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75 Comments
- b4gk1lz, on 04/20/2009, -8/+28Queue the evil oil company making too much money comments.
- biofriendlyblog, on 04/19/2009, -7/+27So, General Motors dropped two spots to come in at 6th place on the Fortune 500 list. Hmmmm.....that's pretty interesting. I thought times were tough esp for companies like GM....I'm sorry to hear they dropped a whole two spots.
Wait...didn't they get bailout money and aren't they about to file for bankruptcy? Go figure. - KSUdesigner, on 04/20/2009, -0/+14I'm not 100% positive, but I think the list is based on total revenue earned, not total profit. You can have the biggest total revenue in the world, but if you aren't profiting then you're going to go bankrupt.
- nullvector, on 04/20/2009, -8/+20They sell a product. People buy it. End of story.
If you don't like "Big Oil", don't drive. People boycott other things when they feel like it, why don't they boycott gas?
"Oh well they NEED gas", you say? No one needs gas. No one "needs" vehicles. They've just chosen a life where vehicles are a necessity for them. We've all designed our lives around the convenience of the automobile, and it comes at a price. - pathouston22, on 04/20/2009, -11/+21It was amusing last year during the gas price increase to read all the hate around here towards Exxon. Despite the fact they had and have a lower profit margin than many other companies. Uneducated hate.
Kinda like the whole blame Bush for everything, despite Congress approving many of the things he did. - chill613, on 04/20/2009, -2/+10I'm waiting for the prices to skyrocket this summer, just like last year... I'm sure some shortage is right around the corner!
- garyi113, on 04/20/2009, -0/+8So will the sun.
- inactive, on 04/20/2009, -1/+6Its cool when you can get governments to go to war for you. thats well spent tax money!
- inactive, on 04/20/2009, -0/+4dalittle, you don't "give" businesses their money. You take it. Get your diction right.
Drunkrobot, you're assuming the US has a flat corporate tax. It is not. When you make billions, you're in the high tax bracket.
It's not like this is uncommon or hidden information. Exxon is a publicly traded company.They release this data and it's free for you to Google. THE FACT is that Exxon pays about 45% of it's profit to the US government. That's a FACT. Nothing you say can change that. FACT. Look it up. Fact. FACT. Facts can't be changed by calling me a corporate shill. Facts are facts. If you want them to be different, they'll remain the same because they're facts.
I live in the world of facts because facts are facts. They don't respond to the emotional man, just the man of reason. FACT, Exxon pays just as much tax as the bottom 50% of tax payers. That's a fact. FACT. See you can't change it with emotional pleas. Fact. Fact.
Facts are great because you can look them up. You don't need to use buzz comments about corporations not paying taxes (which is manipulation). GM isn't pay TAXES because it's broke and not making MONEY. lol.
Grow a brain and look at the FACTS. FACTS are real. Emotions are not. - AndrewMoyer, on 04/20/2009, -3/+7Your point is very true.
You're only being dug down by UAW interests. - andrewlotta, on 04/20/2009, -1/+4Right over your head.
- inactive, on 04/20/2009, -1/+4I was not being sarcastic. There are people that are amazed that we can pump a liquid out from the earth and supply it to the world for less than the cost of a bottle of water and still turn an amazing profit.
- ThreeE, on 04/20/2009, -1/+4Look up revenue. Look up profit. When you understand the difference, delete your post. Go figure.
- qerplonk, on 04/20/2009, -0/+3Well you're right that oil goes into just about everything, including tons of things that save you time, effort, and money every day. So really it's kind of a big hook up.
The fact that Exxon is making so much profit (despite ~10% profit margins, much lower than other industries) means that they're doing a great job of running a business. Profits don't go to those who do a crappy job - they're a signal saying "People want this product more than they want their dollars." - noahhoward, on 04/20/2009, -4/+7"Oh well they NEED gas", you say? No one needs gas. No one "needs" vehicles. They've just chosen a life where vehicles are a necessity for them.
So, than have a company put a fair price on gas you expect all 300 million people to move in walking distance of their jobs? Lets see, the base I'm working at has 10000 employees... should we build a small tent city outside the gates? What about the people working around major industrial areas, should they have the industrial area torn down so houses can be built closer to the jobs they'd be destroying?
Lets not forget all the plastic and other oil derived products we use every day.
Life was molded around the car (more specifically around oil) decades before any of us here were born. I can't believe anyone is stupid enough to think you can boycott oil successfully and without a huge impact to daily life. - RyanBlueThunder, on 04/20/2009, -0/+3Although there was significant consolidation of the majors during the late 90s (Exxon Mobil, BP Amoco Arco, Chevron Texaco, etc)...it's not Standard Oil. Exxon Mobil is just large enough that it can compete globally with other state-run oil and gas exploration companies. And the costs associated in the latest projects in deep water Gulf of Mexico are staggering...only a company Exxon Mobil's size can accomplish such marvels of engineering.
- acknotSW, on 04/20/2009, -0/+3I heard that they only look at cash coming in and don't take into account expenses and losses. As bad as things have been, GM is still a huge company.
