You said they were used as a hidden means to hide profit–by showing it as an expense. They aren’t hidden, ergo your assumption is stupid. Exxon executives make a lot of money, certainly, but their salaries are decided by the stock holders and the board of directors, are public, and are almost certainly in the same range of pay as similarly sized companies.
Are the schools in michigan (sic) that astonishingly bad, or are you being home-schooled by rhesus monkeys?
Oh wait, that would be an insult to the monkeys.
Sunday. Two days of hangovers makes you surly.
Note to self: Posting while drunk and upset is never a good idea.
Carry on, I guess.
Oh look, the monkey is throwing its poo. How interesting. :rolleyes:
That was my point… That is only one way they hide the money. If we get to trusting corporations after they have clearly demonstrated how much damage they can do to the mortgage and banking industries, we are in real trouble. They are hiding and lying. That is what they do.
They’re not hiding anything. It’s all in the quarterly and annual reports.
How do you remember to breathe?
But but…assumptions are stronger evidence than reality!
http://www.oilwatchdog.org/articles/?storyId=21580 Heres a watchdog group that says Exxon ,which reports by English rather than US stds, made 24 1/2 % this year. They got 32 % last year. It will explain one of the profit reporting tricks for you who think the oil companies are really reporting properly.
You’re insane. I am no defendant of the oil industry but it’s very clear that you have tied GWB and the oil industry together as some kind of evil cabal that prides itself on the deprivation of America and it’s dependence on oil.
If you cannot understand that just because a company, no matter their industry, claims a record profit of x amount of dollars, yet their actual MARGIN of profit is well below what OTHER corporations rake in, then there really is no help for you.
Keep hating on the hate. May you love long and prosper.
You’ll probably want to put gonzo on ignore, then.
:dubious: Did you even read the first paragraph?
(bolding added)
Did you then notice the big label on the left side that says, “A Project of Consumer Watchdog”? They’re using themselves as a cite.
Fuck, not only are they using themselves as a cite, the person they are quoting, Judy Dugan, is the author of the frickin article! Yeesh.
Gonzo, I’ll challenge you to find me where they’re getting their data from.
Gonzo has won me over. Let’s abolish Exxon since they are gouging us so much. That’ll teach 'em!
Yet in these days of dishonest corporations and auditors ,you have no trouble accepting the oil company numbers. Would you be able to conceive that they have something to gain from cooking the books. Some people are not skeptics I guess. You get lied to over and over by the government and big business. But, this time they are completely believable. OK…
Ask that question. Where are the numbers coming from to the oil companies. ? hard to do.
When Exxon says they are making incredible profits ,yet are just squeeking by . Why do you not question that.
Enron and the auditor dishonesty too far back for your memory banks?
“Oil company numbers” are vetted by shareholders with significant interest in their accuracy, and must conform to accounting and SEC regulations.
Ms. Dugan has provided no compelling evidence for her analysis.
While it’s certainly possible to cook the books and cheat shareholders (see Enron, Worldcom, etc.) there is no evidence that Exxon has been doing so. Provide some, and maybe I will consider the possibility. Until then, I’ll take the faceless evil public corporation’s word over yours, because it’s approximately eighty-nine billion times more plausible.
Are you really this naive? SEC filings can be extremely difficult to interpret and should never be taken at face value. How corporations account for deferred compensation, outstanding options, depreciation & amortization, software capitalization, marketing vs. contra-revenue expenses, and a host of other issues is by no means straightforward. You also have to understand a corporation’s tax positions to have some insight into how it rolls up its external reporting. A company the size of Exxon has hundreds of professionals in external reporting, tax, accounting, and controllership so that its financials can be published according to management’s requirements yet fully comply with GAAP.
Simply handwaving at the financials without having any idea of what informs them is not just stupid but incredibly lazy, to boot.
Count me in with the people who don’t give a fuck. So oil companies are making money. Boo-hoo. I anxiously await a Pitting of all the people speculating in real estate when the market goes back up and your rent doubles…
Seriously. Americans have been paying far too little for oil for far too many years. There’s been no pressure on government to mandate change, and now you want it overnight. Well, it isn’t going to happen. If that means you have to walk to the grocery store, I won’t be crying for you.
Unless you’re a truck driver or somesuch, the rise in gasoline prices is a negligible blip in your budget.
Thank you. That’s the point I was trying to make in post #31.