Exxon record profits again

[dmccarty]

ADM, aka Archer-Daniels-Midland has a Bioproducts company whose sales have fueled, pun intended, a proft surge at the company.

The year previous quarter they Bioproducts buisiness had a profit of $25.2 million while this last quarter it was $174 million. ADM says that ethanol might take about 10% of gasoline market.

From looking at their annual report from 8/1, the ADM Bioproducts business looks to have a profit margin of 39%. They don't come out and have it as a line item you have to read the report and do the math. Hopefully I got it right.

Is ADM gauging? Look at that profit increase. Look at that profit margin..

Later,
Dan

 

[slowrev]

Coud be on the ADM gouging. Remember they got nailed on price fixing a few years ago.....

 

[SkyPup]

ADM paid the largest fine ever levied against a corporation for price fixing.

The price of a gallon of ethanol is higher than a gallon of refined gasoline, just another reason the price of gas with ethanol in it is so high.

 

[Garrabo]

Simple, anyone and everyone willing to pay for their products.

Now guess whose pockets their dividends are all going into?

Do we have a choice?

 

[Doc_Bob]

The end of the world must be near - an oil price/profit thread on TBN that hasn't degenerated into name calling, threats, and general foaming at the mouth! ;^) I had given up all hope of ever having a civil discussion; you guys have restored my faith in TBN.

What? I must have read the thread way too quickly. Or I am getting so insensitve in my old age that I just ignore some stuff. I missed the negative vibes.
Bob

 

[cowpie1]

Simple free market economics makes most "price gouging" a myth. If I gouge you at the pump, brand X will come in and undercut me and still make money causing me to lower my price to sell more product.

Most of the prices are jacked up by speculators in the market. The same would be true if grain was a valuable commodity. I wonder if everyone would have a fit if Corn went up to $5/bushel or soybeans went to $15/bushel. Now the farmer's profit margins would increase and would we be looking to hang them out to dry like the oil companies and say the farmers were "gouging"?

 

[Doc_Bob]

Simple free market economics makes most "price gouging" a myth. If I gouge you at the pump, brand X will come in and undercut me and still make money causing me to lower my price to sell more product.

Why do some people never understand this simple fact?
Thanks for posting it. Maybe someone will hear what you are saying.
Bob

 

[SkyPup]

Do we have a choice?

Yes you have a real choice.

You can either purchase the stock and receive dividends and equity or not purchase the stock and not receive dividends or equity.

 

[SkyPup]

Simple free market economics makes most "price gouging" a myth. If I gouge you at the pump, brand X will come in and undercut me and still make money causing me to lower my price to sell more product.

Most of the prices are jacked up by speculators in the market. The same would be true if grain was a valuable commodity. I wonder if everyone would have a fit if Corn went up to $5/bushel or soybeans went to $15/bushel. Now the farmer's profit margins would increase and would we be looking to hang them out to dry like the oil companies and say the farmers were "gouging"?

"To date, ADM has set aside $ 279 million to cover fines, settlements and litigation expenses stemming from antitrust investigations in lysine and citric acid, according to the company's March 1998 quarterly report. Despite the disruptions created by the investigation and private lawsuits, ADM has attained worldwide market leadership in lysine, one of its most profitable products."

"It was almost the perfect crime. There was little risk of law enforcement detection, a low probability that even the victims would know they were being ripped off, and hundreds of millions to gain."

"The perpetrators divided up the world market and gave each member a slice. Penny-by-penny, they stole from customers for three years. They met under the ruse of a trade association, setting prices and negotiating their share of the take. They kept tabs on each other through monthly reports, and designed a buy-back system in case anyone cheated. The conspirators stole in a market big enough to be profitable, but small enough to attract little public attention. They got caught."

"Their illegal gains came to an end when one of their own gave up the cartel and captured their conversations on tape for the FBI. Convicted, the conspirators are held up as examples for what could happen to those who participate in "antitrust conspiracies that rob Americans of their hard-earned dollars," says Joel I. Klein head of the Justice Department's Antitrust Division."

"On Sept. 17, a Chicago jury found three former top Archer Daniels Midland Co. executives -- Michael D. Andreas, Mark E. Whitacre and Terrance S. Wilson -- guilty of violating the Sherman Antitrust Act by fixing the price and allocating the volume of lysine, a corn-based feed additive. "

 

[slowrev]

Free market did not keep seem to keep ADM from price fixing.