Tell me agin why these OIL PROFITS aren't OBSCENE!!!!

[hammersley]

Diesel continues to be MUCH HIGHER THAN PREMIUM and we still take it in the $#(*&(*&!!!!

Plese tell me again how this is GOOD FOR US!!!!!

This is from the

Cheer or tax record oil-industry profits?
We report, you decide
By Frank Michael Russell
Mercury News Assistant Business Editor

$36.1 billion in profit. That's not sales, that's profit, and it's a record for any U.S. public company. And thanks in part to sky-high gasoline prices, it's what Exxon Mobil earned in 2005.

Exxon held the previous record for its 2004 earnings: $25.3 billion. And analysts expect Exxon will set yet another record this year.

``What do you expect when you combine record oil and gas prices and strong operations everywhere else?'' Oppenheimer Fadel Gheit told the Associated Press. ``Unless prices collapse, earnings in 2006 will make 2005 look like a cake walk.''

Exxon's earnings report this morning follows multibillion-dollar profit reports last week from Chevron and ConocoPhillips. San Ramon oil company Chevron's annual income was $14.1 billion, while ConocoPhillips reported $13.5 billion in earnings. Today's report from Exxon brings annual profit for all three biggest U.S. oil companies to more than $63 billion.

What should we think of all this? The AP offers reactions from both end of the political spectrum (you can pick your favorite):

1. ``I hope the capitalist system would promote and applaud the hard work of companies that have been smart and lucky to achieve good earnings for shareholders,'' said Tina Vital, a Standard & Poor's analyst.

2. ``The federal government has a responsibility to make sure that these companies continue to innovate instead of just profiting from the status quo,'' said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who has proposed an extra tax on oil-company profits.