Money Beat

we need to say...
start drilling where you have permission to already (where there IS oil no matter what everyone wants to spin otherwise...just not the golden carrot of profit margins from the lands they are drooling for )

or we are going to slap you with a windfall profits tax that we will give to US auto makers to work on r&d to get us off your product.

What a BS Article. The largest Oil Companies in the world are "State Owned" oil companies owned by people like Hugo Chavez and the Saudi Royal Family. The Saudi Family "Oil Company" is four times the size of Exxon. Why do Liberals hate capitalism so much? Why do Liberals despise "Profit" so much? Exxon shareholders are happy.

You really think that oil is just everywhere they leased? How would you know this?? I work for Fluor and Valero just had to cancel a refineray because it was not cost effective in the long run due to US restrictions. Oil companies are businesses, they took a risk early on when oil was not a hot commidity and are now reaping the rewards for that risk. Hyper-regulation will NOT work, no matter how much you want it too and no matter how much you think you are entitled to cheap gasoline just because you consume it.

We don't need to go overseas to search for Weapons of Mass Destruction... THEY are right here - protected by our own government!
If there's a war involving oil... it ought to be waged against these thieves...

We don't need to go overseas to search for Weapons of Mass Destruction... THEY are right here - protected by our own government!
If there's a war involving oil... it ought to be waged against these thieves...

Let me make sure I understand this: Big oil is charging us consumers higher-than-ever prices for their products, while at the same time breaking their own records for corporate profits. Seems to me that maybe the high priced products by which they gouge the consumer results in the record-breaking profits. Am I right? Does this say something about the greed and usurial practices of big oil? What would happen to their executive bonuses and perks if they charged us consumers five cents less per gallon?

exxon says death to all americans,we will keep screwing you till the oil runs out.

"Why do liberals despise profit so much? Exxon shareholders are happy."

Well, gee, I suppose we should all be happy then. What a callous and ignorant statement. Typical Republican. These oil companies make record profits while regular Americans suffer at the pump.

"What a BS Article. The largest Oil Companies in the world are "State Owned" oil companies owned by people like Hugo Chavez and the Saudi Royal Family. The Saudi Family "Oil Company" is four times the size of Exxon. Why do Liberals hate capitalism so much? Why do Liberals despise "Profit" so much? Exxon shareholders are happy."
What a BS dittohead statement. So you're saying capitalists aspire to be Hugo Chavez and the Saudi Royal Family or at least their equivalent. This is a Democracy, not a Greedocracy. Of course the shareholders are happy, but don't expect kudos from those that aren't, the great majority of this democracy. Your profits came at our expense and the expense of our economy.

Evil Big Oil! How dare they insist on seeking oil to pump out of the ground instead of harnessing the wind? Remember "we can't drill our way out of this crisis", but we can we can equal all gas obtainable by drilling in the US by just fully inflating our tires! Barack Obama says so, so it must be true! Who needs gas when we have air?

Bush and/or Cheney will be on the Board of Directors to get their kick backs! Those 2 should go to jail for srealing from all of us!

Did some of you even read the entire article? Do you know the difference between profit and profit margins?

I think some of you are only reading what you want to see and glazing over the rest.

the ocuntry is hurting desperately an dthe people of this country want to see investment in alternative enrgies, and yet these big oil companies are doing nothing about it.

I'm not agianst profits, but year after year of record profits when the price of gas / oil is killin ght economy the majority of Ameircans well being...

Where is th ePatritotism of these countries, do they not want ot help Americans through this tough time. Why do they have ot make record profits during this depserate time...

I don;'t understand how anyone would accept this... Our country is being held hostage and big oil refuses to give anything back....

We are screwed as a nation if these companies with their record profits won't help guide us out of our addicition to oil.

Seriously... who cares if the stockholders are happy. they represent a very small portion of the entire country.

