Exxon Mobil: Biggest profit in U.S. history

I am for corporation making profits. If Exxon drives the price, the competition ought to be able to reduce their price and take their business.

That said, there is a problem here. I don't know what it is but it seems that these people do better the more Americans hurt. That's a problem. No denying that. McCain blanket tax cuts regardless of what you sell is crazy. You don't let people make record profits off water, electricity, gas, ... the vital services we need to function. This is when we need government. We don't want government to run the water, electricity, and gas. We want them to watch over and make sure consumers are not taken advantage of. I am not sure this government is doing that. Evidence points that they are watching from the sidelines just like they watch the housing market.

This is bad news for McCain when he is calling for tax breaks for ANY corporation including Exxon, Shell, and co. However profits sound good for the market.

I think when they are making record profits, they can afford the taxes which SHOULD accompany them.

Vote Obama!

I just filled up my car with 1.99/gal gas. I haven't done that in forever.

Well said. Like Christos, I am not against corporations making a profit but this is unbelievable - especially given that they never paid up with regard to the Valdez spill. The company gets away with breaking the rules (and the law) and that's why they are recording these incredibly high profits. They should have to pay for their mistakes and they should pay the taxes and fees for which they are legally responsible.

Furthermore, they should realize that they could not make these huge profits without the human element - and should pay all their employees appropriately.

At some point will we realize that unfettered capitalism in the extreme is unpatriotic? In the face of record profits as the world economy collapses, do we rethink our beliefs? Exxon's record profits beg the questions. IF we are able to ask them, can we live with the answers?

Exactly Dusty. Isn't amazing they have been lowering the price really fast just in time before they release their numbers? LOL.

These numbers are for last quarter's Dusty. Wake up. They recorded record profits when they told us they were not really making EXTRA profit. Just keeping pace with crude oil. It's a lie. Oil became rare and they jacked the price. Now they bring the price back to normal, still making big time profit but normal profit. What happened last summer is what is to come when government says corporations have good citizenship to do the right thing.

Corporations only care about profits and they should. When it comes to water, health care, and so, government has a responsibility to make sure people are not taken advantage of. Well said Christos.

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Quarter after quarter, record after record. But since they are a business like the Dry cleaner at the corner, let's all treat them the same. Let's all give them 5% tax break. They are all the same.

Yeah McCain wants to give all businesses a tax break. Exxon Mobil is a business. Therefore Exxon Mobil deserves a tax break accoring McCainologic.

Notice how the commentators make it look bad when oil drops a few cents like Exon will need a bailout.

Very astute Jack. They are playing it as if this was a great thing for the economy. Exxon numbers go up while Americans were suffering. And they are telling us "but wait, next quarter might not be as good because oil is at $70. Instead of $15 billion, Exxon will make $8-10 billion, which was the then record two quarters ago"

They are more fascinated by record profits. Who cares those records coincide with people unable to afford gas?

Of course corporations should be allowed to make a profit, but there are ethics to consider; their profits should not be gotten by duping and robbing the public.

I get so tired of "socialism" getting thrown around like a scare tactic. No one is suggesting we throw everything in one big pot and divvying up the kitty like one big national Monopoly game.

My goodness, people want to have a job and have peanut butter AND jelly on the sandwich they have for lunch. Greedy bastards. The uber rich might have to give up one of their 70 Mercedes. What a sacrifice.

Exactly Gretchen. Had they lowered prices by 20 cents a gallon and dig into their profits, when gas was at four dollars the 15 billion would have been 10 billion. 5 billion is a lot of money. Money Exxon executives believe they can't do away with when people could not drive to go to work this past summer.

Scary is that people believe they are entitled to tax breaks just like ANY corporation.

Alan, I don't really see their profits as having a direct correlation to Americans suffering. High gas prices made it a little pricier for us, but also led a lot of people to take public transit, give up their gas guzzler and use other more fuel efficient methods for travel. As a former bus driver, I don't equate riding the bus to suffering. High fuel costs = PITA, but not "suffering." Using extreme, overblown words don't make you smarter.

Dusty, you may not realize this, but there are large areas of this country which do not have public transit available to them. The people who could choose that, in many cases did so The others... many were placed in the position of choosing between paying for gas to get to work, and putting nutritious food in their children's mouths, or going to the doctor, or whatever. Is that all right with you?

It is obvious you don't have a Ph.D., the reasoning in this article is of a third grader. You have an agenda, so beat your drum. But please, next time a little more objective research and a lot less knee-jerk opinion would be greatly appreciated.

Well, Mr. Bill, let's put it in terms a third-grader would understand. Supply and Demand. Demand was way down last quarter due to high prices. This would entail reducing costs and reducing profits likewise. Understand that, genius?

There are no good reasons for Exxon's profits other than raping the public with high costs for a product that they have a veritable monopoly on. Even if you have public transportation available, there is no competition for Exxon. I can't go to the pumps in my area and chose Chinese gasoline.

