Posted on 02/09/2006 10:24:00 AM PST by sickoflibs
It's nearly impossible for the average citizen to grasp the scale of ExxonMobil Corp.'s huge profits. In the quarter ended Dec. 31, the giant company made $10.7 billion, the equivalent of more than $115 million for every one of its 92 days, nearly $5 million each hour, more than $80,000 every minute, nearly $1,350 each second.
All of us pay for the huge profits, but poor Americans living in colder regions and working people who must commute long distances are the ones whose contribution to ExxonMobil's profits are the most painful.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that home heating oil prices this year will be 23 percent higher than last year; throughout the Northern states, this means not only discomfort but real hardship, even death for some of the elderly.
Unfortunately, we do not live in a world where significant, voluntary "give-backs" to American society are common. The obvious alternative is some form of taxation, something we have done many times in the past when chance and misfortune have combined to produce unwarranted gains.
Last fall, the Republican-controlled Senate approved a one-year tax increase of $5 billion for the nation's largest oil companies. At the moment, however, even these tiny steps are unlikely to pass the House of Representatives. It will take an aroused citizenry to demand what should be given freely. Sen. Byron L. Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, and six other senators have introduced windfall profits tax legislation. This direction would inevitably have to be at the center of a serious agenda for change as the pain continues to increase.
Gar Alperovitz, the Lionel R. Bauman professor of political economy at the University of Maryland, College Park, is author of "America Beyond Capitalism: Reclaiming Our Wealth, Our Liberty, and Our Democracy." His e-mail is garalper@ncesa.org.
(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...
Atlas is about to shrug.
$8.071 billion was from the US. $17.56 billion came from outside of the United States, and $211 million was corporate overhead (CEO salary, headquarters stuff, public filing fees, etc).
In the past 12 months, through December, ExxonMobil made profit of $36.13 billion on sales of $340.26 billion, or 10.62%. Exxon makes a lot of money because it's pretty damned big.
So how did other companies fare? In the last twelve months, here's how:
Microsoft: 31.57%
Google: 23.87%
eBay: 23.77%
Coca Cola: 22.67%
Oracle: 22.33%
Intel: 22.32%
3M: 15.11%
Procter & Gamble: 12.83%
McDonalds: 12.72%
GE: 11.05%
Dow: 9.81%
IBM: 8.71%
Disney: 7.93%
Chevron: 7.62%
Dell: 5.96%
Walmart: 3.54%
AMR: -4.16%
GM: -4.44%
Another adherent to Robert Mugabe style economics, these liberals are so brilliant, just ask them!
It is odd. A stock is an instrument buy which one secures the rights to a companys future profits. How could this escape a professor of political economy?
Excuse please. For some reason my minds eye thought of Alas Babylon. I'm back. ;)
Corporations pay taxes on profits.
In 2005, gas cost $1.95 (2000$). The federal government spent $8,500 or so per person.
So, tell us again, just who is gouging the American people?
Great idea. According to Gar, Truman lied about the casualty estimates of the invasion of the Japanese main island to justify using the A-Bomb. My father would beat Gar to death with his cane.
I'm sure a good portion those oil profits are going to be used for such infrastructure, well development and drilling equipment needs.
CA earns takes over $.20 on every gallon of gas/diesel sold in the state. And that's just sales tax!
You may.
They already have that, it's called the lottery.
If they give me the next month's profits, I'll gladly stop asking for more and go on a crusade against the idiots that want free hand outs...
as I was thinking about your comment I was wondering what the stock market would look like if investors had to worry about a government that monitored profits and confiscated amounts higher than certain "acceptable" percentages?
Also known as the DNC.
Not to worry. I don't see this ever happening. It's just a socialist dream. To do something like this would be to destroy the company and ultimately that industry. These Democrats (read that Communists) are so whacked-out that it isn't even funny.
I heard on the radio (think it was Roger Hedgecock on Rush's show) that the oil companies make 6 or 8 cents per gallon on the gasoline that they produce. To me, that certainly isn't excessive.
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