Well, well, Can't wait to see what McSame has to say about this! Poor oil companies are barely scratching out a living...and look how much of their small profits they are spending on alternative energy research! You don't really expect a company or for that matter McSame and Gang (make that GOP) to really invest in something which is going to damage their business of BIG OIL? Get your head out of the clouds! Boot Bush, McSame and the Gang then threaten to nationalize the oil fields in the US. I guarantee you the price of oil would drop like a rock. Or alternatively we can go on believing the McSame and Gang really, really, care about us and our wallets and let them go on robbing us! Your choice America. More of the same or a new direction where "WE" the people take back our country from these crooks!

To all you "big oil" critics: did you not read the part of the story that says Exxon's profit margin is lower than Microsoft, Google, and IBM? Yes, profits are very high, but can't you see Exxon had to spend a lot of money to realize those earnings? To criticize Exxon for its large profits is tantamount to criticizing someone who bets $5,000 at the blackjack table and wins, while congratulating the guy who only bets $5 and wins, even though the guy who bet $5,000 took a much higher risk than the guy who bet $5. Go tell the owners of Exxon (shareholders such as your grandparents and other retirees whose life savings are invested in mutual funds) that they are too greedy and they should pay additional taxes on their income just because some of it comes from "big oil."

Anyone wanting to slap the oil companies with windfall taxes are either socialists or communists. Quit being jeolous you don't own their stock.

Companies are in business to make money. I work my ass off 80+ hour weeks to make money and the government doesn't deserve a dime of it.

Did anyone read that the profit margins from some of our tech companies are higher than exxon's? (google, MS, etc) That means that other companies are receiveing a high percentage return on their investments. Exxon is taking in record amounts of money while spending record amounts. I don't really see the problem. They are a business right? Look at the bright side, with these high oil prices China can't afford to buy more T bills.

Just for the record, the U.S. government cannot nationalize the oil industry, nor can it threaten to do so. And even if it did, it certainly would not cause the price of oil to drop. Just check with Hugo Chavez on that one. If you love the postal service, you'd really love nationalized oil! And one more basic principle of capitalism: only the company owners (i.e., shareholders) can tell the company whether or not to invest in alternative energy.

Newsflash: Federal government has collected billions of dollars of Social Security taxes and placed it in a trust fund to pay future obligations. The balance in the fund: $0.00.

The problem has always been the lack of consumer choice. When we buy a car or truck we have only once choice of fuel type: gasoline created from oil. We are just now in 2008 starting to see Flex Fuel (TM) vehicles that can use domestic ethanol E85 fuel. There needs to be more than two choices. There should be electric cars that I can charge with solar panels on the roof of my house. After 5-10 years the fuel would essentially be free after saving the money I would be spending on gasoline and power from the grid. I say let the oil companies do whatever they want to do to help their shareholders, but they need to let go of their semi-monopoly on our transportation. There wouldn't be so many grassroots electric vehicle conversions going on if automakers in the US like General Motors would just have kept their EV1 going instead of recalling and shredding them to pieces. Anyone who reads this needs to watch the documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car?" just to have the information out there. If GM would have kept the EV1 going, and put more out there on the road then the invisible hand would have put incentive out there for the battery companies to make better batteries, etc. Since the EV1 came out in the 90's then by now we would have the EV2 or EV3 with better range and a lower price just from economies of scale.

This article is incorrect, John McCain does not support drilling in ANWAR. He has been supporting the off shore drilling.

I see the Liberal bridge and tunnel crowd have got their batteries on their laptops charged today.

What the Libs don't seem to understand is that it is a WORLD oil market... not just a US Oil Market. Exxon is a speck compared to Hugo and the Saudi Oil Family. Those are the guys holding us hostage.

At least when you buy Exxon some of the money is staying here.... Buy from Hugo and it all goes back to the DickTater.

Like I'm really tired of the double-talk here. The article said Exxon-Mobile made a *profit*, a very huge profit. Yet the article make it sound like the company is loosing money. Say what? Profit means the amount of money a company made after expenses are taken off.

