Replies

Well, if you're right about a refinery costing about $2 billion, then Exxon could use the other $8 billion it made last quarter lobbying Congress for environmental law reform.

Wow. K-street would just love that. But that means that the billions Exxon has to spend in capital investment for plant & equipment just to keep the current platforms, wells, refineries, pipelines, computer systems etc going won't be there. That stuff can just grind to a halt. What the hell. There won't be any dividends. There won't be any R&D money. Nothing for new exploration. There won't even be any charity money or ExxonMobile Theater on TV. It will just all go to making K-Street even richer than the parasites already are and inspire the professional extortionists to hold out for even more!

Great idea. You are really good at spending other people's money. You must be a Democrat.

How's this for an idea. We just do like Mexico or Venezuela or Cuba and just take the company away from those greedy bastards and let Congress run it! That way, congress can build a refinery with your money, and maybe in your front lawn, anytime they feel like it. And Congress will even promise you cheep gas, but take the money out of your other pocket with taxes. You won't have to worry about them making to much money either. They will gurantee you they will lose money every quarter -- just like Amtrack.

BTW. Did you catch the news from Indonesia today? State owned oil industry (no greedy capitalists for those good socialists) --- doubled the price of gasoline today to guess what? $1.80 gal. Guess what the reaction was? Riots in the streets.

Doesn't R&D and capital investments (maintaining current equipment, new drilling, new exploration) get deducted from Exxon's revenue prior to the declaration of profits?

As for the rest of the $8 billion, maybe you didn't notice that this was in reference to just a single fiscal quarter... not a year's worth of profit. And that is already subtracting a potential $2 billion for a hypothetical refinery. Solely one quarter (3 months).

Exxon is making roughly $10 billion a quarter, yet can't afford to build a refinery? That the cost isn't worth the investment?

That is probably so, thanks to the enviro-wacko's. So if any company wants to change the rules, their going to have to play the same game... lobbying.

And $8 billion is far more than anything the enviro-wacko crowd can pony up.

And that's just the way of the world right now. It would be nice to change that, but right now refineries are more important.

Yet you think that lobbying is a Democratic Party concept... I'm sure that you believe that. But then, some people believe that Neil Armstrong never landed on the moon, too.