Written by There are just too many things I want to say about this, but I’ll let you readers do it instead. Please feel free to leave your comments!
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Exxon Mobil posts $40.6 billion annual profit
Oil giant breaks record for largest annual profit by a U.S. company
HOUSTON – Exxon Mobil Corp. posted the largest annual profit by a U.S. company — $40.6 billion — on Friday as the world’s biggest publicly traded oil company benefited from historic crude prices at the end of the year.
Exxon also set a U.S. record for the biggest quarterly profit, posting net income of $11.7 billion for the final three months of 2007, beating its own mark of $10.71 billion in the fourth quarter of 2005.
The previous record for annual profit was $39.5 billion, which Exxon Mobil had in 2006.
A lot of people get bent about this, but, this is what capitalism is all about. The profit margins of the oil companies are smaller percentage wise than several hundred other companies in America. It’s about supply and demand and what the market can charge. My question is this, the government makes more off the tax on gas than the gas companies do. The government doesn’t produce a drop of gas. Why are they making any money at all off the backs of these corporations? I have yet to see the government lower the taxes on gas. We need to drill in more locations instead of importing oil. We haven’t built a new refinery in more than 30 yrs. We are the most environmentally smart country in the world. We can drill responsibly while taking care of the environment.The bottom line is that oil will be the cheapest of any current technologies. Everyone talks about biodiesel and ethanol. The machines that create the end product are all run on gas or diesel. Don’t just look at the surface of the issue, look all the way to the end as to what takes place to get to the end product. An example would be the increase in the cost of food. It’s not an easy slam dunk issue. Do like me, invest in these oil companies and watch your stock increase. In the end, you’ll have a great portfolio.
those poor corporations
“Free-Market” capitalism is a fantasy. The deck is stacked in favor of the obscenely wealthy corporatocracy, but of course they still need all those subsidies and tax breaks. These companies should be paying for their own oil-stealing war in Iraq, instead of my grandchildren being stuck with the bill. The destruction of our democracy and our Earth for profit is insanely shortsighted and will have consequences for everyone- even those with great portfolios.
Re: those poor corporations
Subsidies and tax breaks are not part of the free market. They are the result of government intervention.
Re: those poor corporations
Yes, that is my point exactly.
Just what the doctor ordered!
Isn’t expensive gas *exactly* what the angsty and self-loathing types want?
If Exxon is making a ton of money for their stock-holders, then that means that their produce must be commanding high prices.
All those busy-bodies that want to do it like Europe does with their $7 per gallon of petrol are getting their wish!
Soon we can all be force drive crappy little Toyota with gas that more expensive that bottles of champagne and they’ll finally be happy. Well…. not too happy…. Toyota’s are not union made, and are killing the union autoworker’s source of employment.
More angst!
Re: Just what the doctor ordered!
I like my little Toyota! It has over 250,000 miles on it and in 15 years never a service need. 🙂
Re: Just what the doctor ordered!
Crappy cars is what is killing union jobs. The union boys do a good job putting things together but when mamagement has them assemble a car nobody wants they loose. If US auto makers could design a quality car under $30,000 I buy it, but they don’t. So I have to get a VW or Honda or something.
I do hope it is not just Japanese cars you don’t like.
Why don’t you two quit complaining and tell me your solutions. We only get 30% of our oil from the middle east. If you think we’re getting it from Iraq, we’re not. We have plenty of oil that we can capture on our soil. How about the refineries? Why can’t we build more? I’ll tell you why. It’s because of activists groups holding up the process. If electric and other technologies were such a great profitable business, somebody would be creating a mkt and making lots of money. The bottom line is that oil will be used for many years to come.
Salt in the wound….
What makes the whiny types so disgusting is that they were the same type of people that killed nuclear power just because it was “scary.”
If you like all the coal dust in your lungs – you can “thank” the trust-fund “environmentals” of the 1970’s.
It’s like those idiots that buy Prious – the feel good about it, but when you factor the nickel production into the construction of the Prious, the damn things are an environmental disaster.