Really.
“Exxon Mobil Corp. reported second-quarter earnings of $11.68 billion Thursday, the biggest profit from operations ever by any U.S. corporation…”
And the WSJ says it’s not enough.
That’s not what the WSJ said. They said that the reported earnings did not meet expectations. In other words, they were predicted by people in the know to make more. There’s a vast difference between the two.
In any event, what’s your point? Is this the standard lament about how oil companies are ripping us off? If so, I direct you to this recent article, which fleshes out why that particular argument is bullshit (as if you didn’t know from the 11 billion times we’ve already done this). So, what does it say?
Still think they’re ripping you off? They could have been charging you more. Think about that. On second thought, don’t. Stick to the script. These threads are always entertaining. All we need now is gonzomax with the standard sort-of-related link/one-line drive-by posts and we’ll be all set.
Incidentally, gas prices are down around 50 cents in the last 3 weeks where I live. Not bad for something that people swore up and down would never drop due to the greed of Big Oil.
I’m guessing you didn’t buy any XOM back in '06.
You’re right, they should be charging us more and making less money. 'Cause that would be better, or something.
My bad.
It’s $11 billion, dude! It took you a while to see that the war in Iraq was a load of crap, why is this one so hard?
XOM paid taxes in excess of $32 billion, almost 3 times the amount of profit they made. If you’re interested in cutting excess cash disbursements for the purpose of lowering gas prices, cut out the “profit” of $32 billion made each quarter by the globe’s various governments.
Note that this $32 billion generated a 23% “tax margin” based on XOM’s total revenue ($138 billion), while the “profit margin” was a mere 7.9%.
Cite: Exxon’s 8-k, page 8.
Really… Exxon lost money this year?
Okay.
Where did I say that?
My point was that nearly 1/4 of the “price of gas” (since you’re seemingly thinking that these profits all came from gasoline sales to little old ladies) goes back to various governments. Cutting the amount of taxes on petroleum products, income taxes, etc by 10% would do more to “make gas cheaper” than cutting the profit margin by 25% - there is just that much more money being taken out of Exxon by governments than by the shareholders.
You know, you’re right. How dare they be in business to make money! Man the battlements!
The problem is that while they are making more, it is costing them more. Their profit margins have not changed, but the value of the product has. I’ve said this before, if you spend $5 to make $10 and the price doubles, you’re now spending $10 to make $20. All else being equal, you have just doubled your profit. If it were you you’d be doing backflips at your good fortune, but since it’s “Big Oil” I’m supposed to hate them for it? I think not.
Rep Don Young, House Bill 6107.
Why we have you sucking at the exhaust pipe of illogic. Nothing changes your sycophant attitude to the faces of power. Quarter after quarter ,they set new records for profits, outstripping the ones they set the previous quarter. And you as always find some explanation that billions of profit is just getting by for these poor misunderstood thieves.
If you believe that crap you are unreachable. ANWR will solve nothing. it is a drop in the old pipeline. They are neither committed to drilling it or earmarking its oil strictly for the US. They just want it on their books. They have millions of acres they can drill in already. They have not. If they were so desperate for adding to the supplies why have they not used up the lands they already have. Of course if they get the right to drill their is one immediate effect. It helps their net worth and stock price. It makes some oil execs a few more pieces of silver. They would not even put it on line for many years . Bush will go out fighting for everything he can get for the oil companies. They have had a money party for 8 years but it is never enough. People like you who live in sophistry land buy everything they sell.
You idiots probably still believe oil prices are not changed by speculation. Yet when we have a 20 % price drop ,while you still argue demand is only going up, you find a twisted logic to back up your preconceptions. It is not about the evidence. It is there. It is about what a good little oil soldier you are. If the bosses say it, it must be so. Yes sir. Oil is not looting, sir yes sir.
Not this idiotic argument again. Someone teach this guy about this nifty mathematical concept called “percent”. The absolute number is meaningless. Exxon is a BIG company, so it makes BIG profits. There are plenty of smaller companies that make much more as percent of revenue.
Of course, if you think they’re making too much profit, then you’ve got a great business opportunity in front of you! Get some investors together and exploit the opportunities out there to undercut them on price.
You know, if you want people to take you seriously, you shouldn’t lie right from the get-go, especially about something that can be checked simply by following the link you helpfully supplied. I am of course, referring to your claim that the Wall Street Journal says “Exxon’s profits are not enough”. If you really feel your argument is so weak you have to lie about the facts, bury your falsehoods in the fine print somewhere and hope no one notices them.
Meanwhile, I breathlessly await your proposed solution for this rank injustice; you know, companies making money and such.
A whopping 7.9 cents on the dollar. The horror! It should be a crime!
Well, economics is not my strong suit, but you make me look like Alan Greenspan and Milton Friedman rolled into one. Translation: you are an idiot. As Mace and others have pointed out, the absolute number doesn’t matter. Really. Stop right there until it sinks into your Idiot King brain. You’ll know if it made it through because a feeling of embarrassment will wash over you and you will ask to have the thread closed.
So, do not post on this issue, unless you want to educate yourself. (In which case you just might want to read the other thread that was offered to you.) Just repeat the mantra “the big scary number means squat”. How this can be so baffling to you is the heart of befuddlement. Maybe it’s the Patchouli.
I’m honestly curious. Does it hurt being this stupid?
Does it. We NEED TO KNOW.
Does “The last oil price thread this year” mean that this thread is going to go on for pages and pages until 2009 rolls around?
A similar industry is cable and internet. A few years ago we were ahead of everybody. Now we are passed up in internet speed by
Korea
France
Poland
Portugal
Japan
Sweden
Netherlands
Canada
Autria
Germany
Belgium.
Why? They got companies trying to improve . We got consolidation. It eliminated competition, stifles innovation and makes a few very rich and powerful. Skip this Weirddave It might involve logic and thinking. What if it questions your puerile economic thoughts. / Can’t have that.
Wow. “I know you are but what am I?”. That’s a hell of a comeback.
So, why is gas expensive everywhere in the world (except where it is subsidized by the government)? Are the evil American companies behind that, too?