Exxon and Mobil at this moment are two of the largest companies. Will
boycotting them induce a price war?

mark_digital wrote:
Exxon and Mobil are the same company. They merged about 3-4 years ago.

"badgolferman" <REMOVETHISbadgolferman (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote

mark_digital wrote:
:Exxon and Mobil are the same company. They merged about 3-4 years ago.
--------
I have a printout about this boycott and it does mention both companies as
being one, but continues speaking of them as "they", plural.

mark_digital wrote:

Ahh, marketing hype. What would we do without the illusion of choice? :_>

Boycotting them will not lower the price of gasoline. If you drive less and
use less gas (and most others do the same) the price may come back down
some.

High gas prices are primarily due to high crude oil prices, which are partly
a function of the declining dollar (which is partly due to very low interest
rates in the USA). Oil is priced in dollars, so OPEC needs to raise the
price of oil as the dollar declines to remain at the same level.

"mark_digital" <XXX-RIR (AT) comcast (DOT) com> spake unto the masses in
news:MMudnZGqf8GegA_dRVn-hg (AT) comcast (DOT) com:


No. A successful boycott of one company will result in demand increasing at
other stations. This will cause an increase in the spot price for gasoline
as the other companies scramble around to buy more on the spot market to
satisfy immediate demand.

A successful boycott will likely result in an INCREASE in pump prices due
to the volatility created. ExxonMobil would probably gain MORE from the
sale of their excess inventory on the spot market at escalated prices.

Want a scapegoat for high prices? Blame the government. High taxes,
"boutique" localized formulations and environmental laws all conspire to
jack up pump prices.

Oil companies make a middling profit margin overall (8%). Pump gasoline has
a fairly slim margin compared to other products.


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"Mark A" <ma (AT) switchboard (DOT) net> spake unto the masses in
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Thank you. I forgot to point this out in my last post.

Low interest rates are a form of inflation; inflation of credit rather than
currency. Inflating either will eventually cause an increase in consumer
prices.

As Milton Friedman once so famously pointed out: "Inflation is always and
everywhere a monetary phenomenon."

In other words, these days the government *always* causes inflation, since
the government maintains an effective monopoly on money.


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"mark_digital" <XXX-RIR (AT) comcast (DOT) com> spake unto the masses in
news:1uidnUQj4_Ftsw_dRVn-hA (AT) comcast (DOT) com:


Bacause they maintain separate retail outlets.

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Richard Schumacher wrote:
Yeah, kinda' like the choice between republicans & democrats? LOL

If anyone wants to boycott an oil company, I would suggest boycotting the
French owned Fina gas stations.