.... and I'm getting pissed.

Exxon's profits rose 36% last quarter, it was the second highest profit for any company ever in history.

Meanwhile, demand for gas has been flat so far this year.

I call on politicians on both sides of the aisle to immediately repeal the subsidies for Big Oil.

Yeah...lol...at least Mr. O'Reilly got to chew someones ass

If I've ever wanted to be in that seat...yesterday was the day.

I actually take no issue with Exxon's profit. Although I certainly concur with your take on oil subsidies.

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Where are we going? And why am I in this handbasket?

I don't know if this is true or not, but I heard the other day that their profit amounts to about 2cents on the gallon. IF true, that's not out of line.

Does anybody know for sure?

Look at the profit that the movie industry makes on movies. Or that the sports owner's make. I don't see anyone having a problem with that.

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"This is a time for a national imperative not to fail in Iraq." Condoleeza Rice, January 11, 2007

I only heard it, I can't quote the source, but they were saying on the radio that costs are like four cents and the profit margin is ten cents above that.

If profits are their end collective result....I dont see why their operational Pennys are of any relievance.

For the quarter ended 3/31/06 (the latest numbers are not official yet), ExxonMobile made $8.4 billion on sales of $89 billion. That's a net profit margin of 10.6%. They also paid over $7 billion in taxes. A net profit margin of 10.6% is good. But it's not great. Tons of companies make far as a percentage of sales.

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Where are we going? And why am I in this handbasket?

I'm not sure why anyone would be surprised that oil companies are making record profits at a time when oil prices are at record highs.

Oil is a commodity. There are other factors that can affect the retail price of oil products such as gasoline -- taxes, refining bottlenecks, transportation bottlenecks -- but those either don't affect profits (taxes) or aren't something an oil company would generally seek to do. Bottleneck-induced shortages might generate higher short-term profits (it depends on whether the increased price offsets the lower sales volume), but at a minimum it undercuts long-term demand by prompting people to seek alternatives.

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Scarred survivor of the April 2008 Mod War.

The single most important point being that oil companies sell a product that they cannot price themselves. Like cattle ranchers. Now, Exxon can cut production to affect the market price, but they aren't doing that.

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Where are we going? And why am I in this handbasket?

I'm so sick of Exxon being villainized for their record profits. Anyone who has taken Econ 101 knows they'll make more money when the price of oil increases! But I think it’s fair to say that Exxon is making “easy money” – no innovation or new product was required to make the extra profits. The oil just sits in the ground and the futures market takes care of the rest.

Besides, price increase is to increased global demand; Exxon has no control over that.

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Proudly a "South Park Republican"