So if a company made 2 million in a month and spent a million in costs (which includes everything), then the company made a million in profit.

So I think the newsmedia and everyone should stop using the word 'profit' because if Exxon-Mobile didn't made a 11 billion dollar profit, then why say it was a profit?! It doesn't make any sense!

GWP, the article points out that while Exxon overall turned a large profit, its profit margin was less than that of Microsoft, Google, and IBM. Think of profit margin as a ratio of profit to expenses. So, if you spend $10 to make $15, then your profit margin is 5/15, or 33%. The gist of the article is that Exxon had to spend billions to earn their 11 billion, and the ratio of their profit to their expenses was less than that of Microsoft, Google, and IBM. I hope this helps!

What did you expect? We elected Texas oil men for President and Vice President. They established their energy policy (and selected the Cabinet) in secret with the helpful advice of other Texas oil men. The VP is a former corporate officer in Halliburton, one of the worlds largest oil exploration businesses, and the company that just so happens to have the exclusive contract to provide logistical support to our armed forces. Then we sent those armed forces to a place that the President knew didn't have ties to 9/11 but does have a lot of oil. Who are some of the first people to go in? The fine folks from Halliburton. Now the oil companies are making record profits (and have been for years). Of course none of these facts are related, it's all just a coincidence. Look, I know you can't pin our current problems on one administration - we've been getting set up for this for a long time. But we've got to wake up! We've got to get away from our dependence on foreign oil - we need to build more nuclear power plants, recycle nuclear waste, promote renewable energy, and not let big oil buy another election! By the way, offshore drilling won't produce fuel for the US until 2030. Can you guess who will profit when we start drilling?

Josh, you say that oil companies should give up their "semi-monopoly" on our transportation, but then you illustrate this by complaining how GM terminated their EV1 product. I'm confused. GM is an auto maker, not an oil company. No oil company controlled or directed GM's decision to stop making the EV1.

Eric, maybe it's my imagination, but you seem to be conjuring up the notion that big oil is not deserving of profit, and is capable of buying a presidential election, yet you don't substantiate either one. What gives?

I say the President and Congress should authorize a complete media blackout for all communications leaving our country.
Lock down the country and borders. Declare martial law, have the IRS freeze
all Big oil financial accounts. Seize all of their liquid profits and put into a central bank account. Use the money to get the country defecit back to
zero. And then divide all of the remaining profit up equally amongst every legal US man an woman that are valid tax paying citizens earning less than 100k a year. Then after the "Big Oil" companies loose their 1.5 Trillion
dollars in revenue that usually go to greedy share holders and exectutives that make 20+ million a year each they will go back to making a government set
wage that is more like 100k a year instead of these outrageous amounts of money they are getting paid. Everyone
smarter than a rock knows that these
CEO's CIO's CFO's etc. are all just riding the coat tails of the working man. They don't actually do any work, or
anything productive they're just figureheads who act important and play
with the livelyhood of others fates with out consequence. The American and World economy is just a snowball of uncontrolled greed rolling downhill
that will be the down fall of mankind.
Capatalism = Uncontrolled Greed or
Screwover everyone you can to make a buck.

Walt_Tx: Do you think that oil companies have the right to make billions of extra dollars while the rest of the nation struggles. It's not a fantasy to see that gas has gone from a dollar a gallon under Clinton to what it is now. Bush, and yourself apparently, are huge oil men and have manipulated U.S. markets to make maximum profit in one area. You are an extreme profiteer, and wheter you want to admit it or not, that is what is ruining our once great nation.

Exxon is an OIL company! Why don't you haters invest your money in some renewable energy and put Exxon and all the oil companies of the world out of business! Put your money where your mouths are! Until then I will support drilling any and everywhere!

