Preach it Brother, preach it.

“American terrorism” at work. Say you’re a minimum wage American and you drive in for a fill-up to get to work. Wife and kid in car. “Terrorism” is watching the pump and at the same time seeing the “terrorists” at Exxon-Mobile post prodits.
Nuf’ said!

So XOM made record profits, they also will pay record taxes! When you do the volume they do, the profits will be big! Percentage wise, it is still resonable. If you want a piece of teh wealth, go buy some XOM stock. Otherwise, quite whining…my hat is off to them. Good job! Yes, I own XOM stock.

Don’t like the high oil company profits? Stop buying thier product.

Oil companies make less than 10% profit margin, which is far less than most businesses make. Coca Cola, for example, makes almost 20%.

Glad to read that there are some thinking geeks out there…us red necks have guns and will defend our homes to the end you geeks have the networks and government employees are those that can’t make it on the outside or are on power trips….I salute you guys that fight terrorism….for us at the geek level….hoo-rah……!!!

David, Gene, and the rest of you right-wing nut jobs -

why not just make a cash donation directly to XOM ?

that way they won’t even have to produce any product

to get your money. and you idiots will feel even better

about yourselves. have a great next four years.

I’m not saying that this is OK, but before you throw arrows consider a couple of facts:

1. That 14.83 billion profit is about 11 percent of their gross revenues. A lot of businesses have more margin than that. The number for Exxon Mobil is so huge simply because the company is so huge.
2. We probably wouldn’t be reading (or writing) articles about this if Exxon Mobil had taken a $15B LOSS. If they had, I don’t think the government would give them a bail-out. It should go both ways. Companies with big investments (oil rigs ) and that face big risks need to make big profits in some years to cover past or future losses.
3. While Exxon Mobil is a very large company, they aren’t the only ones in the business. Yes, they are one of the companies that affect the price of oil/gas, but if they raise the price of what they sell unilaterally, they lose market share to Valero, Chevron, et al. The best way for them to maximize profits is to (more or less) keep their prices in line with their competitors and reduce their cost of production (i.e. be more efficient).
4. The price of crude over most of the reporting period was over $100 bbl. A barrel is 42 gallons. That is $2.38 a gallon for CRUDE oil. About 20% of that is gasoline, which can go up to about 40% with the aid of catalysts and cracking. The rest is sludge, jet fuel, heating oil, etc. Some of the non-gasoline products are valuable, some are nearly worthless.
5. If what you are really complaining about is the price of gas, blame OPEC, Venezuela, Russia, etc. That is where a lot of your gas dollar goes. While you are at it, complain to to the government. State and federal taxes run around $.48/gallon.

And finally, if all this really pisses you off. Buy an electric car.

Thanks for the points, folks. Please remember to keep it civil - that’s one of the main rules.

I know it’s reflexive for certain groups so I’ll have to explain it again for them: I am by no means opposed to businesses making profits.

Some of you got that this is about the system, not the corporation(s). That’s my point. There’s a history here, which you won’t necessarily get from reading one post.

Keep up the dialogue and thanks.

Can you not see the obvious? In a failing economy where everyone is on the brink of losing everything they own, oil companies are screaming hurt and pain but they post record profits each and every quarter these days. Can you not see the unbalance?… the outright theft? How is it that no one ever knows what happened to all the money when it’s gone? This is where it goes. Nobody minds a profit margin. That’s business. It’s the capitalist way, but at the expense of everyone in hard times? The oil corporations have cried wolf far too many times in my lifetime to believe they are in enough trouble to raise prices. It just isn’t true. There are no shortages… they are a fiction designed to scrape every dollar from you you’re willing to part with. wake up America! There has to be a limit! I don’t have an answer to this but I’m just disgusted one more time. In the words of Howard Beale: “I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it anymore”

Profits per quarter do not mean a lot when you are trying to find out if you are being gouged or not. You have to look at profit per unit sold one year ago and profit per unit sold today. That will give you a better idea if the price you are paying is reasonable for the costs involved. You must always remember, numbers can be manipulated to prove any position the boss wants.

You can’t call a company Criminal just because they make a profit. If they didn’t make a profit, you would not have any gas to put in your car. I’m not sure but have heard the oil companies only make around 10% profit. But since they are such large companies, that small profit really adds up. Your local Pawn Shop makes over 50% profit, but since they are such a small business, it still doesn’t amount to much. The media and Obama have been lying to everyone about everything, but we shall soon see the truth!

My vote goes with Gene ,David ,and Charles for most educated, realistic posts,
Yes, I own XOM stock!

Then again,what do I know.I am an under-educated single mom from a Southern Bible thumping state.

http://www.lockergnome.com/theoracle/2008/10/30/red-state-blue-state-blues/

The technology is here and available for us all to become producers instead of consumers. Really we are all to blame for the fix we are in by buying the products in the first place. It’s going to take all of the new technology to get us out of the energy crunch i think and i’m hoping and praying that we come up with an answer before our grandchildren will be to far in debt to exist. It’s going to take more than just one man for sure no matter how many times you have to count votes.

I Too am mad as hell and am not going to take it anymore!!

Tacs

Gene is actually right. Big oil companies make about an 8% return on investment. That is much lower than you could expect from an investment from a random sampling of companies in the DJIA. They make big profits because they invest so much capital. They drill when prices are high, and conserve when the supply of oil out steps the demand side of the market.

If you don’t like big oil, or want “energy independence,” Charles is right. Buy an electric car. Although the US does not sit on very much oil, we can develop electricity through a number of innovative ways.

Let’s see… we buy lots of gas… E/M makes lots of money. Surprise, surprise, surprise. At least their profit margin is less than Micro$oft’s, otherwise gas would cost you even more. Don’t bitch about it, look at your own car and your own driving habits and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. Sheeze!

Yes and why do you think they are pressuring the American Public to start “Off Shore Drilling”. When they drill on American soil some land owner gets $$$ for each gallon thru a lease. Thats trickle down income . Who do they have to pay for Off Shore.???. Now you know .

Nick

In a perfect world, everybody will produce stuff and work from dawn to dusk for the sheer enjoyment of working and won’t ask to be paid because the next person is willing to provide their products and services for free! Hmmm … didn’t the Communists and Socialists tried that - and failed miserably because everyone expected to be paid for their labours and won’t work as hard or be as innovative if everyone else gets the same deal whether they worked as hard or not? Pricing policies in all economies depend on supply and demand. If we as consumers, don’t like being charged for something, then we should exercise the power that is in our hands - just don’t buy and go to the competitor instead. as long as we support gas powered vehicles and don’t support the electric car or the hybrids, does anyone think that General Motors or Ford is going to spend millions of dollars in developing alternate fuel vehicles for us? Business is business and businesses do not survive by being altruistic - their shareholders won’t allow them to because frankly, if we are shareholders in EM and other similar big businesses, we would be demanding that they make huge profits too so that we would get our “cut” in dividends and damned be the rest of the population.

Well, consider for the moment that a free economy operates on something called supply and demand. Consider that when something is in short supply or can be CONTROLLED to be in short supply, prices rise. Like diamonds for example. At any rate, we need to find an alternative supply of energy, and the high cost of energy is FORCING the World to look for and develop those alternative sources of energy. I for one, can’t wait because, not only will the oil companies be brought to their knees, but so will the members of OPEC. So, out of something bad, something good is sure to come.

M. Free

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