Oil giant Exxon reports another record gain - Earnings- msnbc.com

jamesB-370103 - You must ride a bike or work for them!

Hey you Disney Clown.... Disney is not selling a product the World needs to function. Disney profits are derived from discressionary spending.... Do you not think there is a difference???

James, your right, why would they, Disney gives pleasure, big oil is a pain

James, your right, why would they, Disney gives pleasure, big oil is a pain

I don't think MANY of us here ENVY you Jimmy!

Braggarts will get theirs as well!

Sit & Spin James!

jamesB-370103 - You must ride a bike or work for them!

That's a pretty cheap shot.

I think there are just some in this country that realize that supply and demand typically works and that profits are a good thing in the long run.

We are in a slight adjustment period, and sure we are a little high. But when adjusted for inflation, we are "less high" than we were "too low" in the late 90s.

Fuel Prices Adjusted for Inflation

Well I partly agree. But you guys miss a bigger point. The Government are BIGGER THIEVES because they get to keep a MUCH BIGGER PRECENTAGE from every gallon of gas that we buy. WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE ON THAT???!!!! Good for EXXON/MOBILE. I rather see them get the money. I would not want to give another penny to this CORRUPT GOVERNMENT. If you're asking why i say this Government is CORRUPT. JUST TAKE A LOOK AT THE FEDERAL DEPT. My daughter was born a month ago.. Guess what? She's already in dept $30,000+. Thanks to our CORRUPT GOVERNMENT.

Alex,
Yes our Gov't is corrupt. But who do you think is making them corrupt? Our Gov't is owned by corporations. And yes its both sides of the fence.

Duck, Bush Cheney and McCain, the 3 stooges, are all up to their butt in oil, Exxon makes money, so do they.

Don't you think that they should have paid, James? OH, I forgot you have investments with the SCUMBAGS!

Where's my protection from government?

I vote for REVOLUTION !!!

Point of Correction. There was no FED decision to waive Exxon's fine in the Valdez oil spill. In fact, a substantial fine was paid.

It was the Supreme Court, a co-equal branch of government, who ruled that the fine imposed was excessive. I did not read the decision, but I would assume that the Court took that position based on the 8th Ammendment in the Bill of Rights. A part of that language reads, "nor excessive fines imposed".

The Framers wrote the Constitution to protect everyone, both large and small. The fact that Exxon is a large corporation does not mean it is not entitled to it's Constitutional Rights.

The fine was over $200 Million

Lets see 11,660,000,000$minus 200,000,000$a small drop in bucket of their quarterly earnings.
The Alaskan Shorline is still haveing Eco-Problems from that spill. Herr Bush's family has been in oil forever...of course he is gonna kick back to them.
His daddy Bush Sr is working for Sudi Oil Intrests
Dubyah knows when his term is up in Washington ...he will never be allowed to play in the political sandbox again and he is taking advantage of it and using us Regular Joes to make sure he has a job after January by sucking up to big oil and letting them gouge us. I did not vote for Herr Bush either time he ran.
I don't think he is qualified to run a lemonade stand never mind Our Once Great Nation

200M seems like a lot until you read that the number that they were given a mulligan on was 2500M! That is a bigger chunk of their ONE QTR profits. But all of this took over 20 years to finalize and payout funds. These numbers were to be given in the time of the accident's occurence not 20yrs later where the money should be adjusted for inflation as well but was NOT!

The Alaskan's got screwed, but Peter17 doesn't agree with that (I found out in another thread).

TO CONCLUDE, 200M is a drop in the bucket for these slimy Oil CEOs (even on a personal level I would imagine).

Right, tell shareholders, Bush, Cheney and McCain, all have there noses, you know where.

James is it not Bush Cheney andMcCain,IT IS CONGRESS WHO THE LOBBIEST PAY TO PROTECT THEM!!! CONGRESS NEEDS TO BE CLEANED OUT, THEY ARE THE ONES RUNNING THIS COUNTRY TO THE GROUND!!!