Stop blaming oil companies or past presidents! In 20 years the Chinese have brung 300 million pheasants out of the hills and mountains of China that are now among the mainstream middle class and rich people of the world! They are driving cars, trucks,etc. Are you going to tell those people to take back to the hills! A simular thing happened in India! Those two countries have over 1 billion citizens a piece that are now using fossil fuels! And guess what? They are increasing everyday as we speack! Do you see it coming to an end any time soon? So guess what if you don't drill, use nuclear, conserve, solar power, wind power etc. Yes there will be more wars for fossil fuels because every one wants it and needs it! We have enough here in America to suit our needs for the next 60years but instead we send 700 billion dollars to countries that hate us for a resource we have in our ouw backyards! We are a nation of str8 FOOLS!

Where was all the bitching when Big-Oil was barely making a profit and gas was cheap? It amazes me at the hipocracy of folks who look at there state retirement portfolio/pension (a huge portion invested in Energy stocks) and then gripe and moan about gas prices

The shareholders can spend the money anyway they want, buying oil shares is no different than buying any other kind of shares.YOU DO IT TO MAKE MONEY.The liberal press always implies that oil companies are owned by one person.

Its astonishing, well, not really that "journalists" can posts and blame these outrageous profits all year long. Even more pathetic is the frenzy and anger it produces.

Bottom line, big oil pays more in taxes than they make in profit. 99% of other business with their profit margin would probably fail. Oh, and the main reason that the oil companies are not tossing most of their profits at other energy sources...lets see...it could be because they are in the OIL business.

And anyone who believes that raising their taxes is going to drop the price of gas, please go pick up Economics for Dummies, or ask your children to explain it to you.

Big oil is doing its best to appear as though they are investing heavily in renewable energy. Look at BP's website - "We are investing in America's Most Diverse Energy Portfolio." They're telling us that so people will continue to support their obscene end-of-oil profit-taking. They're sucking every dollar they can out of us now - because they know that within 20 years - they won't have a product to sell anymore. And they don't care that the american public will be totally unprepared for it.

Regardless of what Big Oil says, Big Oil, the stupid Enviromentalists, and of course our crooked government are all to blame for oil being so high.
Now big oil is mostly to blame. They make record profits, sure thats fine. But are those record profits going into investing in finding new oil reserves? NO. Are they investing in new oil refineries? NO.

Now, I am sure you pansies are wonding what those enviromental chumps (Al Gore, ELF, PETA, etc..) have to do with this? Well, we can't build new refineries because the enviromentalists will call foul. Oh the tree, oh this otter, oh this bear BLAH BLAH BLAH GET A GRIP YOU FOOLS! It is because of them we cannot build new refineries, or look for more oil. I mean geez, we have the technologies today to make these plants cleaner. Al Gore and his global warming scam make me sick. So do ELF, ALF, PETA and all those other DOMESTIC TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS. They are a bigger threat to us than Hamas, Hezbollah, and any other group that chumps are afraid of.

Now our wonderful government. Our government, well they are affiliated with big oil, starting all the way at the top (Bush-Cheney) to the bottom. They let big oil do what they please. I do not even need to say more.

Sure market speculators might also play a little role in this, but its not where most of price increases are coming from.

Good job America for voting these chumps in (twice) and good job for being so ignorant that you guys were so gulible to believe this global warming crap. Go buy your hybrids, I will continue to drive my non fuel efficient big SUV, and my non fuel efficient sports car :)

I READ the article and I don't blame oil companies for getting rich. I blame our government and the CFTC for being involved in driving up oil prices. If someone is robbing a bank and no effort is being made to stop the robber, he will continue to rob. Blocking legislation and threatening to veto legislation that would have limited futures speculation/oil contracts, proves to me, the Bush Administration is in bed with big oil.

Blerg: The government and oil companies have the technology to KNOW where oil is located. This is why one big oil company bought up/leased land in Thailand. I'm not going to post how that Technology works. But stop and think, if we can find a lake full of Methane on Titan, there's no problem determining where oil is located on Earth.

Big Oil is McCain's largest financial supporter. Nothing to see here "my friends" move on... it's all McSame as it was before.