- angryfirelord, on 04/20/2009, -1/+4Oil has been running about for about 50 years, according to the "educated". But it never seems to get here.
http://mises.org/story/1717
The fact is if oil was running out, companies like Exxon wouldn't continue to gamble on investing in exploring and drilling (which gets even harder when the government blocks off areas for drilling). If peak oil was around the corner, Exxon would be jumping out of that field like a person jumping from a burning building. We're still going to have an adequate supply for at the very minimum another 30 years, possibly more if they continue to find more fields. - ComeOnNowReally, on 04/20/2009, -7/+9Thank you Exxon Mobil for keeping my 401 and other investments heads above water while everyone else tanked!
- SirCharge, on 04/21/2009, -0/+2"Always good when a core commodity essential to just about every other item produced in the economy has a healthy amount of proffit built in to its price so shareholders can becomre more
wealthy.
I say bust up XOM."
So you're saying that people shouldn't make a profit off of important commodities? Should shareholders only profit off of trivial things? In what world does that make sense? - em11488, on 04/20/2009, -4/+6DRILL BABY DRILL
- acknotSW, on 04/20/2009, -1/+3Stop making sense and just give me a rousing "***** Exxon" already.
- Khiva, on 04/20/2009, -0/+2*typos*
\fixed - inactive, on 04/21/2009, -0/+2Exxon pays 45% tax. FACT.
- dalittle, on 04/20/2009, -0/+2Uh, I am saying they don't need government subsidies. If they are so great why are you encouraging bankrupting the US for their gain?
- nullvector, on 04/20/2009, -1/+3"I can't believe anyone is stupid enough to think you can boycott oil successfully and without a huge impact to daily life."
Public Transportation? Carpool? Bike? We've built our society around the ability to travel long distances in automobiles. If people made a concerted, channeled effort to reduce fuel use, the oil companies would get the message....but people don't want to have to change their lives to do it, they'd rather just complain about the evil oil companies taking their money.
You can't stop oil use entirely, but you can reduce consumption if you want to. - andrewlotta, on 04/20/2009, -2/+4I am a gas station attendant at ExxonMobil on weekends.
When girls hear what company I work for they get excited...until they see my 95 Buick. - noahhoward, on 04/21/2009, -0/+1Public Transportation?
On a limited basis in a few major cities perhaps. Where I live, no.
Carpool?
If my co-workers live near me, perhaps but that still leaves us paying unreasonable prices for a commodity.
Bike?
I live 15 miles from work I'm not really in the situation to be able to bike and still be home in time to cook dinner for my family or play with my son. But, a good solution for a limited section of the market.
I could actually row or sail to work, but again it'd be far more time consuming than my life allows for. - ThreeE, on 04/22/2009, -0/+1You say "cut its overhead costs" like they are unrelated to the company's revenue. These aren't unrelated items -- if you change one of them, the others don't stay constant.
- skyer, on 04/20/2009, -0/+1Ya.. this kinda show how credible this list is.
- b4gk1lz, on 04/21/2009, -0/+1@jcounterman - my apologies...thx for the correction. what i get for posting in a hurry.
- biofriendlyblog, on 04/21/2009, -0/+1Revenue and profit are very different things. However, wouldn't you think that a company that is bringing in so much revenue would cut its overhead costs so that it could be profitable rather than require a bailout to stay afloat? I would think so.
- dalittle, on 04/20/2009, -4/+5Can we quit with Exxon's tax breaks yet?
- papastout, on 04/20/2009, -3/+4Ever wonder why you pay way high prices for gas last summer? Here's your answer. To those who are still fighting for compensation from the Valdez disaster (from almost 20 years ago), it might be time to add some zeroes to your damage claim.
- arizona01, on 04/20/2009, -1/+2I am a cash attendant at Wal-Mart on weekends.
When girls hear what company I work for they get excited...until they see the clothes I wear. - SirCharge, on 04/21/2009, -0/+1What this list doesn't take into account is expenses. GM is heavily in debt and needs restructuring. They still sell more cars than any other company except Toyota, however.
- inactive, on 04/20/2009, -0/+1Are they retards or something? You work at a *****' gas station.
- Mothrog, on 04/20/2009, -0/+1RARAGARAGAHHAGAR?
It's rabble, rabble, rabble, dammit. - inactive, on 04/20/2009, -0/+1Sarcasm is lost on many here...
- pathouston22, on 04/20/2009, -0/+1Psssh, take your facts and be gone! We don't need that stuff around here.
- Trick07, on 04/20/2009, -1/+2There are choices to shopping at Wal*Mart. There is not many choices when it comes to buying gas...
- uptwolait, on 04/20/2009, -0/+1Thank you, that's the graphic I made and I was just about to post it here.
- inactive, on 04/20/2009, -1/+2GM has no right to be on this list. How can you lose $31 billion and make a the list. I know, it's based on gross revenue, but fail is fail.
- paradox4190, on 04/20/2009, -1/+2I agree with you, here is some hard data to back it up.
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n309/uptwolait/ ... - jtt123, on 04/20/2009, -3/+4all those greed companies, partnered by corrupt government officials, thanks exxon for helping to destroy the economy by draining the people out of their money for raising gas prices at nearly $5 when barrels of oil were at an all time low, gtfo
- crewpilot, on 04/20/2009, -0/+0Who says they are bakrupting the U.S.? They paid in 116 billion in taxes last year. Their income tax alone was over 40%. Where are these tax breaks you are talking about?
- inactive, on 04/20/2009, -7/+7They're not subsidized.
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