the u.s economy has officially contracted in the last few months(thus, technically, a ‘recession’, as it’s smaller than it was previously…).
but not everyone is doing badly.
do you remember how high gas prices were over the summer?
and did you ever ask yourself, ‘how are gas prices determined, and why are they so high?’
well, to an extent gas prices are determined by market forces and the cycle of supply vs. demand in the commodities market.
but at the same time gas prices are fairly arbitrarily determined by the worlds oil producers.
so, as i said, not everyone is doing badly.
houston, texas based exxon/mobil, for instance.
in june, july, and august they had revenues of $170,000,000,000.00 and profits of $15,000,000,000.00.
if that seems very very high that’s because $15 billion dollars in quarterly profits represents the highest profits ever earned by a corporation.
so while everyone was paying a lot for gas, and as the country was sliding into recession, exxon/mobil were taking in more in profits than any company ever.
$15 billion in profits in 3 months, while gas prices were hovering around $4 a gallon nationally.
i can’t imagine that makes anyone(apart from exxon/mobil employees and shareholders)feel very good.
some other interesting exxon/mobil facts…
1-exxon/mobil have received over $100,000,000,000.00(yes, one hundred billion dollars)in u.s tax breaks and subsidies and reduced fees for mining/drilling rights. so, in addition to buying heating oil and gasoline and helping exxon/mobil earn record profits you as a taxpayer have also subsidized them with over one hundred billion dollars of your tax money.
2-john mccain has received over $3,000,000.00 in campaign contributions from exxon/mobil and other petroleum producers.
3- 43 of john mccain’s staff members have received $17,000,000.00 in lobbying fees from exxon/mobil and other petroleum producers
you can do the math and figure out who john mccain would represent if he were elected.
happy motoring.
moby