ARE WE GETTING HOSED OR WHAT?

History was made today. From the AP:

"High prices for oil and natural gas propelled Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC to their best quarterly results ever on Thursday, with Exxon becoming the first U.S. company ever to ring up quarterly sales of $100 billion."

However you slice it, we're a captive audience when it comes to gasoline. OPEC and the US oil producers have us right where they want us--behind the wheel. We're like crack addicts when it comes to gas. And just like an addict, we'll pay whatever the dealer asks, because we have to buy gas to get to work, so we can make more money, so we can buy more gas, ect, ect. Kinda sick once you really think about it.

After reading the AP article, I didn't feel much better about why oil companies are breaking profit records. Actually, if you apply a bit of common sense to the article, I think it becomes clear what's going on: Price gouging.

I'm no expert, but it seems to me if the oil company has an increase in product cost (OPEC), then it would naturally pass that increase on to the consumer, if those costs threatened to impact their profitability. But, if they're just passing their increase on to us, how can they post off-the-chart numbers for the last reporting period, unless there's gouging going on. And this:

"Both Exxon and Shell said their performances were buoyed by higher crude-oil and natural-gas prices, even as output suffered due to a busy hurricane season in the Gulf of Mexico. The companies noticed slight decreases in fuel demand."

So here's their equation:

**Higher crude prices+lowered output+decreased demand=75% quarterly net income increase and historic profit margins.

My math is more accurate:

**Historic net income and profit levels+decreased demand and output= You're getting hosed at the pump!!

Check my work, I could be wrong. Read the AP article here, and this too.