Economy Failing, Exxon Making Record Profit

By Daniel Miessler on February 3rd, 2008: Tagged as Business | Politics

Does anyone else think it’s (shameful | criminal | wrong | outrageous) for Exxon to be making record profits (10.7 billion last year) while the economy and the dollar are heading into the toilet?

That’s $1,700 a second, by the way — in profit, not earnings.

This is while the country faces an energy crisis caused by our dependence on oil and everyone with a brain understands that we need to be moving towards renewable energy. I understand free markets and all that good stuff, but this is where I differ with people like Ron Paul.

I have a feeling his answer would be “market regulation”, or something like, “If people don’t like what a company is doing they have the choice to not do business with them.” Lame.

At some point there needs to be incentive for a company to do the right thing, or at least to stop doing the wrong thing, and it may be the case that only a government can offer those incentives (negative or positive) in certain cases when the people have lost the ability to do so.

The FDA comes to mind.

I’m not sure about that position, but it certainly makes sense to me at the moment.

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Comments

  • The energy market is hardly free. The oil companies are protected from true competition by government contracts and government prohibitions against private drilling in our richest oil fields. That's the true crime.

  • Carl M

    John Anderson (a third party candidate in 1980) proposed a 50 cent a gallon gas tax. This is a GOOD idea. (1) The increased cost would be an incentive for people to use less gas. (2) The money raised could (should) be used to develop alternative energy sources.


    I understand the negatives associated with such a tax, but I think that on the whole it would be a benefit to society (certainly if it had been imposed in 1980, we'd be using less oil now).


    As long as Exxon is not doing anything illegal (price fixing, etc.), I don't have any problem with them making large profits. (I DO have a problem with the government giving tax breaks to oil companies .. particularly at a time that these companies have been making huge profits.)

  • What research do you suggest I do?


    I follow Ron Paul heavily. I watch tons of his videos. I have read tons of his essays. I have sent him over $500 in contributions. I support him for president. I even have his bumper sticker on my car, and I hate bumper stickers.


    So I'm not bashing Ron Paul. I'm saying I don't see how he could support government influence to help solve this problem.


    What do YOU think he would say? What research can you point me to?

  • Bob D

    What an idiotic post! Instead of guessing at what Ron Paul's view is why don't you do some research.


    Jimmy Carter offered incentives for developing alternate energy, remember? How is that going? And he didn't have a war to pay for.

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