Julie, I know there are areas without transit systems, I was also raised on a farm about fifteen minutes from any town. Since then I have received a BA and a lot of interesting experiences. I didn't mean to discount the suffering of many people, but I do not see a direct correlation between gas prices and suffering. Fuel is one of many expenses we have, and I just cut back on other the other ones. I don't want to sidetrack too far.

I thought Exxon had paid for the Alaska spill. I know it paid $170 million in interest this last quarter. But I admit I don't know everything about it. Anyone care to enlighten?

Copyrighted Mr Bill,

I don't have one yet. I don't need one to know that when demand of oil is low(er), the price of crude oil higher, and profit for Exxon goes way up their profit margin increased.

Objective Research? What research? This is an opinion to a news. You take this far more seriously than I do.

Einstein Bill, please show the flaws in the reasoning. You clearly sound like the dumb the one. For the record, don't talk about people you don't know. I happen to know the author in real life.

Exxon has yet to pay one penny for the Alaskan nightmare.

Then what are they paying the interest on? I'm genuinely curious. ie not trying to be a prick by asking

No, you don't need a Ph.D. read this article, but some of you (Alan and his good buddy Jared that wrote this post) could benifit from enrolling in some basic courses in economics, accounting, and business administration. Gasoline pricing in the U.S. has for decades been kept artificially low compared to the rest of the world. Gasoline prices have not risen at the same rate as U.S. inflation over the past 30 years. Oil by the barrel is a commodity and as such its price is dictated by speculators trading futures contracts. Pump prices for gasoline are more directly affected by consumer demand. During the recent era of increasing pump prices the profit margins for Exxon and the other major oil companies have remained at their historic rate of 8 to 9% of revenue. Has the dollar value of their profits increased? Sure it has. Quite simply, increases in revenue with the same profit margin yields an increase in profits. But the rate of return on their investment, the profit margin, did not increase. And who is responsible for the increase in revenue? You the consumer that keeps demanding more and more gasoline inspite of dwindling supplies and rising prices! It should also be noted that not all Exxon's revenue and profits come from the sale of gasoline. The recently reported third quarter return includes a one-time $1.62 billion profit from the sale of a natural gas division in Germany. In 2007 ExxonMobil earned after-tax profits of $41 billion and paid $14.5 billion worldwide in just income taxes, both are records for profits and taxes. Total worldwide taxes including income tax for Exxon was over $107 billion. That was worldwide, but for the U.S. tax years of 2003 through 2007 Exxon paid $18.7 billion more for all U.S. based taxes than they earned in profits - $64.7 billion in U.S. taxes. How much more do you want them to pay? Oil companies are already taxed almost 50% more than most other industries - 44% compared to 30%.

Companies of every sort are in business to make profits for their owners and/or their investors. Without profits businesses cease to exist and so do the jobs they create. You really want to see the economy shrink? Just tax all the top performing industries and companies out of existence and all your jobs go away with them! I don't see many if any of you taking the risks and starting up businesses that will employ more people than yourself and spouse, much less compete with the companies you so like to complain about and blame all your petty problems on. Get out there and do something besides complain. Same goes for your complaining about energy prices of all kinds. If you curb your demand you pay less, and less total demand lowers prices, especially for commodities. There are proactive things you can do instead of just sitting around complaining about them. And while you all were bitching and moaning about four dollar and maybe some change per gallon, gasoline in my area was over $5.00! I complained too, but I did something about it. I cut way back on my vehicle use, consolidated my errands and drove only one day a week, walked more, rode a bike to town to go to the post office (a hilly 17 mile round-trip) and do intermittent errands. Not only did I save some cash, I got some exercise as well. But as long as you insist on going where you want, when you want, in your personal automobile, the demand for gasoline will continue to grow and the supply will continue to shrink. Maybe some of you do need a Ph.D. so you will understand the "correlation" between supply and demand and its effect on pricing!

I seriously doubt that having a Ph.D. would make reading your article any better, but when I earn mine I will revisit this and let you know. As I said before little more research, and a lot more comprehension, would make for much more readable posts from you. Your knee-jerk sensationalizing only serves to make you look ridiculous and ill-informed, regardless of what your friends say.

As for the Valdez incident, Exxon has paid around $3 billion towards the clean-up. Exxon has made other payments as well. So don't say they paid nothing. Did they pay enough? Did they pay a fair and reasonable amount? Those questions are open for debate, as are the fines and penalties which are still in the courts.

Thank you MrBill. I also see a lot more people making the choice to continue their gas-reducing habits, like riding bikes, buses, walking, carpooling and so forth. I ride the bus to work everyday (although now that gas prices have dropped it seems less expensive to just drive...)

10 Happy Thanksgiving comments to Jared!