Exxon Mobil Posts Record Annual Profit

The way it goes is, Uncle Sam pays for to set up operations, occupy, overthrow, install dictators, train guerrillas, whatever it takes and then the oil follows to pick up the tax breaks and sell fuel to the forces, blazing a path to secure the oil.

This is starting to sound like it is a mercenary action rather than a war. In that case the corps directly benefiting from the war should be footing the bill rather than the general population.

In our particular case we are spending money on the war, and giving tax breaks to those that profit from that action. No wonder we are running a huge deficit.

It's been running this way for a long time. It began with Rockefeller getting the Gov of Penn in his pocket and using National Guard against striking workers based on the claim they pose a threat. National Guard still jump in for corporate government affairs. Over time they became closer with the War Department and Rockefeller's Standard a few of the arms makers and of course bank boys. Check the War Board and follow up Olin, see a theme in the think tanks? Totally rigged game. War of course is when the little guy is at his lowest cost of labor with all liability and recourse taken away. Even as you pledge to risk your life to defending your country, they and their agents are held harmless for whatever they do. Sweet scam, eh?

Here's one for the Mythbusters.

when their is competition.. no i dont.. companies eat profits in hard times.
when gas went up it is like a tax on aevery business.. do you see resteraunt prices fluxuate with oil?
and last the reason you are wrong is we gave them tax breaks and even allowed them to take our oil without paying OUR royalities and at the same time have been hitting record prices not because of the oil companies or opec but because of mythical speculators.
Sorry i dont buy it.
They do owe money for the war, we spent many lives securing their assets, we secured the oil before we secured the iraq weapons. and hense the insurgents found it easy to steal them. Yeah they owe us for security of their product.

FDBryant3, the problem is not raising taxes on oil companies. The problem lies with tax breaks that have been passed in support of the industry. Most people are asking that the breaks be removed and that the oil companies get treated like any other industry.

I'd be curious what the profit margin is

11.46% [source]

That's not really all that out of line with most corporate profits. Most oil companies are around 9-12%, while financial institutions can get around 15% margins, while retails is around 4% and Wal*mart hovers a little over 3%.

Oh yeah, the profit margins of two companies favored by newsvine users and the left: Google at 26% and Apple at 11.74%

Adam it isn't about the profit margins, it is about gaining extra profit through favoritism. Most companies, or industries aren't subsidized, or those that are need it. In the case of big oil, it is obvious that the breaks aren't necessary.

ThePef, you'd be surprised by just how many companies are subsidized one way or the other by government.

Hell, I'm all for getting rid of corporate subsidies and welfare. You write the bill and I'll vote for a legislator who promises to sign it.

I just don't see the point about choosing one company as a scapegoat while tons of other corporations are receiving the same favoritism.

FDBryant3, the problem is not raising taxes on oil companies. The problem lies with tax breaks that have been passed in support of the industry. Most people are asking that the breaks be removed and that the oil companies get treated like any other industry.

To be honest I kind of agree with you here - I don't really believe in giving tax breaks (personally if it was up to me I'd take all taxes out and replace them with the FairTax - but that is another issue). However, if those tax breaks are removed my money would be on prices going up while profits do not go down.

An American company just cannot win.

Make a record profit (Exxon Mobile) and everyone complains. Lose a ton of money and layoff thousands of workers (Ford and GM) and everyone still complains.

So how exactly is a company supposed to get by? Should they try to make money or not?

What a wonderfully unnuanced assessment! It must be neat to live in a black and white world.

There are many large corporations that make money while at the same time being fair to their shareholders/owners, customers and employees. It's a concept called "corporate responsibility."

And really the two examples you cite are at the opposite ends of the same spectrum: oil is an industry getting rich on someone else's dime. American car manufacturing is an industry hemorrhaging money on someone else's dime.

In the case of Exxon, they make their profits essentially as war profiteers while at the same time receiving huge government subsidies and tax breaks (at your and my expense). Ford and GM set the standard for crappy mismanagement and corporate myopia at their employees' and shareholder's expense (not to worry, though, the US taxpayers will bail them out!).

A few companies that meet the litmus test for being admired as well as making a ton of money (at least to me) that come to mind off the top of my head:

• CostCo
• Trader Joes
• Google
• John Deere
• (etc.)

This should help: Business Ethics Magazine's 100 Best Corporate Citizens Report for 2004. The 2006 list is here, but the 2004 article has a detailed explanation of the criteria they use to compile the list.