I am considered a Socialist becuse I believe that profits from our natural resources should be steered towards education and medical programs. Instead the profits are diverted towards lobbying and manipulating our legislation and legislators, towards occupying strategic desert outposts, towards building pipelines through Afghanistan, and towards manipulating free enterprise from ever getting out from under the thumb of big oil. I believe in freedom. Freedom from blood sucking businesses that profit off the peoples resources.

Oh yeah, I am also considered a socialist because I don't believe that the insurance industry should be deciding our health issues, and using profits to manipulate federal and state legislation (for example when the president blocks our freedom to purchase prescription drugs and legislation that blocks almost any attempt for the average citizen to overide the medical decisions the insurance company makes)

I don't feel like I am a Socialist, I feel like an American fighting for freedom from the one's who take advantage of others.

Yes they need to be Water-Boarded!

AND I do NOT think that any prisoner should have more right and protection that our TROOPS that need to make split second decisions AFTER being shot at first!

Torture them ALL! Kill them after, so they don't sue. F the Geneva Convention!

A friend flies the Iraq skies and has been shot at several times while flying over rooftops with armed men. If you are on a roof with a gun, you will be shot! Should be that way, not to wait til after you may be dead. DUH! Could an insurgent understand this rule? Maybe not until 100's have been CLEANED from the rooftops, but he won't stay there long!

Ok now that I changed my pants and cleaned the pee off the floor from laughing so hard..I gotta say Kam...that comment made my day.
I won't stop laughing about it for a week.
ROTFLMAO

Oh God...Yet another idiot

Jame, don't you, see, read, hear, listen to anything but your own mind, big oil is already sitting on 68 million acres, already leased, could have started years ago, but they haven't and even if you started drilling today, maybe a break at the pumps, maybe not for 10 years or more. Curious too, where are the refineries coming from?, import from other countries?, as none have been built since 1974.
People are led blindly into drilling, for votes, when all economists, say no. What about an another spill off the coast of California, like exxon had, would shut down the coast.
Forgot one point, drilling dosen't mean there is oil there?

I really hate to constantly repeat myself as on other posts related to this topic. Just because you have the lease DOES NOT mean it's viable or productive. That's the crappiest spin to come out of the Democrats mouths in a while. Let's say I owned acreage and the mineral rights to that acreage. Doesn't mean there's oil or anything else there. I just have to right to look for oil or whatever is there. Leases are bought and sold in tracts like an auction. They have the lease for say 10 years. If they "explore" that lease and come up empty handed they will not drill there again. Why should they? Kinda like getting blood out of a turnip. If they find a viable source they will develop the field.

The spill was a tanker not a drilling platform. Platforms have a zero spill policy and if they had a leak, it would be contained and cleaned up before you knew about it. Think about it, there are hundreds of tankers in and out of bays everyday. When was the last time you heard about a spill from a platform?

Yes it might take 5, 10 or more years to develop certain areas, but you have to start somewhere. There's no short term fix for our energy addiction, but we have to continue to find sources while working on alternative energy sources. Kinda like cutting your nose off to spite your face.

As far as refinery's are concerned why don't you ask our lovely government and the tree huggers they support how come we don't have any new refinery's.

And to answer your question at the end, no it does not mean there is anything there. Geological surveys will show a potential shale or sandstone but you never know until you put a bit in the ground.

And off the point I hate all the screaming and yelling about the big oil conspiracy. Keep in mind that Exxon's margin was only 8.5%. But as large as they are think about all the salaries and benefits they pay out and all the jobs they create. I just feel we are losing our common sense and not fixing this situation with our votes and getting all the idiots out of Washington. Anymore Congress looks like dunce convention.

