[island911]

Originally posted by randywebb
Frontline had a recent investigative report on the oil co. ripoffs schemes -- they are closing refineries and exporting oil from the US to So. Amer. countries during times of shortage here...

Originally posted by Wil Ferch
Ahhh.. not so quick Newbe and Sammy....

Exxon/Mobil just posted 3rd quarter earnings.... 10 billion dollars ( that's right....NINE zero's)..... for a QUARTER !, not the whole year....

Quick ! ...name another industry that can boast such profits....

And yes...price increases are felt IMMEDIATELY at the pumps....reductions take 30-60 days.....

- Wil

Originally posted by sammyg2
I refer to my prevous post. Do the research and homework prior to presenting an argument please.

Exxonmobil had total gross revenue (sales) of $324.5 billion during that period you referred to when they ended up with a $10 billion profit. Acording to me calcumalator that translates into just over a 3% net profit magin. THOSE CROOKS!
Pelican would not survive very long at profit margins that low and neither would most companies. A good rule of thumb is that 10% profit is required for he average company to be considered viable, the bigger a company is the lower the profit margin can be for the company to still be considered profitable. XOM is huge so a 3% profit margin is considered to be very good indeed, but I can't reasonably accept the argument that 3% is gouging.

The media loves to play this sensationalistic game, saying that "XOM profits are up 200%" or "XOM posts record profits".
Most of the gullible public eats it up and regurgitates this drivel without thought.
What the news media doesn't tell you and what most people don't understand is that the 200% increase in profit means they went from 2% the previous cycle to 4% profit this cycle. Sometimes they are comparing this quarter to the previous, sometimes this quarter to the same quarter last year. They also don't say that the $10 billion profit is equivalent to just over 3% net profit.
The news media doesn't want you to know what is real, that would detract from the knee-jerk reaction they are attempting to create.

Either you fell for their manipulation of the truth or you understand their biased, sensational, and irresponsible raping of the truth and have chosen to play the same game. If we didn't realize they were intentionally trying to create a distorted perception in order to get an emotional reaction and increase their circulation or ratings, we are not alone. If we realized it and tried to do the same thing, shame on us.

Either way, the whole truth is out there is someone wants to look past the BS and find it.