Oh, what was the margin?
I didn’t see it in the article.
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Margin only matters if you’re writing an objective news article.
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Revenue was about 110 billion so net margin was about 16%. When you look at the entire industry, the second quarter of 2022 was unprecedented in not only profits but profitability as measured by net margin.
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16% is pretty nice. (or 20% as per the link)
20% is over the preceeding year. It was 39% for the last quarter.
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Just gassed up for $3.899 at Costco.
Oil and gas companies always get too greedy because in the short term they can. It’s the long term where they get stuck because people start shifting away from gas. It’s the reasons gas tax would be a great passive way to help with global warming. Just slowly increase the price over time regardless of the oil market and people will move on.
And the gas tax has increased, although how much varies by state and in some cases municipality. And many would say it hasn’t increased enough.
Federal gas tax has been 18 cents a gallon since 1997. Highest state tax is around 50 cents a gallon. In most European countries it would be the equivalent of $3.00 a gallon.,
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I read in one source (don’t have the link) that one of the reasons the US is having such problems with maintaining the highway system is that for the past few decades gas taxes have failed to keep up with the combined effect of inflation and improved fuel efficiency of vehicles on the road. Tax revenue per mile driven has been declining in real terms.
Total gas taxes in Vancouver are US$2+ per US gallon and will eventually catch up with Europe. However we get universal income tax relief to mitigate the impact.
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The peak here was $4.69, it’s $3.72 today.
I’m about to need a gallon and a half for my Vespa, which should be all the gas I buy this quarter.
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Every year, the Utah State Tax Commission recalculates gasoline tax for the coming year by charging 16.5% of the average motor fuel price charged by refineries to retailers at the rack.
For 2021, that will increase the state tax on gasoline and diesel from 31.1 cents per gallon to 31.4 cents.
I’m not sure if there is a cap or a cap on the increase per year, but it is almost certainly going up next year. And I’m pretty sure the state added a very small (0.001) to the sales tax for roads a portion of which is distributed to cities and counties specifically for transportation. Our city has done quite a few road projects and a lot more sidewalk and curb and gutter repair than they have in the past.
Prices at regular gas stations around me got up near 5.20 though GasBuddy is now telling me the range is 4.68 to 5.04. I don’t think I paid more than 4.89 at Sam’s Club where I get my gas.
Interesting article in today’s NY Times on how the big retailers are selling large amounts of their bloated inventories to liquidators in addition to offering discounts in their stores.
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Happy Milton Friedman Day! (he was born July 31, 1912)
Here’s a Free to Choose episode (1980) where he’s talking about inflation
Do you really think privatizing the national park system would be a good idea?
There’s nothing particularly special about the government owning property that would particularly protect it compared to a private organization, or make it more accessible to the public.
In many cases, non-profit orgs take over these sorts of things anyway, as with the Detroit Institute of Arts & the bankruptcy of the Detroit. It was nice that Detroit had some assets it could hold hostage in negotiations. So “privatization” is like Harvard University or the Foundation of Really Rich People who Want Their Names On Something more than being scared that Walmart will buy it.
It’s like what happened with Central Park, and the Central Park Conservancy. Every so often, the Really Rich People who run the Conservancy block off a part of the park so they can have a nice party, but most of the time everybody gets to use it, and the park isn’t so run down anymore.
I’m in favor of keeping the national parks. I don’t trust private conservationists as much as Meep.
That said, the entry fees for the first tier parks are too low. We have people who spend thousands of dollars traveling from foreign countries to visit Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon. We could charge them $100/day.
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I think it would make sense to give US citizens a discount since our taxes support the parks. When I was in Africa the citizens of the country I visited had discounted admission to the national parks of their country.
So maybe keep the price as is for US citizens (and maybe residents too… I’m ambivalent about non-citizen residents) and increase the price for foreign nationals who reside abroad. I’d be ok with that. Maybe Canada & Mexico in between???
Meep’s take is hopelessly naive imo. Privatization of national parks would be a travesty. I think Twig has the right idea, limiting entry to American citizens, with maybe a lottery for foreigners and charge them exorbitant rates. Should be heavily subsidized for poor families as well. Already is to a certain extent - any 4th grader can get their whole family in for free.
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