Your right. We do need to start somewhere. It's just, from my perspective, that I want it to be the right thing to do. Maybe this crap is what we need to get us off the addiction to fossil fuel. And I want things to occur for the right reason. Its like the saying "Don't get married just because your pregnant". Because once your in it your in it. Maybe not the best analogy but I think you know what I mean. Its just so hard when there isn't one, not one, person in public office you feel you can trust. I'm going to bed.

Brad , if you hadn't given them 11 billion, your kids might have enjoyed the summer
Just remember, you can blame Bush Cheney and McCain for this, all have big shares in Exxon.
McCain, no drilling, now he wants it, dupe the public, like it would help, lol

Excellent post! Humorous, yet to the point without being mean, nasty, or hateful. I can only assume you're not a republican, unlike James B. with his "Let them eat cake" attitude.

And, James B., as far as "I want government out of my life", the very guys YOU voted in to power in 2000 and 2004 have INCREASED the size of the government by 40%, created a national deficit that is LARGER that the deficit of all previous administrations COMBINED, and just sent a RECORD budget to Congress for next year.

One thing I can agree with you on, James B. I want government out of my life too, especially the one that has been in power the last 8 years!

And, James B., as far as "I want government out of my life", the very guys YOU voted in to power in 2000 and 2004 have INCREASED the size of the government by 40%, created a national deficit that is LARGER that the deficit of all previous administrations COMBINED, and just sent a RECORD budget to Congress for next year.

And we are REALLY not happy about that.

You're free to purchase any brand of gasoline you chose. If you think EM sells gasoline only through it's branded stations you must live in a cave. Grow up. You want lower prices either reduce the demand or increase the supply.

That's it! We'll just reduce the demand. Let's all go out and buy electric cars. No, wait, they don't make those yet. Well, we could all go out and buy hybrids, but those burn gas to produce electricity and you can't plug them in, and besides that, we can't get the loans we need to buy new cars because the financial system is f'd up and we can't afford them anyway. So what's left? Drive less. That will help but it's not a long term solution.

Here's what driving less means to me. Driving less means a lot of people won't take vacations this year so that stuffs the travel industry. I make my living drawing hotels. When people cut back on traveling, fewer hotels are built and there goes my living.

It's all related.

redthumb - you need to recognize that YOU have CHOICES, and buying an electric car (if ever produced) is not the only one. stop thinking on a microscopic level and start seeing the bigger picture. gasoline is not a monopoly, and neither is the car/travel industry. fact of the matter is, CONSUMERS have the power. by having (more) government step because we don't think something is fair...is lazy, and counterintuitive. how would you feel if your business was told it made too much money and you weren't allowed to charge so much anymore?

ms-397461 -

I wasn't advocating government regulation, I was trying to point out that the necessary changes cannot be made overnight. I can't go out this afternoon and buy an electric car, nor can I go out and convert my transportation to bio-diesel or whatever alternative fuel at the snap of my fingers. It will take a long time to make the changes, in the meantime we just have to cut back on consumption and that also affects us. Restaurants are closing, DIY stores are hurting as well as most all retail businesses because everyone is having to cut back on other expenses in order to afford what gas they have to buy.

I like your statement in regards to boycotting Exxon Oil......now to the Exxon Employee who thinks that it is about supply and demand. Listen up, your company knows good and well that we have NO supply problem, and that more oil could be placed on the open market. It won't be long until we will be independent from oil both foreign and domestic. Laugh if you want, but there will come a day when the caves will open up for EM execs.

Jim, you posting the same stupid message several times perplexes me!

People are going to Wally World because they have no money to go to more expensive local stores. they can get most everything that they need in one place for the cost of one round trip to the store (X miles = X dollars more to the bill).

Why are you finding foult with everyone who is explaining/talking of their plight in our current society that seems to be very lop-sided into 2 (YES I said 2) economic classes, the POOR 80% and the well off 20%. YOU are the minority, so keep stepping so harshly and the 80% will fight like they are backed into a corner.

IN ALL actuality, we ARE in a corner now!