned by the same "shell" holding company. So the refinery portion still makes the 7% - but the oil producing part could easily make 30 to 50% net profit due to it being tied to the spot market prices.

Now compare them to Disney (or Universal Theme Parks or Six Flags) and you will see that Disney profit is around 30%. This is how they can pay their CEO 26 million dollars a year (total compensation) on the $8.8 BILLION in sales (2006). Just walk  into one of their parks and pay the $10 for a croissant and egg with 2 pieces of bacon - same price at a fast food place is $2.50. Who is charging excessively for a product Disney or Oil? Plus charging people to park their cars is really where they make a lot of money: 20,000 cars (guess) a day at $7 a car and you are making $140,000 x 365 days a year so you are making $51 MILLION a year - after expenses likely $45 million - just allowing people to park their cars to visit!

Do you see the US Congress investigating these excessive fees to vacationing people?

The vast majority of people are really clueless how things REALLY work - and all the behind the scenes fees, charges, regulations, that companies embed in the prices that they charge. 

Imagine what would happen if companies started printing on the receipts that you get all the government imposed fees that they pay, rules that they have to adhere to and the cost to implement those rules, and print print your itemized portion out on the receipt that you get?

I think gasoline stations should print out the total tax that you pay as a separate line on each receipt - then after each fill up you can ask where that $6.00+ in taxes being paid to state and Federal coffers is being spent?