[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

OMG. The most uninformed, erroneous, ridiculous post ever.

Refining is THE most efficient production sector in the history of man.
They produce a very clean, very complex fuel for an operating cost average of around 20 cents a gallon, delivered. That is with raw materials (crude) approaching $3 a gallon.

To make this fuel requires an incredibly complex, huge plant with a replacement cost of around $5 BILLION.

Production of refined fuels requires temperatures exceeding 900 degrees, pressures over 2000 psi, flow rates of up to 5 million gallons per day, catalysts that cost thousands of dollars a pound, you really have no idea.

Gas and diesel are CHEAP when compared to just about everything else you buy when you factor in how much it takes to make it.

if anything, the government has done much to keep the prices and margins down over the past 25 years, I have no idea which fantasy world you dreamed up that it's corporate welfare. Just the opposite is true. maybe you were referring to bizzaro world.
Exxonmobil paid nearly $50 billion in taxes last year, and had a net profit of around $44 billion. They paid more taxes than they made.
If you got home with 45% of your paycheck because of taxes, would you call that welfare?.

The margins have historically been low due to COMPETITION. Refining is a very competitive sector and except for a short period has by design always had excess capacity. They historically made as much as they could possibly sell and could have made more but didn't because they couldn't sell anymore. That competition for the consumer kept the prices and margins down, not inefficiency.

I'll let you get back to your $1 bottle of filtered water now.

Obviously you did not get the joke.