Sorry if this was already mentioned as I haven't had time to read all of the comments but I don't know if others have put two and two together. The government wants to charges "Big Oil" excess taxes for making "windfall profits" but doesn't that sound like the government would be the ones making the "windfall profits" by doing this? How would taxing these business extra for making large profits benefit us? Government spending is out of control, so we can't assume that they would even put these funds to approriate use. Also, if they open the windfall taxes back up then it would make way to other large businesses to being hit by these windfall profit taxes, downward spiral from there, eh?

Just stop buying gas from Exxon - Mobil ....

This past quarter, ExxonMobil's "fat profit" is anything but – about 8.5 cents per dollar of sales. But the company DID pay a fat tax bill. Actually, customers paid that bill.

On a worldwide basis, in the 2nd 2008 quarter, ExxonMobil paid over $10 billion in corporate income taxes in the second quarter alone, $9.5 billion in sales taxes, and over $12 billion in other taxes.

In other words, ExxonMobil paid (or at least collected) $32.361 billion in taxes in the second quarter. Or to look at it another way - Exxon paid (or collected) almost $3 in taxes ($32.361 billion) for every $1 in profits ($11.68 billion).

That means that for every dollar in Exxon sales – not profits, SALES -- 23.4 cents is for taxes. And that is averaged over all types of sales – not just gasoline.

If the government chooses to nationalize Exxon (and the other oil companies) and take all their profit (reducing the stocks to zero value -- devastating pension funds nationwide), and if we make the outlandish assumption that a government oil company will run as efficiently as Exxon runs now, the price of $4 gas would drop all of 34 cents a gallon. Meantime, government taxes exceed 94 cents a gallon.

For those who wish to verify Exxon taxes, here's a URL for the company's quarterly earnings statement:
http://tinyurl.com/5rnmyc

I like the comment about how the Saudi Royal Family and Hugo Chavez are the largest oil companies. That brings a great point! Maybe certain resources and commodities should be state controlled and not susceptible to the busts and booms of capitalism. I mean after all, these countries do have some of the lowest oil prices in the world. I know many will cry and scream that I'm suggesting socialism, but some of our most efficiently run practices (i.e. the armed forces) are state controlled after all.

Just a point, I thought was worth making.

One last comment.

I don't understand how people can complain about how much the government taxes. How do they expect our roads and other infrastructure to be paid? Private companies have been asked by the federal government to help foot some of this bill. If they would help invest in infrastructure than our government could reduce taxes, but they refuse to invest in it because it is less profitable. They choose instead to be taxed and have consumers taxed because it is ultimately more profitable. The average gas tax in the United States is 40 cents per gallon. Countries in Europe such as Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and the UK pay $4.43 or more per gallon. There is a reason why they have alternative transportation options and why they have a more advanced alternative energy system.

Please think about these things before making the claim that we pay too many taxes. Nothing in this world is free, whether if it is paid by the government or comes directly from your pocket book.

A fair and balanced treatment. The only objection I would make is that Exxon, Mobile, etc may be the five largest U.S. oil companies but they are small potatos next to the large nationalized companies in the Middle East and elsewhere around the world. And while it sounds good to the public to accuse America's big five of excess profits and to demand that they spend more on alternative research, and that they spend more on exploration and production, the public should know that our U.S. oil companies must compete financially with huge nationalized companies which encounter no such expectations.
One should add that U.S. companies must operate in political environment which is hostile to their product in the form of legislated environmental restrictions, excessive regulatory oversight, and hundreds of lawsuits from environmental groups. All this puts a huge added strain on maintaining a strong bottom line. It also adds years to the process of getting permits to drill even a test hole, years more to get permission to extract oil or gas. Chevron finally gave up on trying to extract gas off the coast of Pensacola where it had found a huge deposit of natural gas in the trillions of cubic feet.
These are hurdles which most of the competitors of our " big five " don't have to deal with.