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To: sea_biscuit who wrote (78692)	8/1/2006 5:22:41 PM
From: tonto	Respond to of 81568

Have you compared the average profit percentage of oil and gas as compared to other industries? For example, the last 5 years through September of 2005, all industries average profit was .056 cents per dollar as compared to .059 cents per dollar for oil. (This does not include distribution profits, pipeline profits, or gas profits which are all seperate.)

To: sea_biscuit who wrote (78692)	8/1/2006 5:22:48 PM
From: TimF	Respond to of 81568

The question still remains - haven't the profits of the oil companies gone through the roof over the last 5 or so years? That's an almost meaningless question in the context of this discussion. Oil industry profits have increased greatly. That happens in a cyclical industry. Oil is far from the only industry where such shifts happen. Prices of many commodities and some manufactured goods go through such swings and so do profits in the industries that produce them. My house has tripled in value in 5 years before staying fairly steady for a year. The house price increase might actually have more to do with price fixing than the change in oil prices. Zoning laws and development restrictions increase the price of housing by limiting supply. Record profits in a cyclical industry and a growing economy, don't even vaguely imply price fixing.