WalMart & Mobil 1

[grfok]

In my opinion the American economy is driven by pertoleum. Exxon-Mobil is in the petroleum business. Our vehicles, cars, trucks, tractors, lawn mowers, RTV's weed trimmers, etc. take gas and diesel for fuel and oil for lubrication. The majority of our food is transported by fuel use vehicles. We travel one person per vehicle for many miles to our place of employment. We lack mass transportaion in all but a few large cities. The list goes on and on. In all fairness to Big-Oil they make large amounts of money but they also pay out large amounts. This cycle will continue until we as consumers push for a better way.

Some interesting information on Exxon-Mobil's Federal Taxes.

The reported income figures of $40.6 billion and $39.5 billion for Exxon-Mobil are after-tax profits. For 2006, before tax) was $67.4 billion, it paid $27.9 billion in taxes (41.4% tax rate), and its NIAT (net income after tax), or profit, was $39.5 billion.]
Over the last three years, Exxon Mobil has paid an average of $27 billion annually in taxes. (In all likelihood the taxes paid were passed on to consumers of Exxon-Mobil products) That's $27,000,000,000 per year, a number so large it's hard to comprehend. Here's one way to put reportedly paid Exxon's taxes into perspective.
According to IRS data for 2004, the most recent year available:
Total number of tax returns: 130 million
Number of Tax Returns for the Bottom 50%: 65 million
Adjusted Gross Income for the Bottom 50%: $922 billion
Total Income Tax Paid by the Bottom 50%: $27.4 billion
Exxon-Mobil痴 income is so great it is in the 41% tax bracket
Conclusion: In other words, just one corporation (Exxon Mobil) pays as much in taxes ($27 billion) annually as the entire bottom 50% of individual taxpayers, which is 65,000,000 people! Further, the tax rate for the bottom 50% is only 3% of adjusted gross income ($27.4 billion Taxes paid / $922 billion taxable Income), Exxon Mobil 67.4 billion in taxable income, $27.9 billion in taxes).

I don't understand how anyone can think a business pays taxes!
Business sell goods and services, any costs they incur are passed on to us... the consumer.
I say NO taxes for businesses at all even as much as I too hate the big oil guys.
Then lets all get behind the "fair tax" and get it passed.

 

[jsborn]

I don't understand how anyone can think a business pays taxes!
Business sell goods and services, any costs they incur are passed on to us... the consumer.
I say NO taxes for businesses at all even as much as I too hate the big oil guys.
Then lets all get behind the "fair tax" and get it passed.

AMEN !!!!

The Fair Tax is the only Fair way to make everyone tax equal !!

The more you buy the more you pay ..this means even the drug pushers and pimps and illegal aliens would have to pay there fair share of taxes.

Now I will yield the soapbox to others .

 

[gemini5362]

Wal-Mart is not just the world's largest retailer. It's the world's largest company--bigger than ExxonMobil, General Motors, and General Electric. The scale can be hard to absorb. Wal-Mart sold $244.5 billion worth of goods last year.

Wal-Mart wields its power for just one purpose: to bring the lowest possible prices to its customers. At Wal-Mart, that goal is never reached. The retailer has a clear policy for suppliers: On basic products that don't change, the price Wal-Mart will pay, and will charge shoppers, must drop year after year. But what almost no one outside the world of Wal-Mart and its 21,000 suppliers knows is the high cost of those low prices. Wal-Mart has the power to squeeze profit-killing concessions from vendors. To survive in the face of its pricing demands, makers of everything from bras to bicycles to blue jeans have had to lay off employees and close U.S. plants in favor of outsourcing products from overseas.

Info here.......Wal-Mart You Don't Know | Fast Company

I worked in purchasing for an underground tool company for a few years. Later I worked as a Production engineer there working on implementing new purchasing processes, systems, processes, and finding new vendors etc, etc. If I found another company to do the work another company presently did. The new vendor HAD to beat it by 15%. That is what was handed down to me finding new vendors. They were following what Wal Mart started! Ironically When I left they were dealing with a Chinese firm for weldments!

I personally think it was unfair since everything labor, transport and operating cost go up. It drives US business to go overseas.

I think Sam Walton would be turning in his grave if he knew had it is run now!

Dan

Interesting thread. I dont agree with it but interesting.
Since I am from Arkansas the chances are that I have been shopping at Walmart for longer than most people. I have seen prices over the years climb when I am buying items. I can say that walmart became the largest retailer because of three things. 1. lower prices. When sam walton was alive his managers had to go to stores that were in competition with walmart and when they saw something cheaper they had to lower the prices than the competitors price. It might be just 1 cent but it would be lower. 2. Customer service again when sam walton was alive walmart customer service was as good as it gets on average. If you wanted to see something out of the package to examine it closer it was opened up if you didnt take it they would tape it back in the package. But they would let you look at it. Other companies had a problem with doing that. 3. Hard work I dont know any more but store managers had to meet at 7am on saturdays to discuss with the regional manager what sold in their store what didnt what problems they had etc.


I dont think you can blame walmart for all the jobs going overseas. They do there fair share of that I agree but go to one of the National Home shows they have every year. I went one year and saw less than ten vendors from the United States. That was in a show that i spent three days walking around it and did not see it all. I saw absolutely no vendors selling steel products or steel cables etc. They were 95+ per cent from china with the rest from an asian company. Last time I looked wal mart was not big in the selling steel market.

If you want to blame people blame others besides wal mart. Every body wants them to carry their product. A few years ago wal mart made a decision. If you are going to be doing buisness with walmart you have to have someone of at least a vice president in your company with contract authority that lived in bentonville area. That one decision alone took a sleepy little town like bentionville and made that the fastest growing area in the United States. for several years the growth in that area was simply unbelievable. All those people wanted to have walmart carry their products and they were willing to do whatever it takes. If you want to talk about greed walmart does not have the market cornered on that. Watch the tv movie the age of walmart to get an idea of how they work.

 

[gemini5362]

get past the greeter (OK, some of those folks are really quite pleasant
Jay

Actually the greeters are there to keep people from walking out the front door with products that they have stolen. They are a very necessary precaution. The majority of the stores I have been in the greeters were older people who were working at a job that did not require a lot of physical stamina to perform. They were supplementing their retirement or social security whichever they are on. That jobs gives them extra income to live off of. Why would you thing getting past them is a detriment?

One other plus about wal mart is for people like me. I get off of work at midnight. If there is something I need to pick up on the way home or want to do some shopping on my way home how many stores besides wal mart do you think I have available to choose from

 

[EX3200]

frontline: is wal-mart good for america?: watch the full program online | PBS

 

[WilliamBos]

yeah i wont shop at walfart for a hundred reasons... And for all you oil gurus.. mobil 1 has stopped using full synthetic base stock and so you can find other brands out there that are higher quality full synthetic.. compare apples to apples if your shopping price. Mobil 1 is not nearly the best of the synthetics on the market these days, not that its bad, but its not head hancho anymore.

Well said. We used Red Line on our 1523, may consider it for oour other vehicles, or Amsoil.

 

[vsteel]

You have to love when people feel the need to defend Exxon.

The point was there are companies out there that are 10X worse, they are just under the radar more because of the economics of scale.